Study: 52% of employees are looking for a new job + reasons they're leaving

Fifty-two percent of adults said they intended to look for a new job in 2021, according to a March study published by Achievers.

There were 2,000 employed Americans and Canadians who participated in the February survey.

With reports of increased burnout in healthcare workers from the pandemic, healthcare leaders may find it useful to know why employees want to leave and how to retain them.

Ten things to know about the study:

1. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they were going to look for a new job in 2021, compared to 35 percent in 2019 and 2020.
   
   
2. Twenty-five percent named work-life balance as the reason they would look for a new job, with 23 percent saying it was the main reason they want to stay at their current job.
   
   
3. Thirty-five percent said compensation and benefits was the top reason for looking for a new job.
   
   
4. Sixty percent of respondents said their employer sought their feedback for improving the employee experience, but only 16 percent said their employer always takes action on their feedback.
   
   
5. More than half (51 percent) of employees who work from home said they feared their manager had doubts about their productivity during work.
   
   
6. To mitigate this fear, 40 percent reported working longer hours during the day. Nearly half (44 percent) reported starting work earlier and 37 percent are skipping lunch breaks.
   
   
7. COVID-19 has led to 46 percent of employees feeling less connected to their company now than they did before the pandemic.
   
   
8. Twenty percent of employees said feeling underappreciated for their work hindered their engagement.
   
   
9. Forty percent said their managers are just "OK" at recognizing their work.
   
   
10. Sixty-nine percent of employees said their relationship with their manager would improve if they recognized them more.

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