Number Of U.S. Workers Actively Seeking Jobs Declines Significantly, According To CEB's New Global Talent Monitor

CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Reimagine HR -- With the U.S. unemployment rate standing at 5.1 percent – its lowest level since 2008 – conventional wisdom suggests that workers would be aggressively pursuing new employment opportunities. However, CEB's (NYSE: CEB) new Global Talent Monitor, launched today, indicates that the number of U.S. employed workers actively seeking new jobs in the second quarter decreased nearly six percent from the prior year. This may be due in part to the fact that employees don't feel particularly optimistic about their job prospects.

The Monitor, released today at the company's ReimagineHR Summit, shows that intent to stay among American workers has steadily been rising for the last three quarters and is currently at 49 percent. This reduced worker mobility is also having an effect on employers' ability to recruit. In fact, the average length of time it takes to fill a job has increased. For example, filling a mobile developer vacancy grew to 55 days, compared with just 45 days in the prior-year quarter.

Greater numbers of employees staying in their current positions does have an upside though.  Twenty-six percent of U.S. employees report greater discretionary effort—willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty in their jobs—in the quarter.  This is significantly higher than European and Asian workers effort rates of 16.2 percent and 12.7 percent respectively.

"In a highly competitive global business environment, organizations are leaner than ever with flatter organizational structures," said Brian Kropp, HR Practice Leader at CEB.  "While this flat corporate structure comes with many advantages, it also makes it that much harder for people to see a clear path for their progress up the corporate ladder. In an effort to take the next step up, people feel compelled to look beyond their current employer. As a result, frustrations over recognition and career progression are now the key cause of workforce turnover."

The survey also indicated that when an employee joins a new organization, "people factors" such as manager quality, coworker quality, senior leadership reputation, collegial work environment and camaraderie, are not seen as important.  However, some of these factors consistently figure among the top five reasons why employees ultimately leave their current employer.

Dissatisfaction with their current employer's ability to provide them with future career opportunities, compensation, people management, manager quality and development opportunities remain the top five reasons why US employees would leave their jobs. According to CEB, increasingly flat organizational structures may be at the root of this problem.

"Employers who can no longer rely on predictable, promotion-based career cultures must reassess the way they structure their workforce and approach toward career development to build growth-based career cultures.  Otherwise they will continue to be at risk for staff turnover and low productivity," said Kropp.

Global Talent Monitor data is drawn from CEB's larger Global Labor Market Survey and is made up of more than 18,000 employees in 20 countries. The survey is conducted quarterly and is reflective of market conditions during the quarter preceding publication. Visit www.cebglobal.com/talentmonitor to learn more and compare talent data from around the world. 

About CEB Inc.
CEB is a best practice insight and technology company. In partnership with leading organizations around the globe, we develop innovative solutions to drive corporate performance. CEB equips leaders at more than 10,000 companies with the intelligence to effectively manage talent, customers, and operations. CEB is a trusted partner to 90% of the Fortune 500, nearly 75% of the Dow Jones Asian Titans, and more than 85% of the FTSE 100. More at cebglobal.com.

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