Just as soon as I can …. I Quit!!

Back in July of 2009, we published a blog post that talked about “The Coming issues in finding and retaining talent”.  At that time I made the statement:

“….what does it all mean?  Nothing today – it’s still too scary in the job market right now.  But once there is some stability back in the workforce – and there will be eventually -  I think there will be a substantial shuffling of bodies across organizations, industries, and geography.”

It has only taken 30 months for me to be to correct!

Some recent surveys show more and more employees ready to quit their jobs and try something different as the economy is expected to improve somewhat in 2012.  It sounds like many employees – particularly those in big companies – are finally ready to show their dissatisfaction and discontent with the way they have been treated during this downturn.  Making up for all that work previously performed by fired employees, while taking a cut in pay and benefits has taken a toll.  And the reward of “…just having a job” is not going to be enough as the economy starts to come back.

I stand by my prediction – people are going to start to leave big companies in droves as soon as they feel safe to do so.  They may not know what they want next – but they know they don’t want to go through the last few years again.  Yes …. this should be viewed as a wake up call for employers.

What is your firm doing to keep those people that survived the last 4 years?