More Than 60% Of Workers Plan New Career In The New Year

By: Multi-Unit Franchisee
Published: January 4th, 2017

Many American employees are making plans to make a move in 2017. The latest WorkSphere survey from Spherion Staffing finds the New Year's resolution list for 62 percent of American workers includes making a professional change, such as overall performance improvement, learning a new professional skill, finding a new job, negotiating a higher salary, embarking on a new career, or starting a new business.

The survey was conducted last November and found that workers who plan to start a new job or career in 2017 cite higher pay (56 percent), a desire to try something new (45 percent), and better work/life balance (44 percent) as the primary reasons.

Employees are virtually split on whether the New Year will bring improved job prospects. More than one-fourth (27 percent) of workers think that 2017 will be a better year for jobs than 2016, while only slightly fewer (24 percent) disagree. And, despite recent optimism surrounding the current economic outlook, one-third of all workers (33 percent) and nearly 40 percent of Millennials (workers ages 18-34) are more worried about the economy and its impact on their career than they were at this time last year.

"Making more money" tops the list of career-related resolutions for all workers in 2017 (28 percent). However, a salary increase isn't the only adjustment workers will consider making in the New Year. According to the survey, 40 percent of workers are interested in relocating for professional reasons, and the same is true for 62 percent of Millennials. Furthermore, 90 percent of workers who have job or career-related resolutions are interested in changing industries.

Employers should act fast if they plan to retain employees whose New Year's resolutions could result in significant turnover, as workers give themselves high marks for their ability to follow through on their resolutions. Forty-two percent of workers give themselves an "A" or "B" grade for their ability to keep New Year's resolutions, led by 62 percent of Millennials who would give themselves the same grades. In fact, the survey found that 46 percent of Millennials have made job/career-related resolutions more than once over the past five years, and 81 percent report following through.

Other findings of the study:

What Women (and Men) Want in 2017

• More women than men who say they plan to start a new job or career in 2017 indicate higher pay (59 percent and 53 percent, respectively) as a primary inspiration, while 14 percent more men than women say the desired change is simply because they want to try something new.
• Female workers who are considering changing industries in the New Year tend to express interest in jobs in the administrative and marketing communications industries (34 percent), while men are most open to jobs in the technology space (25 percent).

Workers are Planning their Professional Future

• Sixty percent of workers are not concerned that their job will become obsolete within the next five years.
• Overall, 55 percent of workers prefer to stick with one professional endeavor and are disinterested in pursuing a second job in addition to their primary job.
• However, a notable number of Millennials (29 percent) say they would be interested in taking on a side gig.

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