Acerta & StepStone: Yet a third of all Belgians want to stay with same employer for entire career
No less than 64 % of all working Belgians are convinced that they can find a similar job with another employer within the next few weeks or months if they want to. Confidence is particularly high among people in their twenties (80%) and thirties (75%). But despite the fierce battle that companies are waging to attract new talent, 1 in 3 employees would still like to stay with their current employer for the rest of their career. Among people in their twenties, however, that percentage is a lot lower (24%) than among people in their fifties (47%). This is evident from a survey of 3,800 employees by HR services company ACERTA and job site StepStone.
It used to be that employees had to go and apply to companies, but due to the tightness of the labor market and the fierce competition for personnel, it is now often the other way around. Companies even lure applicants with helicopter flights, trips or a bonus, even before they are hired. The fact that companies are going ever further to recruit new staff gives Belgians a confidence boost.
One third of the employees (32%) assume that they will be able to start a similar job elsewhere within a few weeks. Another third (32%) think that the search for similar work would only take a few months. 19 % expect to be able to change jobs within the year if they wanted to and only a small minority – 16 % of all workers – think it would take longer than a year to change employers.
Graph 1: Employee confidence in chances of finding a similar job elsewhere – employee survey Talent Pulse 2022
Confidence highest among people in their twenties and thirties
Among young people in particular, confidence is high that they would be able to find work elsewhere quickly. In the group of people in their twenties, no less than 80% are convinced that they will be able to find a similar job within a few weeks to months. Among those in their thirties, the figure is still 75%. In the older age groups, confidence is declining, to 61% for those in their 40s and 58% for those in their 50s. In the group of over-60s, 55% believe that a quick job change is feasible.
Not surprisingly, the sector in which employees are most confident is the health sector: 80% of health care employees think they can start working for another employer in a similar job within a few months. Also in the top five: transport/logistics (72 %), ICT (71 %), engineering, production & construction (70 %).
Britt Winnepenninckx, talent expert at Acerta Consult: “The fact that more than six in ten Belgians believe that they can find another employer within a few weeks or months, if they were to go for it, is quite striking. The current labor shortage has a major impact on employee confidence. The fact that, as a result, many employees (want to) leave their employer and start working elsewhere – so-called job mobility – is a good thing, because it illustrates that the economy is picking up. Employers should not only profile themselves as interesting employers, they should also work on their internal career policy. After all, there may be more opportunities for employees to take on and learn new things at their current employer.”
Three in ten would change jobs faster than last year
The high level of employee confidence also translates into the intention to change jobs or employers. 30% say they would change jobs sooner now than they would have a year earlier. And last year this intention was already higher than in 2020.
One in five workers in our country is currently actively looking for a new job, 57 % are not actively looking but are open to other job offers.
Graph 2: Evolution intent job/employer change over the years – from: employee survey Talent Pulse 2022
More than 1 in 3 workers plan to stay with current employer
Yet not everyone is planning to quit their job any time soon. What’s more: no less than 36% even think that they will stay with their current employer for the rest of their career. Among people in their twenties, however, that percentage is a lot lower (24%) than among people in their fifties (47%).
It is also noticeable that those who feel they do not have a ‘sustainable career’ with their company – a career that is meaningful and workable and which keeps the employee motivated and in work for longer – are much less inclined to stay with the company for the rest of their career. This is 18% of employees, compared to 47% of those who do have a sustainable career.
Killian Cramers, B2C Marketing Manager at StepStone Belgium: “Even though we see a great deal of loyalty from employees towards their employer, we also see an increase in the willingness to engage in job mobility. It is a slight increase compared to last year.”
“We do not expect job mobility in our labour market to increase spectacularly in the coming months, but enough movement is present, and companies had better make the most of it.”
Working from home as a decisive factor
So what should an employer look for in order to keep and/or get employees with them? Asked about the factors that would be decisive for employees to change jobs/employers, commuting distance ranks first, followed by job content, job security, the ability to work from home and the relationship with colleagues.
Figure 3: Key factors in choosing a potential new employer – from: employee survey Talent Pulse 2022
Britt Winnepenninckx: “The most important ‘newcomer’ since Corona is the tele- and home-working factor. This now charms 35% of employees, whereas before corona it was only mentioned by 18% of employees as a decisive factor. Facilitating homeworking can also be a way for employers to weigh up the most decisive factor, namely the distance between home and work, because being able to work from home suddenly makes the distance zero kilometers. In terms of job content, which ranks second, there are also steps that employers can take: the employers’ survey also revealed that 29% of employees testify that their range of duties has not changed in the last three years. There are many possibilities in this regard: job crafting, whereby the employee can fill in certain aspects of his/her work him/herself, working with roles, preparing employees in the long term for evolutions that are strategically necessary… Job security has become slightly less important to employees, moving from second place to third place with 42%.”
Methodology
The data comes from the annual “Talent Pulse” survey by ACERTA and StepStone. This survey was rolled out for the 13th time in March 2022 and reached more than 3,800 employees, 87% of whom were white-collar workers and 13% blue-collar workers.
About StepStone
StepStone is a Job board and the Belgian market leader in candidate delivery. StepStone’s success comes from connecting employers with dream candidates and thousands of people to their dream jobs.
StepStone is present in 23 countries today and is also a founding member of “The Network”, an alliance of more than 50 leading recruitment websites globally.
Results are crucial, but above all StepStone is a people company. Worldwide over 3,000 ‘StepStoners’ go the extra mile day in, day out for each and every customer. This is why StepStone is the go-to destination for employers and talent.
You can find more information on the official website: www.stepstone.be.
About ACERTA
ACERTA, as an hr services group in Belgium, specializes in the advice, computerization and processing of administrative processes around payroll processing, social security, establishment formalities and the professionalization of hr policies. The group supports entrepreneurs and organizations in every growth phase and in every HR process. The power of people, that is what it is all about at ACERTA. ACERTA wants to deploy its people optimally in order to optimize the human capital of companies. In doing so, ACERTA is a partner for start-ups, the self-employed and liberal professions, SMEs and HR professionals in private companies and public institutions.
ACERTA has more than 1400 employees, spread over 28 offices in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia. More than 1 starter in 5 actually passes through ACERTA’s enterprise counters. The group manages the status of 1 self-employed person out of 3 and 1 organization out of 4 uses its HR and/or payroll solutions.
For more information, please contact
ACERTA – Sylva De Craecker
T +32 478 27 93 62
E Sylva.De.Craecker@ACERTA.be
BEPUBLIC – Arno Creve
T +32 498 59 16 13
E arno@bepublic.be