Roger Ruane - FR Europe CFR Consulting Group's Austrian Member, TRESCON, Summer 2009

CFR Consulting Group's Austrian Member, TRESCON, questioned 2.700 applicants about why they decided to change jobs. Here is a summary of their findings.

In the past years of booming orders and a "dried out" labour market, it became generally harder for Austrian and especially for Upper Austrian companies to bring on board the most sought-after staff members. It sometimes seemed almost a lost cause to look for new employees in specialized functions and technical sectors. Furthermore employers found that good and reliable employees suddenly decided to leave the company - often for "monetary" reasons.

What are the real reasons prompting Managers and highly skilled employes to leave their current employer and what are those motivating them to sign a contract of employment with another company ?

TRESCON believed before the survey was carried out that the motives and considerations behind people leaving their employers would be different to their motives influencing acceptance of new employment offers. Here is what they discovered!

The Top 5 reasons for leaving a company were:

1. limited freedom to act
2. no career opportunities
3. bad working atmosphere
4. lack of responsibility
5. vague corporate goals

These motives are the ones which companies themselves mostly influence and so they could therefore work to prevent such employee frustration.

It is striking to note that the prevailing assumption that money would be the main cause was not confirmed. Underpayment is only in the centre-field. Dissatisfaction with salary was actually only ranked 11 out of 15 as the most common reason for changing role.

The top motives for accepting new employment offers were:

1. a good working climate and freedom to act.

Beyond that were other motives. One of these, money is a much more important motivator for people seeking new roles rather than leaving existing ones. This results in companies needing to offer better financial packages to attract new employees. Below are the results of 3 questions in the questionnaire. Remember the last time you changed job. What were the major reasons for your leaving your employer at that time?...