High willingness to change jobs: Many Germans question their jobs

Since the second year of the corona pandemic, there has been increasing talk of the so-called “Great Resignation”.

The phenomenon refers to people's great dissatisfaction with their current jobs, a great deal of brooding over their own job and career, and a resulting willingness to change jobs.

In the USA in particular, increased termination rates were actually reported, even among employees who had no prospect of a new job.

New data now indicate that the great reflection and questioning has not stopped at the Germans either: According to the "Gallup Engagement Index", a survey that has been published annually at this time of year since 2001, only 60 percent of employees want to be working for their current employer without ifs or buts in a year.

In 2018 it was still 78 percent.

According to the survey results, 14 percent of Germans are actively looking for a new job.

That is twice as many employees as in the previous year.

In fact, it's the highest value ever measured by the Engagement Index.

For the survey, 12 questions about the workplace and the environment are asked to more than 1,000 employees once a year.

For the current study, 1,500 randomly selected employees were interviewed by telephone in November and December 2021.

The results are representative of the workforce in Germany.

While it was long doubted that Corona has also led to an increased willingness to change jobs in Germany, this study now shows that the situation in Germany is currently even more dynamic than in the USA.

According to Gallup figures, the proportion of German employees who are actively looking for a new job is 4 percentage points higher than that of American employees.

According to the survey, an unusually large number of employees in Germany were also recently approached by headhunters – it was one in three employees in the past twelve months.

The situation has not gotten much better when you look at the emotional bond between employees and their current employer: According to the study, the number of those who have already internally resigned is currently 14 percent, compared to 15 percent in the previous year.

Even more frightening is the number of respondents who feel only a slight bond with their company and therefore work to the rule: at 69 percent, that is more than two thirds.

However, this number in the index has been high for years, and the fluctuations remain small.

After the start of the corona crisis, it even initially looked as if the employees' loyalty to their employers had actually increased somewhat.

It is noteworthy, however, that - partly due to the pandemic - a considerable number of employees report being stressed and burned out: 38 percent are according to the current study, compared to 26 percent before Corona.

The study makers of the consulting firm Gallup point out that increased loyalty to the employer reduces stress and protects against burnout.

"Above all, it is and remains good leadership that acts as an emotional catchment basin and protects against fluctuation," says Marko Nink, who is in charge of the Gallup study.