Professionals hatching a 'Plan B' due to fears over job security
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Low confidence levels in job security is seeing a rise in employed people wanting a ‘Plan B’, actively refreshing their CVs and keeping tabs on current vacancies — a trend known as ‘career cushioning’.
While Ireland’s 3.8% unemployment rate is remarkably low, many people are still feeling insecure about the changing nature of the workplace, and are worried about global and domestic economic turbulence.
A recent survey of 2,000 white-collar workers by recruitment firm Robert Walters found that 35% of workers have admitted to taking steps to ‘prepare to look for another job’. Around 75% cite the turbulent economy as the reason for their current mindset.
Suzanne Feeney, country manager at Robert Walters Ireland, said: “This survey highlights how acutely aware professionals are of the difficulties organisations are currently facing due to challenging economic conditions — hence the rise of ‘career cushioning’ tactics as a protective measure.
“Staff retention needs to be top of all employers list at the moment to ensure that employees don’t actually take the final step of applying for other roles.
“On the other side, my advice to professionals is to not be blind — if you are concerned about job security in any way then my advice would be to prepare for finding a new role sooner rather than later. Start with some very simple steps such as updating your LinkedIn profile, sign up to job alerts, and refresh your CV.”
The professionals surveyed by Robert Walters say they are regularly monitoring the jobs market, refreshing their CV and networking to stay abreast of job opportunities.
The Robert Walters survey links the rise in career cushioning to ongoing lay-offs in Ireland’s tech sector. Some 70% of respondents cited lack of job security from their company as their main reason for trawling the jobs market, while 56% cited turbulent economic conditions, with 44% pointing to internal changes within their business, and 35% highlighting low job satisfaction.
For some people, however, trawling the market led to believe that their current role was probably better than the alternative opportunities they were looking into. Around 25% of professionals admitted that their perusal of the jobs market and self-assessment of their skills has led them to appreciate their employer more — with a further 20% admitting that they have discovered their current employer pays better than the market average.
Suzanne Feeney said: “Career cushioning needn’t always be looked at as a negative by employers, in many cases it can lead to employees upskilling, being more determined to succeed or engaging in more networking — bringing greater value to the business.
“There is no guarantee that those that ‘career cushion’ will leave, it’s an old adage but employees researching opportunities elsewhere can often illustrate to them that the grass isn’t always greener.”
Meanwhile, the global picture is also one of workers itching to change jobs. A LinkedIn survey of over 2,000 workers in the UK found that 60% were updating their skills with plans to change jobs during 2023.
Another LinkedIn survey of 4,000 workers in India, Singapore, Japan and Australia also found that the majority of people were considering a job switch this year. Many cited rising living costs and said they were seeking better pay and conditions.
Damien McCarthy, of HR and recruitment firm HR Buddy, says that more and more workers are actively jobseeking. He points to high profile lay-offs in the tech world and continuing worry of the cost-of-living crisis and threat of a possible recession.
“The worker’s reaction is to create a safety net or a back-up if it all goes wrong. Therefore, it is thought that many now are ‘open to work’ and increasing their networking activity or re-skilling or up-skilling on the side of their current job in order to keep their options open, should things go south in 2023,” he said.
“The panic around job security has replaced a wave of ‘quiet quitting’ with ‘career cushioning’, a workplace trend that has employees scrambling for a ‘Plan B’.
“There is an argument, of course, that any savvy professional will do this anyway and always has done, but the fact that it seems more prominent in recent months tells us that there is a great deal of uncertainty for many heading into 2023.”
Mr McCarthy says it is not surprising that workers are behaving this way and increasing efforts to achieve a sense of security. He says people are still shook by the global health pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis.
“It is natural that workers will seek what they see to be an insurance policy to make themselves feel more safe and secure,” he said.