One in Three Employees Plan to Look for a New Job Next Year, According to New iCIMS Research

The iCIMS 2023 Workforce Report explores workplace shifts and reveals how fears of the unknown are creating a culture of change

HOLMDEL, N.J. [Nov. 15, 2022] – In the face of business disruption and new outlooks on work, the only constant is change in today’s workplace. iCIMS today published the 2023 Workforce Report to identify key business trends and understand employee sentiment to help employers adapt talent strategies and be successful in the next year and beyond.

The new research revealed one in three workers plan to look for a new job in 2023, but another third of workers plan to dig in with their current role, taking on more hours and responsibilities. The dichotomy in the workplace, constant upheaval and mixed messages are impacting the way people work and challenging organizations’ ability to retain and grow their workforce. Having the right technology across every stage of the talent journey is more important than ever before to support today’s workforce dynamics.

“New demands require employers to modernize their approach to hiring and retaining talent,” said Laura Coccaro, chief people officer, iCIMS. “We need to help employees take ownership of their careers – ensuring employees have the right skills and are empowered to grow and evolve with your company will be essential in 2023 and beyond. After years of upheaval, the new year provides an opportunity for us to collectively reset and redefine workplace norms, organization structure and processes.”

Establishing a New Foundation for the Future of Work

• Employees want an even playing field for skills development and promotions. Nearly 60% of people believe they are more likely to get training or learning opportunities in an in-person environment. Women (41%) more so than men (32%) thought they were less likely to receive a promotion if they worked remotely. Business leaders should provide an equal opportunity for upward mobility and personalized talent experiences, regardless of an employee’s location.
• Skills-based growth cultures wins over flashy office perks. Only 16% of workers say non-traditional work perks, like gym memberships, play a role in their decision to accept a job offer, but 78% noted that formal training programs are top of mind in their career decisions.
• Having the right technology will be crucial for hiring and retaining talent. Three out of four business leaders say that retaining talent will be a bigger challenge than hiring talent in 2023. If companies struggle to retain talent, talent acquisition will be increasingly more important. Talent teams need the right tech partner that can help them to automate processes, personalize candidate and employee experiences, hire at scale and improve talent mobility, so they can meet talent acquisition and retention goals.
• There is still room for improvement with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) Nearly 60% of workers rank their company’s DEI initiatives as effective, yet most respondents are not seeing these practices in place at their workplace frequently (such as pronouns, celebrations of different cultures, unconscious bias training or allyship programs). Belonging is fundamental to creating a workplace environment where all employees feel accepted and valued. Yet, more than half of people say they do not feel either.

What Talent Acquisition Professionals Need to Know

• Economic uncertainty is driving the decision making of job seekers. Nearly 80% of workers do not feel financially or professionally secure right now and 21% indicated that the economy is making them feel more anxious about keeping their jobs, which is impacting their mental health. Employers cannot assuage the workforce’s angst about the economy but having a better understanding of their concerns surrounding stability and security can help business leaders drive better outcomes.
• Recruit from within to increase engagement and employee satisfaction. iCIMS’ research uncovered that 70% of workers do not know how to progress in their careers and less than half (42%) say it is easy to find and apply to open jobs internally. Employers moved away from traditional career development over the last two years because of high turnover and operating at such a fast pace. With the new year upon us, leaders must hit “reset” and reestablish a foundation for internal mobility.
• Shifting priorities in the workplace means talents leaders need to remain agile to ever-changing talent needs. Today, 42% of employees say work is not their top priority and 63% reported that they work to live – not the other way around. As workers’ priorities shift, talent leaders must evolve with them. Using more personalization and automation throughout the talent acquisition journey will help enable recruiters to engage the right talent and pivot quickly to meet changing business and talent needs.

Explore more findings and advice in iCIMS’ third annual Workforce Report, which brings together workforce perspectives from thousands of job seekers, insights from HR and business leaders and labor market data from iCIMS’ proprietary database of employer and job seeker activity from more than 4,000 customers.

Learn how business leaders are leveraging iCIMS data and the iCIMS Talent Cloud to transform their approach to talent and future-ready their business at iCIMS INSPIRE global conference this Thursday, Nov. 17.