Not in it for the Money

Research from Cezanne HR finds nearly half of employees are actively looking for a new job – but not for the money.

Cezanne HR, a leading provider of modern, flexible HR systems for UK and global businesses, has conducted extensive research into the state of employee satisfaction in both the UK and Ireland. The results shed light on what is going wrong, and what HR teams can do to boost vital employee engagement and retention.

45% of UK and Irish employees want to leave

Cezanne HR’s survey of UK and Irish employees from private-sector businesses, conducted in collaboration with Pollfish, discovered that nearly half of UK and Irish employees are actively looking to leave their current jobs. When questioned as to why they were looking to leave their roles, a dislike of their core duties was given as the most popular answer, followed by a lack of work flexibility and poor company culture.

In addition, the report uncovered that:

• Only 48% of UK and Irish employees are satisfied in their roles
• Under half of employees in the UK and Ireland feel valued by their employer
• Poor workplace morale is affecting two-fifths of employees
• Nearly 60% of employees don’t know or align with their organisation’s values
• 45% of employees say they’re actively looking to leave their current role
• Nearly a quarter of employees believe their senior leader’s lack of communications is harming their workplace satisfaction
• Only 55% of employees feel their efforts are recognised by their employer

Paul Bauer, Cezanne HR’s Head of Content commented: “We’ve seen several negative and highly damaging trends sweeping through British and Irish workspaces over the past few years. The ‘Great Resignation’, ‘Quiet Quitting’ and more recently the social media trend of ‘Bare Minimum Mondays’ have devastated productivity and caused huge headaches for people practitioners. We wanted to understand why these types of negative trends keep surfacing, and our latest report uncovers the answers.”

A positive work-life balance is key

Along with looking at what’s damaging employee satisfaction, Cezanne HR’s report also shines a spotlight on what organisations are doing to support positive workplace experiences and employer-employee relationships – and the majority didn’t come down to monetary-based rewards.

Paul added: “Great employee engagement or retention strategies don’t have to involve monetary-based rewards or perks to keep employees happy and contented. Our survey found that satisfied employees value things that money doesn’t necessarily buy, such as a positive work-life balance, the relationships they have with colleagues and the environment they work in.”

Paul concluded: “If employers and their HR teams want to prevent building a workforce full of dissatisfied employees, they must assess how satisfying their organisation is to work for, and what can be done to nurture a rewarding employment experience for everyone.”

You can download the full report and actionable insights by following this link.