Take off Your Resume and Stay Awhile

My father retired from Macy's in 1986.  He worked for the company for 36 years. He was THE model employee and largely responsible for my own solid work ethic.  Dad went to work in the heaviest of snows; stayed well past 10 pm during the holiday season; and almost never missed a day due to illness. More importantly, he never complained.  He made a decent living and never regretted sticking it out with a single employer for most of his adult life.  

OK.  36 years at a single employer may be an extreme example of job stability; but we might also think that individuals with two or three years each at five different employers over a ten year period might also represent an extreme. But, according to recent statistics, it does not.  Careers and resumes littered with numerous jobs over a relatively short period of years is more common - these days - than many of us may realize.

The average worker today stays at each of his or her jobs for 4.4 years, according to the most recent available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014), but the expected tenure of the workforce's youngest employees is about half that.

Ninety-one percent of Millennials (born between 1977-1997) expect to stay in a job for less than three years, according to the Future Workplace “Multiple Generations @ Work” survey of 1,189 employees and 150 managers. That means they would have 15 – 20 jobs over the course of their working lives!

Is this really a good trend for employers, the economy, the employees or the children of employees looking for role models like my own dad?  I argue, no - it's not!

Our Work Behaviors Impacts Our Own Careers and The World Economy

First of all, be aware that recruiters screen out chronic job-hoppers, instead seeking prospective employees who seem to offer longevity. Most employers question such applicants’ motivation, skill level, engagement on the-job and ability to get along with other colleagues.

The cost of simply finding the right person to hire can be hefty, so employers try their best to avoid making bad hires. Not every new hire will demand the entire process, but even an $8/hour employee can end up costing a company around $3,500 in turnover costs, both direct and indirect.

Once on board most new hires require some degree of training. In a report from Training magazine in 2007, companies spent an average of over $1,200 annually per employee. In 2005, employees spent an average of 32 hours per year on training.

What is the actual cost of training new hires?  You must factor in the cost of both formal training (including training materials) and the time managers must dedicate as well as that of key coworkers to train the new employee to achieve 100% productivity.

According to Joe Hadzima, a columnist for the Boston Business Journal and lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management, the salary plus benefits usually totals "in the 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary range." Hence, the salary plus benefits package for a $50,000/year employee could equal $62,500 to $70,000. Hey job applicants - focusing solely on salary offers may be a mistake!

Wanna know why we are partially paying more and more for goods and services? Consider the cost of job-hopping and turnover to employers and the economy as part of the price tags for everything we buy.

Our Work Behaviors Effect Our Future Workforce - Our Children

Aside from the risk of being labeled a "job hopper" we may find ourselves potentially losing out on our dream jobs when jittery employers elect to pass on our resumes and on us.  In addition, the cost to employers and the economy of making bad hires is very high, And, there is also the negative effects  that "job hopping" parents can have on highly impressionable young children - our future work force.

Let's talk about our kids. One of the most powerful skills children possess is their ability to observe. Children want to model the behaviors of their parents - all parental behaviors. This places a major responsibility on parents to model themselves, wisely.

Work-family spillover is generally understood to describe the interface between work and family life, with experiences of paid work possibly spilling over in positive or negative ways to family life.  There have been studies that show that both positive and negative influences in the workforce are passed on to children by their working parents.  So, are patterns of career instability  - Job Hopping!

Overall, parents' and children's perceptions tended to align fairly closely. According to the results of a recent Australian study, when boys and girls said that their mother and or father liked their job a lot, around three-quarters of mothers and or fathers considered that their job was positive for and benefited their children. In contrast, fewer than 60% of mothers and or fathers thought their job was positive for or benefited their children when their children thought that their father did not like his job (or liked it very little).

Potential Conclusion

From this modeling behavior and alignment of perceptions, we might also assume that children of job hopping parents may also tend to emulate their parents behaviors later in life.  Think about it.  If parents do not reinforce the concept of job stability in their family lives, what is to be expected from future generations of employees and their impact on the workforce and overall economy?

Note: My views on topics are my own based on personal experiences and are not reflective of any others.