Three quarters of employees are looking for a new job.
Pay is one factor influencing people to think about swapping jobs. But a new survey by recruitment firm Hudson has found that boredom and a desire for new challenges are even bigger motivating factors.
The survey found 41 percent of employees are actively looking for work, while another 34 percent are passively looking.
The number of people seeking a new job is up by more than 20 percent on the first half of this year.
Hudson says the challenge for employers is to identify staff who might be a "flight risk" and find ways to address those people's "push factors."
Hudson New Zealand Regional General Manager, Roman Rogers, says "Employers who provide stretch assignments, and create clear, meaningful career plans, will be better placed to retain their top talent."
Hudson says the healthy job market is encouraging people to think about making a change.
The report, which surveyed 1300 employees and employers, found that firms across all sectors are looking to hire people. A net 29 percent of firms plan to hire staff before the end of the year.
Fifty four percent of telecommunications companies want to hire staff, followed by Information Technology (48 percent), Construction (46 percent), Manufacturing (38 percent), Financial Services (37 percent) and the Government (28 percent).
The South Island showed the biggest increase in intention to hire, with 49 percent of employers planning to hire staff between now and December. That is an increase of almost nine percentage points on the first half of the year.
A net 28.8 percent of lower North Island employers intend hiring staff, while in the upper North Island a net 33.8 percent intend taking on extra staff.
There appears to be a disconnect between how management and staff view innovation.
Both employers and employees overwhelmingly agree that innovation is important but there is a stark difference in opinion when it comes to the issue of putting innovation into practise in the workplace.
Ninety seven percent of employers say their organisation has a culture that drives and rewards innovation.
However only 21 percent of employees say their organisation encourages innovation to a strong extent. Only 23 percent of staff believe their organisation has created a culture that drives and rewards innovation.
"There is a real tension. You have employers saying they want to be game-changers, and employees flaunting innovative traits to increase their hire-ability. But in reality, there are a lot of people that actually aren't wired to operate well amidst constant and aggressive change."
Only one in every two employers has a defined plan for training staff.
Sixty percent of employees feel more pressure now to learn new skills or improve existing skills. However, less than half of the respondents to the survey felt they had adequate support from their manager or organisation.
Hudson NZ's Roman Rogers says "Only one in two feel their employer is a true partner in meeting their skills needs. This should sound alarm bells for employers, given the high proportion of people planning to leave their jobs."
Some staff are taking matters into their own hands by using their own time to learn new skills.
But Roman Rogers says that poses a challenge for employers too.
"This self-directed approach creates a risk for employers, given peoples' own learning agendas may not align with the business priorities of their organisations."
Hudson says negotiation and influencing is the number one learning priority for employees, but is only sixth on the list of soft skills in demand by employers.
Newshub.
