According to Gartner’s Q3 Global Talent Monitor, Australian employees are no longer entertaining negative experiences with their co-workers. The data collection from Gartner aims to evaluate how Australian employees are faring with their current employers and jobs.
Co-working relationships now ranks as the third most important factor as to why employees leave their jobs, jumping up eight places in the drivers of attrition.
Australian employees are fed-up with underperforming co-workers dragging their performance down and are seeking greener pastures with more skilled colleagues.
Just compare with last quarter, job-seeking behaviour has increased 3.6 per cent. Supporting this, the workers’ intent to stay with their current employer fell 3.6 per cent.
You may think that it’s not that concerning to see an increase in job-seeking behaviour at the moment, given that we’re coming to the end of the calendar year, however Aaron McEwan, VP Research & Advisor of Gartner, explains why this isn’t the case.
He said, “With talks of a recession looming and a flat job market showing no sign of picking up, the fact that employees are ready to jump ship into murky waters should set alarm bells ringing for employers.”
According to Mr McEwan, the next few months will serve as a crucial period for employers to demonstrate their understanding, respect and commitment to employee needs.
Respect itself rose four places to be the No.1 driver of attrition, followed by development opportunities, which rose two places and is now the No. 2 reason Australian employees cite for leaving their current organisation.
Top attrition reasons for Australian employees
No.1 Respect
No.2 Develop opportunities
No.3 Co-worker quality
These are currently the top reasons for employees looking elsewhere for jobs in Australia.
“In a workforce where respect, co-worker quality and development opportunities are highly valued, and where poor performance and behavior are not tolerated, organisations must ensure they’re building and supporting high performing teams and managing poor performance where necessary,” Aaron said.
Another recent Gartner survey found that 82% of employees report they need to collaborate closely with their colleagues in order to get work done.
In a stretched workforce, employees know they can’t afford to have their performance hindered by co-workers who are not pulling their weight.
Looking across the world, things look a little different, and ‘crappy co-workers’ does not position in the top three like it does down under. Internationally, the most common top three drivers of attrition are compensation, future career opportunities and people management.
Global Talent Monitor data is drawn from the larger Gartner Global Labor Market Survey which is made up of more than 30,000 employees in 40 countries, including 1,417 in Australia this quarter.
The survey is conducted quarterly and is reflective of market conditions during the quarter preceding publication.
