Job hopping in Europe increases

March 5 2007

Dutchman most loyal to his employer

Employees in Europe are increasingly switching jobs. This can be concluded out of recent research by Effectory in eight European countries. The percentage job hoppers in Europe rose to 26.5%. The employee survey also showed that the Dutch are the most committed employees in Europe.
Effectory conducted a study in eight European countries: The Netherland, Belgium, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. The findings of this study have resulted in the European Motivation Index®. This index numerically describes the work ethic in Europe.

Job hopping increases in Europe

The employee survey by Effectory shows that the amount of committed employees that leave their organisation has increased. The percentage of leavers from the previous survey in 2006 was 23.1%. Now this percentage is 26.5%. According to Marc Sijtstra, director of Effectory, this should send out an alarm signal to organisations: “This increase shows that employees’ choices are growing again and the phenomenon job hopping is once again making a rise.”

Commitment and loyalty in the Netherlands

The European study also shows that Dutch employees are more committed and loyal than employees from other European countries. For loyalty the Netherlands scores 6.2, while for example the United Kingdom, France and Sweden score lower, respectively 5.7, 5.7 and 5.8.
“Although the Netherlands scores higher on commitment and loyalty, Dutch companies can not afford to sit back”, says Sijtstra. “Also in the Netherlands there is a small decrease in commitment noticeable since the beginning of 2007. Now the labour market is tightening again, these variables start to play a big role”. The most important factors that influence the retention of employees are, according to Sijtstra, the organisation itself, the development opportunities and the activities that an employee carries out.

Committed employees with intention to leave in Europe: