Almost a quarter of full-time workers are considering leaving their current job

By Jon Bragg

April 11 2022
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Younger workers are the most likely to be thinking about quitting.

More evidence of the great resignation in Australia has emerged with a new survey finding that 22 per cent of Aussie workers were considering leaving their current place of employment during the first quarter.

NAB found that full-time workers were more likely to be considering leaving their current job in the next 12 months (23 per cent) in comparison to part-time workers (19 per cent).

A further 41 per cent of all workers said they weren’t considering leaving but were keeping up to date with potential job opportunities, including 45 per cent of full-time and 37 per cent of part-time employees.

Younger workers in the 18 to 29 age group were the most likely to be considering a change (24 per cent) and to not be considering a change but still be keeping up with potential opportunities (50 per cent).

Older age groups were progressively less likely to be considering leaving their job, dropping to only 13 per cent of workers aged over 65.

“COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the workplace, blending work and life with lasting impacts on workplace culture, employee attitudes and expectations,” said NAB.

The survey found that Aussies were spending 38 per cent of their work week at home but wanted to ideally be spending 49 per cent.

Meanwhile, more than one in four workers said they were very much looking forward to getting back to the workplace.

“While working from home has been a positive experience for many, remote working can also result in some employees feeling less connected to colleagues and struggling to manage work-life balance,” NAB said.

Men were more likely to want to go back to the workplace (31 per cent) than women (21 per cent) while workers aged under 50 were the most keen to return.

Commute time is the biggest barrier to returning according to 40 per cent of workers, and about one in four said they would be extremely likely to consider changing jobs if it meant a reduction in travel time.

Other barriers to returning included fear of catching COVID-19 or transmitting it to others (33 per cent), traffic congestion (31 per cent) and loss of flexibility for exercise and other activities (30 per cent).

Workers were also concerned about changing their routines (27 per cent), spending less time with family and friends (26 per cent) and the cost of public transport (25 per cent).

“Flexible working has become considerably more important in attracting and retaining talent as many employees have grown accustomed to less traditional work hours,” NAB said.

“Some businesses may require a more compelling employee proposition to prevent costly and time-consuming people movement. With the labour market expected to remain tight, the relationship between the employee and employer is now much less one-sided.”

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