Money not only motivator for job change

Women were most likely to leave a job due to dissatisfaction with culture.

With so many employees trying to support families while paying substantial rents or huge mortgages, you'd be forgiven for thinking that "more money" would be the number one reason people change jobs, but a new report says that isn't so.

After surveying 719 job changers in Australia and New Zealand, LinkedIn has released its 2015 Job Switchers Report, which also used LinkedIn data when analysing the psychology and motivations of those recently switching jobs.

Jason Laufer, director of LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Australia and New Zealand, says the surveys and data threw up some interesting findings.

The number one reason (at 42 per cent) that people left their old job was because they were dissatisfied with the leadership or senior management of the company. Laufer says this all comes down to the culture, values and direction of the organisation. "It was fascinating to go through the research and see that more and more, people are leaving an organisation because its values are no longer aligned to their personal values."

He says that while everybody's personal values are different, the research shows that harmony, flexibility and work/life balance are important to many people, "along with companies that have a real sense of purpose, that are contributing to different movements, societies and charities. This has become a really big trend in what people are looking for in an organisation."

A substantial number of women, compared to men, left an organisation because they were dissatisfied with the culture and work environment. Laufer says this again comes back to work/life harmony and especially flexibility around children. But another big one for women, versus men, was having pride in the company they worked for and a sense of purpose in their workplace.

"What's really fascinating," says Laufer, "is that 57 per cent of job switchers moved for a stronger career opportunity over financial gain. The research tells us that money isn't always the deciding factor. It's definitely a factor, but having that career opportunity and the alignment of culture and values is so much more important than the financial gain." In fact, only 22 per cent of Australians changed jobs for more money, and some said they would be prepared to take a pay cut for the right job.

The report found that one in three people are "career changers", i.e. they leave an organisation to move to an entirely new function. The other 67 per cent are "lateral movers" - they move to a new company but carry out the same job. Laufer says this shows that many people are happy in their line of work or their function, they're just unhappy with the organisation. "It again comes back to culture, values and direction," says Laufer. "Just under half said they might have stayed in their role if the company had changed slightly to meet their needs. It came out loud and clear that people were dissatisfied with the work environment and that the company's values didn't meet their own."

The biggest issue for almost half of everybody that changes jobs is not knowing what the new company will be like. The fear of going to all the effort of moving to a new organisation and then finding you've "jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire" can be mitigated by being proactive as you start the job hunting process.

Laufer advises taking several steps to ensure you find an organisation with the right fit:

*Look at the LinkedIn profiles of other employees and potentially connect with them, if it's politically correct to do so in that organisation. Learn through their profiles about the composition of the people who work there, what they're like, the flavour of the organisation.

* If the organisation has a LinkedIn career page, go there to gain an understanding of their values and their culture.

* Look at the company's website -- you can gain a lot of valuable information from that.

* Look at the press. Do Google searches and see what articles have been written about them, see what they stand for and what they're doing for society.

* Interview the organisation, based on your needs, as much as the organisation interviews you. Ask questions on what the company does for society, what they believe in, the spirit of the organisation, the individuals.

* Don't be afraid to ask for a tour of the workplace. At LinkedIn, we give candidates tours through the workplace because we believe the physical work environment is paramount to somebody's happiness.

* To ensure a happy outcome, only consider applying for jobs at organisations whose culture, values and direction align closely with your own personal beliefs and values.