US Workforce Expected to Experience Massive Shift in 2015

REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwired - January 27, 2015) - Employers: This is your wake-up call. With a new year comes change and that is exactly what one third of the US workforce are currently doing as 36% of employees are looking for a new job according to a new survey from Saba.

Citing career growth opportunity as the number one driver of change, the survey of over 2,000 US adults age 18 and over, conducted online in December by Harris Poll on behalf of Saba, yielded telling insights revealing a demand for employers to grow and retain talent and address differences amongst diverse generations. Including:

• 32% of U.S. adults (employed and unemployed) are currently looking for a new job; on average, those employed and looking for a new job would like to leave their jobs in about 7 months (from December when the survey was conducted)
• 44% of Manager/Supervisor level are looking for a new job; which may compound the market anticipatedⁱ job gap exposure of the retiring baby boomers
• 45% of employees aged 25-34 are looking as well
• 59% of those who are looking for a new job have been in their current roles less than 5 years; they're more likely than those who aren't job hunting to be in their roles for this amount of time -- those employed in their current roles less than 5 years make up nearly half (47%) of the of the employed US workforce.

"2014 was a milestone year for US employers as the country continues to climb out of the recession," said Emily He, Chief Marketing Officer, Saba. "While businesses have had their focus on Millennials, it's clear that smart companies need to double-down and invest in employees at all levels who they know are critical to the success of their business. Organizations who don't get in front of this -- now -- do so at the peril of year end earnings and growth." 

The data yielded a juxtaposition where both employer and employee can come together. 

• 90% of those employed full-time/part-time want to drive their own career path
• 55% of those employed full-time/part-time expect their company to play an active role in their individual career options; 60% of male employees expect this, vs. 49% of female employees.
• 38% of full-time, part-time and self-employed Millennials are looking for a job with more meaning
• Entry level folks are twice as likely as managers/supervisors (43% vs. 21%) to want roles with more meaning. 
• 68% of full-time and part-time employees feel they are already leaders based on participation in the business (73% men, 60% women) , with managers more likely being in agreement with this statement than entry level or individual contributors by 30% (85% v 55%, respectively).

"While we're seeing generational differences between Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials' expectations in the workforce, each subset -- and indeed, each individual -- is asking for a varied approach in the 'how, where and when' to provide guidance and support," said He. "Investments in software platforms with predictive analytics capabilities, like Saba's Cloud-based Intelligent Talent Management solution, can help address these asks seamlessly with more personalized compensation, learning and performance feedback. This makes the employers' job easier in meeting both employees' needs and overall business growth."

The newest update, the Saba Cloud Winter release, also announced today, powers insight for better retention including "what if" career path modeling, personalized compensation and collaborative performance feedback. For more information, on Saba Cloud Winter release, click here.

Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States between December 5-9, 2014 among 2,008 adults (aged 18 and over) by Harris Poll on behalf of Saba via its Quick Query omnibus product. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact MWW at SabaSoftware@mww.com

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, the words "margin of error" are avoided as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the online panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Saba
Saba (OTCPink: SABA) delivers a cloud-based intelligent talent management solution used by leading organizations worldwide to hire, develop, engage and inspire their people. With machine learning at its core, Saba Cloud offers proactive, personalized recommendations on candidates, connections and content to help employees and businesses lead and succeed. It is purpose-built on a highly scalable platform that exceeds industry security and reliability standards. Saba has more than 31 million users and 2,200 customers across 195 countries and 37 languages. Learn more about intelligent talent management at www.saba.com.

ⁱ Source: SHRM - AARP Strategic Workforce Planning, April 9, 2012