W W W . N R P A . O R G | J U N E 2 0 1 4 | Parks & Recreation
For nearly a decade in the early part of my career I worked for a prominent executive recruiting/ consulting firm. During my first week on the job, I remember the Director explaining the firm’s clientele standards by saying, “if they’ve had more than three jobs in twenty years, just file their resume in the trash.” He was of the Baby Boomer generation so he viewed longevity as a badge of honor if not its own measure of career success.
Retention
Evolution
Fast forward a few
decades - Forbes publishes an article in 2012 declaring that Job Hopping is
the New Normal and the entire definition and expectations of employee
retention has been upended. By a Millennial’s assessment, a resume with only
three jobs in twenty years probably wouldn’t signify dedication, depth and
perseverance but rather a deficit of skill, will or creativity.
In 2012, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported that the average job-stay had devolved to 4.4
years. Just two years later, current reports suggest that the tenure of the
teens and young adults entering the workforce today will actually be about half
that. That could amount to more than twenty employers in a single career!
Organizations still trying to measure their workforce successes by Boomer
retention standards will need to brace themselves for frequent frustration if
not disappointment and defeat.
