There were days when people worked in an organization till their retirement but now the things have changed drastically. People are frequently changing one organization to another and finding greener pastures when the need arises or so it seems.
What Compels People to Change Jobs? what role does psychology plays here?
When people make certain decisions related to their life, education, relationships, employment, future endeavors there also psychology plays an important role as to why different people act differently in similar situations.
According to researcher and Clinical psychologist Joel Low, there is a difference between healthy and unhealthy job hopping’s.
Changing jobs when one has gained enough skills and could take on different challenges or more responsibility or they think they deserve better is not a bad thing and to some extent is healthy but when hopping increases abnormally in an attempt for finding satisfaction and not learning or progressing by settling themselves in one organization is unhealthy. Research says jumping jobs can negatively impact a person’s daily functions and quality of life as well.
Psychologically it is difficult to pinpoint one or two key reasons or issues when it comes to extreme job hopping, it could be a combination of factors working in tandem, such as an individual’s past experiences, temperaments expectations, circumstances at work, or inability to find one’s place.
But broadly three main factors that results in hopping:
- Impatience and wanting fast results. People with “greener grass syndrome,” where they begin to believe that anything would be better than the situation, they’re currently in, as a result they act impatiently, they believe that effective way to increase salary is to change jobs. Research says, in general, when you stay at your current job, you’ll get a 5 -10% pay increase. However, when you switch jobs, you’ll likely receive a 25 -30% salary bump.
- Compare and try to keep up with their peers as social media provides a window into other people’s lives. Internet and social media have provided opportunity where one can compare their lifestyle with other and thus runs to achieve those same standards.
- Mindset where employees believe they deserve more money or better jobs. People believes that they’re underpaid as per their knowledge, skills and market rates, thus hop for better jobs.
If you see, each of the above factors have an underlying theme of being discontent with one’s current situation and that often happens due to lack of purpose in life. If we are not clear about what success means to and what is our purpose, then our mind will be distracted and that breeds discontentment. And that discontentment may not be addressed by even switching to a new job.
Workers have to understand that job hopping might help in some short-term gain, but it will be dangerous in long-term. “If you keep jumping for money but don’t explore your passions/pirpose, you’re going to end up dissatisfied,” said J.T O’Donnell, founder and CEO of Work It Daily, speaking with NBC News. “Eventually, you’re going to hit a plateau where you’ll be overpriced for the market, but you won’t have built a track record of results throughout your career, so no one’s going to want you.” So, ask yourself if we are ready for the long term consequence of job hopping?
To avoid falling in the above trap, consider doing introspection to define what success means to you, then define the goals aligned to the picture of our personal success and then act on those goals by choosing the right place to work.
