Ep. 128 - What Workers Want 2023: Insights From This Year’s State of Work and Career Success Study - with Gina Woodall & Scott Vanderbilt
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We can see a shift in our relationship with work over the last few years. All of these articles and Twitter threads about things like The Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting, Career Cushioning... There is this collective desire to be better, to do better, and to feel better, and everyone is scrambling for the right information and language to better understand these phenomena.
That’s why I partner with Rockbridge Associates to survey workers in the United States every year. I want to help people having these conversations understand how people are feeling about work and life right now, track how they are progressing over time, and offer context for why they feel this way.
So, today I’m talking with two of my research partners to break down the key takeaways from The State of Work and Career Success 2023.
Gina Woodall is President of Rockbridge Associates, a market research firm that has studied workforce trends for over a decade, as demographic, technological, and societal effects have changed how and why Americans work.
Scott Vanderbilt is a senior market research professional with 20+ years of academic and professional experience in research methodology and statistical analysis, and he brings additional insight into this topic as someone who has recently worked in the staffing industry.
The Bottom Line: Listen to the Voice of the Workforce
We started thinking about doing this research study in 2019 because we wanted to know what it takes to be successful in the new world of work. But we didn’t know just how much the world was going to change in the years that followed.
There’s been a lot of turmoil in our careers and our lives. But a silver lining of these last few years is that I think a lot of people are, some for the first time, considering what they really want out of life. And I believe people are now uniquely empowered to take the reins of their career to create the life that they want, and a lot of people seem to be doing it.
Because we are seeing improvements in overall success for workers year over year. We’re still only talking about half of the U.S. workforce feeling successful, but I’ll take progress over stagnation. And if you listen to the Voice of the Workforce, if you take a moment to ask, people will tell you what they want and need to feel successful in the new world of work.
Unfortunately, the results of our survey indicate that a lot of business leaders aren’t listening.
While we do see marginal improvements for workers as a result of the activities they’re doing to drive success, it appears to be in spite of the gap between what they want and expect from their employer and the support their organizations offer. There is only so much individuals can do without institutional support.
Leaders and employees need to become partners invested in mutual success — because when people feel more successful, organizational outcomes also improve — but the onus is on organizational leaders to communicate this partnership. Most workers already view work and life as integrated, so setting up your employees for success requires recognizing the broader levers that influence their performance and engagement.
It is imperative that leaders listen to the Voice of the Workforce if they want to nurture engagement and bolster performance, and I think that’s the single most impactful thing we could do to make people feel happier and more successful.
Key Takeaways from The State of Work & Career Success 2023
More than half of all workers in the United States feel more positive about their progress year over year (51% satisfied with their career progress vs. 45% last year), but there’s still a lot of room for growth.
Greater satisfaction with career progress is translating into a greater percentage of workers feeling more successful, with more than a third (34%) of the workforce rating their progress moderately to highly successful, up from 29% a year ago.
Worker attitudes about careers continue to reflect a desire for flexibility, individuality, work-life integration, and ongoing development:
Sixty-four percent say ‘I work best when I can work anywhere I want’ and 62% say ‘I work best when I can work when I want.'
Nearly half (53%) agree that their professional ambition isn’t tied to being part of a company, and that number goes up among those in their 30s (58%).
Over 60% feel work and life are integrated, and this sentiment goes up to almost 70% among those in their 20s and 30s.
Further, more than half of workers now report that they believe their employer should prepare them for the future of work (52% ‘23 vs 46% ‘22). Roughly 60% of those in their 20s and 30s feel this way.
U.S. workers indicate that work needs to fit into their life vs. fitting their life around work.
Seventy-five percent of workers report that ‘it is important to have boundaries with work so it doesn’t interfere with my personal life’
Two-thirds of workers think ‘my work should accommodate the way I want to live my life.’
Aligning personal values with an organization’s values is important to most U.S. workers (65%), but only 17% report that their current workplace has that alignment.
Job benefits (e.g., healthcare, retirement plan, etc.) and perks matter significantly more in a worker’s decision about where they work this year over last year.
82% indicate availability of job benefits and 66% identify perks such as a nice office influences where they choose to work.
Although workers are feeling more successful, there has been no change in terms of the impact it has had on employee engagement.
Fewer than half are likely to stay at their current job.
More workers this year are indicating that their reason for leaving is because they feel their career will benefit from working somewhere else.
Individuals who feel they are making progress in their career are consistently making progress in their life.
This is true when it comes to the goals they have, the activities they engage with, or their overall sentiments around success. And this forward progress translates into positive organizational outcomes from a retention, commitment and word-of-mouth perspective.
Resources
Read the full report at whatworkerswant.com
Learn more about Rockbridge at rockresearch.com