“The whole pleasure of love is in change,” said Molière. But is it the same for work? Yes, the numbers say. The French – but there is no cultural exception here – are increasingly changing positions, companies, and even professions. The average length of service in the same company over the last ten years has dropped from six to three years (Insee, 2022). Turnover has almost quintupled in 30 years. 36% of executives intend to change employers this year (Apec 2023). Not to mention the boom in the number of freelancers (+92% since 2009, source Eurostat).
Perhaps you are also one of those executives who are tempted to fidget. But without daring to take the plunge. A reluctance that can be explained. “Because we have a loan on our backs, a salary that falls regularly or it took us a long time to get a job, we are not very proactive,” analyzes Thomas Simon, professor of human resources at the MBS school in Montpellier. A desire for change thwarted, therefore, by a need for security: “It’s a bit like the fable of the dog and the wolf: the wolf is free but hungry and the dog is on a leash but always has something to eat,” summarizes the researcher.
Be careful not to stay in this buffer zone for too long, hoping that things will settle down and improve. Pay attention to these little warning signs that can one day become symptomatic. of greater difficulty. Until finding oneself with one’s back against the wall. The American Business Magazine Fast Company listed a few: “the frenzy of emails received outside of working hours, micromanagement, unrealistic deadlines and goals, and a total disregard for work-life balance”. A list from hell to which Thomas Simon (who conducted a study of 35 young graduates who had slammed the door on their company) adds “processes that must be constantly followed but which are never questioned”. Or the event too many that makes the camel’s back overflow. What the management professor calls the “shock of the absurd”.
There is also reason to ask questions when “daily relationships with one’s manager or colleagues are constantly conflictual, and the space for discussion is not possible”, explains researcher Domitille Bonneton. “Missions that are completely out of step with our skills or our inclinations are also much stronger warning signs”, adds this professor at ESC Clermont Business School. And then there are more innocuous signs, but which do not deceive. Camille Cherkaoui, a lecturer and researcher at the EDC business school, takes a simple example: “when you start complaining about the commute time when it hasn’t changed since you started your job years ago, it could be hiding something deeper.”
Do not react under the influence of emotion
Unless you have a particularly toxic work environment, you have several options before deciding to set sail. “What matters is the people you work with, the work you do, and the opportunities for advancement. If these don’t exist in your current position, try to understand if you could find something internally before choosing another company,” emphasizes career management expert Catherine Fisher. Internal mobility – whether geographical, horizontal or vertical – is an avenue to consider. Although it is still marginal in France, this mobility has increased by more than 10% between 2010 and 2020.
British coach Alice Stappleton invites us to question the reasons why we are considering a change: “Is it a spontaneous reaction to something in particular that happened at work? Maybe you feel insufficiently recognized and you simply want to prove that you are right?” In this case, “wait a few weeks before making your decision,” recommends the expert. In short, do not react under the influence of emotion and approach things from a rational point of view.
Last scenario, the most difficult of all: an attempt to poach a competitor when you were rather fulfilled in your job until then. At the end of the hook, a salary that makes you seriously want to bite. What to do? Let’s emphasize that salary remains the main motivation for executives to change companies… And mobility, a financial lever (in 2022, 74% of executives who changed companies, without going through the unemployment box, and 72% of executives who changed positions within their company received a raise, compared to only 55% of those who did not evolve internally, Apec Barometer 2023). Here again, take the time to think before crossing the Rubicon. “When you start in a new company, you have to prove yourself. This involves a lot more work in the first few months, the time to gain the confidence of your new employer,” recalls Camille Cherkaoui.
Furthermore, accepting a tempting offer solely for financial reasons is not always a good calculation. “Most studies on motivation and salary have shown that the financial aspect is a motivation that works in the very short term,” points out Domitille Bonneton, who invites us to take into account other criteria beyond the basic salary, such as: “the relationship of trust, flexibility and work-life balance”. And if the desire to take advantage of this poaching attempt to negotiate an internal salary increase is growing in you, be careful: “Employers generally do not like to get involved in this game of overbidding, based on the principle that if the employee was already ready to accept a proposal from the competition, they will only be retained in the very short term with money”.
Finally, if you have desires to go elsewhere because you feel like you have lost the flame, perhaps this is also an opportunity to question your priorities and take a step back, explains in THE New York Times psychology professor Stewart Shankman. “Try to take time to explore the things that are meaningful to you right now. It may be that another aspect of your life is replacing the role that work used to play […]. Your work doesn’t have to be what defines you.”
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