In the past few weeks, there have been a number of highly publicized and not-so-publicized upheavals at major companies. Some of my friends work at these places and I ask them how they are doing and whether they will leave.
One pattern that is starting to emerge for me, especially amongst the “job jumping” generation I’ve grown up in, is that people are getting tired. Tired of jumping to a new job and starting over. They’ve done it so many times that it is wearing them down and they don’t want to do it anymore.
As loyalty to a corporation has waned over these last few decades – and I support the selfish behavior of the “job jumping” generation because companies have reduced or removed the reasons why people should be loyal to a company – people have been switching jobs at a huge rate. At one time, it was not looked favorably upon that a resume had a number of companies on it; now it is the norm.
As people have jumped jobs often, they are realizing that starting over in a new job and new company is not easy. The cost of integrating yourself into a new organization and culture is high. You need to rebuild your reputation. You need to rebuild your internal networks and maintain them. You need to learn new ways of doing things. You need to adjust to new styles of working. And the list goes on.
It wears you down to start over again and again. The first few times it is exciting and new; after a while, you get tired of going through the same motions to reestablish yourself in a new place.
It is wearing enough that people are willing to stay in a dysfunctional, negative, or the wrong company when they really should move on.
This bears watching as time goes on.