American workers are less committed to their employers than they were a year ago and more than half of them would switch jobs for a 20 percent pay increase, according to a new survey.
The biggest declines in commitment were among employees in high technology and workers age 31 and younger, the study by Aon Consulting found.
“The first loyalty of employees today is to `Me Inc.,’ ” said David Stum, a consultant who helped design the study. Stum presented the results Monday at the annual meeting of the Society for Human Resources Management.
Aon Consulting, a unit of Chicago insurance company Aon Corp., measured employees’ commitment by how willing they were to improve job skills, make personal sacrifices for the success of their work group and stay with the company for the next several years.
Using a 1997 survey as a base of 100, the study determined that workforce commitment fell 2.2 points in 1998. Stum called that a significant decrease.
Commitment declined in nearly every age group, income group and industry classification, according to the survey. While the technology field showed the greatest percentage decline–4.4 percent–employees in manufacturing and health care had the lowest overall commitment.
