Remember & Company released the results of its 'Career Change Awareness Survey' conducted with 10,618 office workers through Remember Research on the 14th.
According to this survey, 43.8% of all respondents stated that 'career growth potential' is the most important criterion when choosing a company to change jobs. This significantly surpasses the 'salary increase rate (20.7%)', marking a meaningful result that overturns the findings of many previous surveys where salary was considered the top priority for office workers.
This survey is part of the basic perception survey on office workers in Korea being conducted by Remember Research targeting members of the essential app 'Remember'. Remember noted that it aimed to understand office workers' career awareness and current realities amid the rapidly changing employment environment. This survey is intended to accurately identify the job change criteria for office workers to help establish effective talent attraction strategies for corporations.
The survey indicated that 'career growth potential' was the top consideration for job changes across all hierarchical levels, especially showing a higher response rate as employees progressed to higher tiers. Remember Research analyzed that this is due to the increasing number of senior office workers contemplating sustainable career building amidst an elongating average lifespan.
Recent economic downturns and job threats posed by artificial intelligence (AI) have also played a role. Workers are increasingly preparing for what is termed 'survival job changes,' seeking long-term career growth through securing irreplaceable core competencies rather than immediate salary increases. It appears that this reflects the values of workers who pursue growth and satisfaction through their work.
Of course, economic compensation, including salary and benefits, was also an important factor in job changes. Following the 'salary increase rate (20.7%)', 'non-salary benefits (20.5%)' and 'company financial status (14.7%)' followed in order. This highlights that office workers consider not only the current salary level but also long-term stability comprehensively. Additionally, some respondents indicated that qualitative factors such as 'co-workers,' 'management policies,' and 'company atmosphere and reputation' also significantly influence their choice of company, confirming that various elements intertwine in the decision-making process for job changes.
The influence of salary remains significant at the decision-making stage of job changes. When asked about the impact of salary on their decision to change jobs, about 80% of respondents stated that salary influences their job change judgment by more than half. In contrast, only 4.9% responded that it was 'less than 30%'. Particularly during times of intense employment insecurity, the anxiety that the current low compensation does not even provide a minimal economic foundation to prepare for future uncertainties could be interpreted as motivating job change decisions.