Top executives take note: As manufacturing recovers, one-third of your professional employees could be looking for a new job.
But a disconnect exists between the thinking of key professionals, ready to dip their toes in the water, and hiring managers and company owners still accustomed to turnover of 5 percent or lower.
The results were from two studies by Gros Plastics Recruiters - a salary survey last fall and a hiring trends survey in April. President Dennis Gros released the results of the new hiring trends survey at Plastics Encounter Midwest, held May 24-26 in Indianapolis. Mid-America Plastics Partners Inc. helped with the survey.
Sixty percent of hiring managers said the turnover rate has remained steady during the past three years, according to the data from Gros, a plastics and packaging recruiting firm in Brentwood, Tenn. But that perception is becoming outdated. ``The candidate is about to become more aggressive on the job market,'' Dennis Gros said.
``Professionals'' surveyed for the report - including people with top management positions in sales and marketing, engineering, research and development, product design and plant managers - said they're ready to start the job search.
The employees were asked: ``What is the likelihood that you will actively look for a new job in the next 12 months?'' Gros said 12 percent said they are seeking one right now, 7 percent answered ``very likely'' and 15 percent said they ``likely'' will begin searching. That adds up to 34 percent of professional employees.
Add in the 29 percent who answered ``somewhat likely,'' and the total grows to 63 percent.
Thirty-six percent were ``not likely'' to seek a new job, and Gros said 74 percent said they were ``mostly happy'' or ``somewhat happy'' with their current job. But a portion of those people still will look around for new opportunities, he said.
Key employees are more confident of the job market now, after plastics companies spent the past several years in survival mode, making layoffs and getting ``lean'' - which often means more work for the employees who remain. The average salaries of plastics and packaging professionals dropped 10-15 percent since early 2000, the Gros salary survey showed.
``The candidates at the top of the market are getting multiple offers,'' Gros said.
Hiring managers overwhelmingly called ``finding qualified candidates'' their most difficult hiring challenge - far more than ``enticing candidates to relocate,'' also listed.
``What does that mean? Managers perceive that if they can find a candidate, they can hire the candidate,'' Gros said. ``And we're here to tell you that you will have increasing competition for that candidate.''
MAPP Executive Director Troy Nix said MAPP is getting the word out to its member companies.
``Look at your rank-and-file. As you're getting busier, take care of your people. As a manager and an owner of a company, be aware of it and make sure you're watching out for your people, because this phenomenon is existing right now,'' he said.
