As job security declines, Gen Zers and Millennials are using job hopping to take financial stability into their own hands.
Job hopping is when a person leaves their current job and swiftly secures a new one. The uptick in job hopping between generations has garnered national attention from companies and future employers. It continues to surge as a response to employees’ unfulfilled needs. In September, Resume Lab conducted a report that found 83 percent of the surveyed 1,100 Gen Z workers classified themselves as job hoppers. In a July 2023 study, research showed that 62 percent of Millennial workers were searching for a new job or planned to search in the next six months.
Although attention revolving around job hopping has heightened, the phenomenon is not new. The original job hoppers are Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. The practice trickled into the following age group, Generation X. Vakassia Niles, a career coach and founder of The Niles Group, cited the leading causes behind the decline of employee retention are the lack of mobility, promotions and visibility. Black women, however, deal with additional adversities in the work place, including sexual harassment and microaggressions.
“A lot of us feel like we are not heard at work,” Niles told 21Ninety. “We are made to dim our light and feel like less than. If you voice your opinion too much, then you become that ‘angry Black woman.’ Then, you have the people who mansplain over you and steal your ideas, so it’s like you are trying to push that boulder up the hill.”
Microaggressions prove to impact a person’s mental and physical well-being. From increased rates of depression to stress, high blood pressure and other concerns, microaggressions play a role in employee turnover. When deciding to leave a job, there are risks and benefits to consider. Niles said the two biggest benefits to job hopping are gaining more skills and learning new things.
Given the increased number of company layoff announcements, Niles recommended possessing multiple streams of income to have additional financial security. She said that the second stream of income will help alleviate some of the burden, stress and anxiety behind potentially losing a role.
While there are many positives to job hopping, there is also a significant risk to the act. Hiring managers at various companies may perceive it as a red flag. Niles said that job hopping is risky for those who want to demonstrate company loyalty.
“Loyalty means something different to some of these companies,” Niles said. “You might look like a risk to people who don’t want job hoppers and want to see stability in a résumé. But, that might be a place you don’t want to work at anyway.”