We’ve written several times in this space about the impeding talent crisis that both private and public sector organizations in North America and Europe are about to encounter. And despite the competition for talent that will keep hiring managers awake at night, new research published by Investors in People (IIP), shows that most organizations in the UK don’t do a very good job at keeping their current employees motivated and committed to the cause.

The highlights:

• De-motivation is highest within larger companies with 39% of people in organisations of 5,000 or more say that they are either not very or not at all motivated compared to 30% in organisations of between 50 and 250 people.
• 43% of those surveyed are considering taking action and leaving their job in the next 12 months, with those that have been in their job for one to two years most likely to want to do so (48%).
• The top three de-motivating factors for employees were: unreasonable workload (18%), feeling underpaid (18%) and lack of clear career path (17%)
• For those that have been in their role for one to two years, lack of a clear career path (24%) was the most de-motivating factor, greater than workload (17%) or pay (16%).

And for our public sector friends, who according to our research here at New Paradigm sit behind their private sector and non-profit recruiters in terms of attractiveness to N-Geners, the issues may run even deeper. The IIP research notes that “motivation is lowest amongst public sector workers, with 41% saying that they are either not very or not at all motivated and 44% claiming to be less motivated than they were a year ago. Employees in the public sector are also the most likely to be thinking about leaving their job, half (50%) said they were considering a change of job.”

I haven’t been able to find the actual research report so if you happen to run across it please pass it along.