Salaried workers are now almost twice as likely to change employers (external mobility) as in 2015. While a similar number of people change positions with their existing employer (internal mobility) as in 2015. This is despite the fact that internal advancement has proven benefits such as higher employee satisfaction and productivity and lower recruitment and onboarding costs. This is according to the latest Talent Monitor from labor market data specialist Intelligence Group and HR - tech service provider HeadFirst Group.

In fact, external mobility is currently almost twice as high as internal mobility. In the first quarter of 2023, this ratio was almost 2:1, meaning: when three people change jobs, two out of three times it is with a different employer. This shows that employers are not sufficiently committed to internal careers and advancement opportunities and are mainly focusing
on recruiting new staff.

Retention is the new recruiting
Staff turnover rates are increasing rapidly, which can be seen in all age groups. Young people under 25 take the crown, where the average turnaround time is 2.7 years. 36.5% found a new employer last year. This average increases with age, peaking at 17 years among those over 60. Most of the current labor market mobility is explained by the group up to 35 years of age.

Geert-Jan Waasdorp, director and founder of Intelligence Group: "The principle of 'retention is the new recruitment' has hardly penetrated employers. They keep pushing for external recruitment, while internal mobility is not yet sufficiently on the agenda. Despite the benefits of internal mobility. 2023 should be the year of the turnaround in this area."

Low labor market activity requires different recruitment approach
If we look at the flexible labor market - more specifically independent professionals and secondees in highly skilled roles - assignments in 2022 lasted an average of one year (363 days). In 2020, this was 395 days. This shows a small decline, but not nearly as large as the decline in the length of tenure of permanent staff.

We can say that the duration of the average assignment of one year is getting closer and closer to the declining average of the length of time a young person is employed by an employer, which is now well under three years. Marion van Happen: "To what extent is permanent still fixed and flex still flex? Flexibility is growing among people with permanent jobs. Add to this the fact that recent figures from Intelligence Group show that only 10% of self-employed people are considering going back into paid employment, where in 2015 it was 18%. These are irreversible trends. I ask the policymakers and politicians in The Hague not to stop these developments with legislation, but rather to embrace it and to regulate the
things around it especially well."

The full Talent Monitor 'Fixed is getting more mobile and flex is getting more sustainable' can be read here.

About HeadFirst Group
HeadFirst Group is a leading, international HR technology service provider and the largest platform for professionals in the Netherlands. The organization offers a diversity of HR solutions, such as Managed Service Providing, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, intermediary services (matchmaking, contracting) and HR consulting. An average of twenty thousand professionals work daily for over four hundred clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual turnover of over 2 billion euros. The main brands of HeadFirst Group are the intermediaries HeadFirst and Between, MSP service provider Staffing Management Services and RPO and recruitment specialist Sterksen.

About Intelligence Group
Intelligence Group is an International Data & Tech company in the field of labor market and recruitment data. Intelligence Group focuses on the collection, storage and enrichment of labor market related data for the purpose of improving the recruitment of personnel (or employees) by employers and the employability/labor market opportunities of employees. This data is made available to clients in a wide variety, via reports, dashboards and APIs.

Note to editors
Do you have any questions or comments in response to this press release? Please contact Maud Raaphorst, spokesperson at HeadFirst Group, reachable at 06 - 51 10 70 77 or marketing@headfirst.nl