'Flash of mobility' | Quarter of UK workforce to find new job in next 6 months

More than a quarter of the UK’s workforce will change employers over the next six months, according to Randstad UK.

Randstad polled 12,000 people in the UK aged 18 to retirement age in January 2024.

The research found that 27 per cent of workers plan to change jobs within the next six months — compared to 24 per cent this time last year, 22 cent in 2022, and 19 per cent in 2021. In January 2020, pre-pandemic, 26 per cent said they planned to change jobs within the next six months.

And almost a fifth of employees in the UK (19 per cent) report having changed employers in the previous six months to January 2024 — compared to 16 per cent in January 2023, 15 per cent in January 2022 and 12 per cent in January 2021. In January 2020, before the pandemic struck, 17 per cent of workers reported having changed employers in the previous six months. Men are more likely to have changed jobs (23 per cent) than women (16 per cent).