Why Aren’t You Concerned About Job Security?

The following is a guest blog post by Christina Hendrickson from Greythorn.

You probably aren’t independently wealthy.  (That’s okay, neither am I.)

Since you and I and a lot of other people require regular paychecks, we already know a big part of why we work. But what isn’t always clear is why we stay in our current roles. With the possibility of greener pastures and paychecks elsewhere, what makes us decide to stick around?

Since 2012, participants in Greythorn’s annual market survey gave the same top three answers to the question of why they stick in their current roles:

  • They appreciated the challenging work
  • Opportunities for career advancement
  • Job security in their current roles

But when the question was asked this year, the narrative changed.

According to responses collected in Q4 of 2015, healthcare IT professionals are no longer motivated to stay in their jobs based on the security they provide—in fact, job security slid from the number three spot in 2014 down to number six. Other considerations have pushed it aside; survey participants reported “satisfaction in a job well done” as the top reason, followed by the possibility of career progression, desire for challenges, workplace enjoyment, and good colleagues.

There are several possibilities for this shift in priorities. One of them is that security could be less of a concern for healthcare IT workers who know their skill sets would be hard to replace—they aren’t worried about losing their job, so they don’t rank it in their survey responses. Another possibility is that the low concern for job security is just a reflection of the modern career path—people recognize and accept that they’ll work for multiple employers over their course of their life, so they express less concern about staying with the current organization.

This is all speculation, of course. The research doesn’t tell us why priorities have changed, just that they have changed. But what about you—are you less concerned about job security than in years past? Leave a comment and weigh in.

If you’d like to read more about Greythorn’s research, pre-order a free copy of their annual Healthcare IT Market Report here.

   

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