As recent as a half-dozen years ago, job-hopping was an accepted practice, and retirement and employment security were not American workers’ chief concerns. Then the recession hit, and things changed.

Job security, which used to seem so vintage, is coming back as the most desired attribute.

The recession’s sting has subsided some, but American workers and companies will continue to feel its effects for years to come. In particular, job security, which used to seem so vintage, is coming back as the most desired attribute — so much so that employees now say they will overlook a position’s limited advancement opportunities if it offers greater long-term security.

In its most recent biennial Global Workforce Study, researchers at the professional services company Towers Watson found that eight out of 10 respondents want to “settle” into a job, with about half saying that they would like to work for one company in their entire career — despite the employees’ knowledge that they are in dead-end jobs with no possibility of advancement.

This is a marked change from previous Global Workforce studies, in which researchers reported that advancement opportunities were most important. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney econolypse, Training, Worker Productivity Chief Learning Officer magazine, Global Workforce Study, job security, job-hopping, recession, Towers Watson

About a decade ago, when I worked for a once-prosperous ISP, I signed up for a Microsoft Access class provided by the company’s training department. I daydreamed of the databases I would create and the data I could mine.

The three-day class was taught at company headquarters in Northern Virginia, so I flew from LaGuardia to Dulles. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Training Access, Chief Learning Officer magazine, Office 2007, software support