Dive Brief:
- Sixty-nine percent of U.S. employees say their skills aren’t being fully realized in their current positions — a problem Resume Now’s Untapped Talent Report says can lead to stalled career growth, disengagement and turnover.
- Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said they’d look for a new job if they felt consistently underutilized, while 67% would consider leaving the company within a year. Additionally, 77% said not being used to their full potential has slowed their career progression, according to the results of Resume Now’s survey, released Jan. 30.
- “When employees consistently feel underused, job searching feels rational, not reactive. Even otherwise acceptable jobs can lose their appeal when growth and contribution feel capped,” the report found.
Dive Insight:
The potential turnover risk from failing to fully realizing workers’ capabilities leaves little room for error, the report found.
“When employees feel their skills are consistently underused, most do not envision staying long-term, and many anticipate leaving within months,” Resume Now said.
Of the more than 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed, 67% said they would leave their company within a year if their skills continued to be underused; nearly half put the timeline within six months, including 17% who would leave in less than three months. Only slightly more than a third of workers said they’d stick around longer than a year.
“Feeling underused accelerates how quickly employees envision leaving, shrinking what might have been a long-term role into a short-term stop,” the report found.
Employees overwhelmingly pointed to a lack of leadership action regarding the problem. Of those surveyed, 80% said leaders either don’t realize they aren’t given an opportunity to reach their full potential or they do and don’t act on that knowledge, the report found.
“Many organizations have an incomplete picture of what their employees are actually good at, leading to roles that don’t fully reflect and leverage individual strengths. This misalignment can leave employees feeling overlooked and miscast in their own jobs,” Resume Now said.
In a May 2024 report, Mercer and Marsh identified ineffective leadership as the biggest people risk facing U.S. companies. HR and risk professionals surveyed raised concerns about leaders having an effective workforce strategy to acquire, grow and deploy talent based on their skills.