Job hopping: The role of flexible benefits in retaining talent

17 de February, 2025

The phenomenon of job hopping is not new, but it has become more common in recent years, especially as new generations enter the job market.

This trend, which consists of “jumping from job to job”, is most prevalent among Generation Y – the Millennials – and Generation Z. Several studies indicate that professionals from these generations spend the least time in their jobs.

It is essential for human resources managers to understand their employees’ motivations and the reasons that can lead to job hopping. Find out what these reasons are and how flexible benefits can play an important role in this context.

Read also: How to engage Generation Z employees?

What is job hopping?

The term “job hopping” refers to the tendency to change jobs frequently. It happens when professionals change jobs several times in a short period of time.

This phenomenon tends to occur more in the technology sector, followed by sales, marketing, communication and design.

Reasons for job hopping

People can change jobs for a variety of reasons. And while some of these causes may be involuntary or unrelated to the workers – due to the economic context, market developments or changes in the companies themselves – there may also be various individual motivations for taking on a new professional challenge:

• Remuneration and benefits: when employees feel that they are not properly compensated for their work, they are very likely to start actively looking for other opportunities that offer more attractive salary and extra-salary benefits packages;
• Work-life balance: a balanced and healthy integration between professional and personal life is one of the aspects that professionals value most and, as such, they tend to favor opportunities that guarantee the desired flexibility;
• Organizational culture: aspects adjacent to the company’s culture, such as a toxic work environment or low levels of diversity, equity and inclusion, for example, can lead to a misalignment with employees’ expectations and values;
• Opportunities for progression: professionals value companies that invest in their ongoing training and where they feel they can develop their skills, evolve and progress towards their career goals;
• Purpose and a sense of fulfillment: the new generations tend to attach more importance to jobs that give their careers some meaning and, when they feel that the work is not aligned with their values and passions, they choose to look for other opportunities that fulfill them more and give them some purpose.

The role of flexible benefits in retaining talent

Taking each of these reasons into account, organizations must adopt a holistic strategy that allows them to face the challenges posed by job hopping. One of the axes of this strategy must invariably be the construction of a robust flexible benefits plan.

Flexible benefits play a major role in motivating and retaining employees, because:

• They help to enhance the pay package of professionals, increasing their purchasing power in essential areas such as food, health, education or professional training, for example;
• They are adapted to people’s different needs, interests and life stages, making it possible to allocate the amounts granted to expenses that may represent a large slice of the budget of workers and their families;
• They promote employee well-being in its various dimensions – financial, physical, mental, emotional and social – which shows that the company cares about its people and, as such, they feel more satisfied and involved.

Many employers already recognize the importance of providing flexible benefits and, according to WTW’s Benefits Trends Survey, 57% of the companies surveyed say they aim to design benefits plans that adapt to their employees’ constantly evolving expectations.

Is this the case for you? Find out which types of employee benefits different generations value.