[Reflections] Can you get a good sense of a workplace in a year❓

<Uncle DX Vol 657>

Speaking from a narrow range of experience, you can get a general sense of how things work at a workplace in about a year. That sense relates to thinking about the future, specifically whether you will continue to be employed there, and it also becomes a benchmark for considering a job change.

New employees who joined in April are approaching their fourth month in August.
In companies with labor shortages, there is often talk about the trend of employees resigning by the hour.

I have had some thoughts while chatting with young employees and listening to the concerns of mid-career hires.

✅ Just the first month

Even though they have just joined and don't know their way around yet, there are cases where they resign within the short period of just one month. I imagine many managers feel disappointed after all the effort put into the selection process.

This is important for those involved in HR, but before that, it is necessary to consider why employees are resigning in such a short period.

In modern times, there is a greater awareness that time is limited.
If a workplace is judged to be a "waste" from a long-term perspective, or worse, one where you cannot even imagine a bright near future, the number of resignations will likely increase.

Also, it depends not just on the company, but on the mindset of the person who joined.

After all, there are cases where people just took the job for the time being😅

✅ Just the third month

Resigning the moment you become a full-time employee after passing the probationary period....

✅ If you last three months, you'll last six months
✅ If you last six months, you'll last a year
✅ If you last a year, you'll last three years

This was often said around me as if it were true, but this expression "lasting" is quite apt.

Is it really good to just "last"?

By the third month, you get used to the workplace and start to understand the interpersonal relationships and such to some extent. You might have a positive impression, or you might not.

In particular, the possibility that the sense of discomfort is growing cannot be denied.

✅ Sixth month (half-year mark)

Personally, I think the six-month mark is the first milestone.

Rather than feeling relieved if you make it to six months, there are cases where time has simply passed while you felt a sense of discomfort, thinking, It's still too early.

It would be one thing if you had come to terms with the source of your discomfort to some extent, but if it keeps growing, staying for a year will be difficult. Unless you can see your next stage, there are also cases where you stop feeling a sense of growth like you did before.

Some might say, "Don't rely on the environment, find it yourself!" but the people who can find it themselves are the ones who try to change their stage. However, not everyone is like that.

Even if they say plausible things, it is the company that suffers when employees don't stay.

✅ The first year is when you need to be careful

Companies try to recoup the time and money they have invested. This is the right direction, but if an employee quits after about a year, it is a net loss.

Recently, among people around me, there are many young people who endure for one year. This means they are seriously considering changing jobs because their outlook for the future is somewhat bleak.

So why one year?

Because in terms of one's career, one year is a compromise.

When I talk to young people, I realize that career development is not about staying at one company.

✅ Work is just one means to enrich your life

Under old values, there is still a strong negative impressionof resigning. No matter the reason, talking about advantages and disadvantages tends to put you at a disadvantage.

In fact, the very vicious cycle is that the generation holding these old values also holds personnel authority. Even though short-term turnover and job changes are such hot topics, I suspect many still believe that working for a long time is a virtue.

This is just an impression, but:

This may be a very reckless judgment.

Companies with labor shortages seem prone to thinking in such baseless ways, which is exactly why they fall into labor shortages.