A recent Monster.ca survey found that Quebecois do not look kindly on their old employers. Only 17% of Quebec respondents would return to their previous employer during their career, this rate increases to 40% in the rest of Canada. Here are some striking facts from this comparative survey.
Do you have nostalgia for an old job? Well, Quebecois have very little. According to this study conducted by Léger on behalf of Monster.ca, only 1 out of 5 provincial residents are ready to knock on their old employer’s door. In the Canadian group, this proportion increased to 2 out of 5.
However, realistically, 28% of Quebecois have turned into boomerang employees: people who return to their old careers. In the Canadian group, making up twelve Canadian provinces and territories, this percentage is barely higher than 36%.
According to Sheryl Boswell, director of marketing for Monster Canada, these results explain the radically different way that Quebecois design—but not necessarily conduct—their career plan. She explains, “They plan a linear path where each new job is obtained on the basis of previous merits, like steps. one after the other, leading up to a goal.”
Intergenerational differences
Another remarkable point this study touches on is the openness of Generation Ys to the boomerang phenomenon. The questioned half, between 18 and 34 years old, responded that they were ready to reconcile with past loves which 36% would eventually end up doing. In both cases, these Generation Y figures surpass those of the baby boomers (55 and older) in this study.
Josée Garceau, speaker at Symposium and author of the book La cohabitation des générations (Les Éditions La Presse), is not surprised by these findings. She interprets it as, “This shows that two generations do not look at the word “career” in the same way.”
If baby boomers are “ambitious” and limit themselves to a “specific career path,” than the Generation Ys are more spontaneous, happy, and living in the immediate experience. Garceau asserts, “They choose employers for what they currently offer, not for what they will offer. As a result, they are open to the idea of returning to see if an employer offers inspirational projects.”
This explains this generation’s great mobility, known for their penchant to flutter about rather than to stay in one place for long.
The war of the sexes
From this sample, the men (44%) are shown to be more nostalgic than women (36%). This difference is found in their respective motivations: 25% of men open to returning would do it for money while 24% of women would it for a better work-life balance.
This survey was conducted online and posed to 1,533 Canadians between July 11 and July 14, 2016. The margin of error is 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.