



How long is too long in the same job?

Motivation is an issue for younger and older workers.

Motivation is an issue for younger and older workers.

How long can you do the same job before boredom sets in and your performance wanes? And what is the optimal time to change jobs or employers, to stay fresh and strengthen your resume?

There are two extremes on this issue: Gen-Y or “millennia” employees who, anecdotally, are changing jobs every 12 to 18 months and frustrating employers who wish they would stay longer; and older workers who do the same job for years and become jaded and sick of their employer.

How many companies ask if employees are engaged and motivated, or desperately in need of change? 

What of small business owners who do the same tasks, often with the same people, for years for even decades? For example, the coffee shop owner who mastered the job within a few months of starting it, follows the same routine every day, and is bored out of their brain.

What’s your view?

  • How long have you been in the same job?
  • Has boredom set in, and if so when?
  • What is the ideal time in a job: One year, two years, four years?
  • Do companies do enough to rotate staff and change things?

I considered this issue after The Sunday Age’s excellent piece ‘Decoding Millenial Mystery’ . One young person said her generation was criticised for job-hopping, yet at the same time encouraged by parents, teachers and counsellors to try lot of things.

Others bemoaned the lack of imagination in big companies with graduate roles. Often, the bright young graduate is rotated through different departments before being assigned to a more permanent role. Before long, some graduates leave because the role quickly bores them.

I’m on the side of Gen-Y. Good on them for trying lots of roles before settling on one. They will be far more creative, innovative and adaptive than previous generations that stuck with the same role, or variations of it, for years. If managed well, they will be incredible assets for firms.

Employers need to rethink how they motivate and engage young workers. I teach hundreds of teenagers and twenty-somethings at university each year who are incredibly bright and talented. I cannot imagine many of them willingly sitting in a cubicle in a bland office for one year, let alone 10 or 20. Attention spans seem to shorten by the semester.

Granted, their role will change as they take on more responsibility and perhaps manage staff. But it is clear that many young workers want different job experiences, often across functions or even industries – not slight variations on the role they studied for.

If companies better understood the potential, they would work harder to move young workers throughout the organisation, and not only during graduate programs. Some do, of course. But too many companies still pigeonhole young staff in their silly military-like command-and-control structure.

The same applies to older workers. How many companies ask if employees are engaged and motivated, or desperately in need of change? Performance reviews, organisational surveys and even informal chats with managers ultimately go nowhere. The company is afraid to move staff and potentially disrupt others, or the employee needs a push to take a career risk.

So the older ones do the same function for years on end, viewing their job as a prison sentence. Talented, motivated workers eventually become mediocre and change-resistant because they and their employer persisted with the same role for too long.

The issue of role longevity will surely become a bigger issue this decade. As companies strive to be more creative and adaptive, they will need employees capable of taking on different roles and joining the dots across the organisation, to innovate.

Yet the very people who will be capable of profound innovation – young workers in the coming decade – are leaving organisations because their roles quickly become staid.

Also, universities mostly train young people for a single profession when the reality is many want to work across professions and sectors – or are not even close to making their mind up. They need skills that are portable across jobs and industries like never before. But are they getting them?

I’ve always thought four years is the ideal length for a job. One year to learn it, another to master it, a third year to kick the job’s butt, and the fourth year to find a new job or employer and leave on a high. For younger generations, four years might be more like 14 months.

The good news is that more companies are making a genuine effort to meet the needs of young graduates. The bad news is that most are not even close to solving the problem, and grasping the opportunity.

45 comments so far

  • As a Gen Yer, I certainly hope we don't face a reality of workers who stay in jobs for less than two years before moving on. Perhaps in menial task jobs, but hopefully not in anything that requires workplace specific experience and skills. It would almost certainly mean a complete breakdown of employee to employer loyalty (and vice versa) with a confused and unproductive workforce as the end result.

    University graduates are already finding it nigh on impossible to find graduate positions due to employers caring more about their bottom lines than developing and retaining talent for the future. Lets not make it worse.

    Renaissance Man
    Date and time
    March 27, 2014, 3:31AM
    • I think that's a big part of it - a lot of the University grads aren't able to find work in their chosen or preferred field, and in many cases end up with stop-gap jobs to pay the bills. There are a lot of bright, capable people working in lower-level administration and aren't being challenged or utilised, so they start looking to move jobs relatively soon after they start. It's a combination of too many grads, not enough jobs, not much room for growth within the jobs market.

      It also doesn't help that the majority of young adults grew up being told that they could be anything they wanted to be, they're pushed to start working towards a career by streamlining their subject choices in the last few years of high school, then do their degree, graduate - and find then that the jobs don't exist. Of course they're then going to feel dissatisfied with entry level work in an unrelated area. If you've worked towards beginning a career in International Relations, are you going to be satisfied being a receptionist for an accountant?

      Hopefully it will get better for both millennials and their employers eventually...

      Date and time
      March 27, 2014, 10:18AM
    • that is an issue but so is grads who expect work when not realising that whilst they studied supply & demand, they don't appreciate it in the workforce, for example:

      1000 students nationally graduate a forensic science degree
      80 roles are available at any one time, for an industry of around 3000 positions

      this leads to classic underemployment.

      i'm not saying dont follow and study for your dream job, but you cant complain when it turns out everyone watched CSI and also thought it would be cool

      Date and time
      March 27, 2014, 11:26AM
  • I have worked at the same workplace for over 25 years but not in the same job. Having started in the classroom, I moved through various promotion positions until I became Principal. I am acutely aware of some of the dangers of this, particularly the potential to keep doing things the same old way. Consequently, I ensure I network well and regularly pester new, younger staff for new ideas. I invite them to challenge how things are done and be part of bringing change.
    Is it too long in the one place? I'm not convinced it is. I love the place, the people, the families, the kids - so why change? It does slow the promotion trail for others but I encourage them to take on responsibilities, gain experience and then see where that takes them.

    Date and time
    March 27, 2014, 6:31AM
    • I discovered I should have been a teacher when I was in my 40s. I completed an Arts degree and did the GradDipEd in secondary teaching - English and Humanities which are my passions. My one and only job lasted three terms and I was replaced by a young bloke. The next person to take the same job was a young bloke. Every position I applied for, the winner was ... ... yep, there seems to be a trend happening here. All I wanted was to teach classes until it was time to stop. I haven't even been able to get casual work. And even when I went back into "Civi Street", I couldn't get any work at all there either. It seems my age and the time I took out for study were not valued by anyone any more. It was disheartening.
      I haven't taught since and I am currently the admin for my husband's business. Not my idea of fun.
      My brother has Asberger's syndrome. He has been in the same job since he was 17. He is 53 in October. He has outlasted two owners and is highly esteemed by both owners of the business. As long as the business survives, my brother will be there until they make him stop coming. They recognise that there is something about him, but I don't think they know exactly what it is.

      Late comer
      Date and time
      March 27, 2014, 11:53AM
    • @Late Comer

      YDI for not researching the market. Did you consider there might not be a job for someone your age before quitting your previous job and doing an Arts degree?

      Good to be King
      Ivory tower
      Date and time
      March 27, 2014, 11:10PM
  • My father was a teacher for over 30 years and was as interested (and interesting) as when he started. He was always involved in new research into learning, developing new ideas and, above all, the students he taught. He became a head teacher but would not consider further advancement as he would have had less time in the classroom. Years later, people would still be thanking him for the difference he made in their lives, or those of their children.

    On the other hand, my husband, who works in IT, has changed his job quite frequently over the last 20 years and often because of boredom. He thrives on stimulation and a challenge and in some jobs this just hasn't been available because of projects put on hold or, more recently, work being sent offshore.

    I don't think there is a 'perfect' time to spend in one job. It depends on the individual and it depends on the job. I have seen plenty of teachers like my father and I have also seen those at the other end of the scale - content to set the same assignment for 20+ years (my son experienced this at his primary school). Some people want stimulation and to get something out of their work. Others simply are quite happy not being stretched.

    Date and time
    March 27, 2014, 7:44AM
    • Since re entering the workforce after having my daughter, I have not been able to find a permanent job no matter WHAT I do. I also find that now since I've been contracting for 10 years (my daughter just started high school this year), no one wants me for permanent as the potential employers state "She hasn't had a stable career". Well DER! how can I get a stable career if no one WANTS to give me permanent work??? Or am I just being punished for *gasp* having a child? It seems that those who make the "rules" need to wake up and realise that they need to change their misogynistic and antiquated ideas about women and their reproductive choices :/

      Gen X Contractor
      Date and time
      March 27, 2014, 7:54AM
      • Hi Gen X Contractor - I've been contracting for the past few years, and have found the same issues as you regarding trying to find permanent employement. I'm about to finish up in my current contract, and from what the recruitment companies are telling me, temp to perm/contract roles are becoming more commonplace. One thing I have done is ensure that I have mentioned my contract roles as I don't want any prospective employer thinking I won't stick around. Though I do find that once you're on the contract/temp wheel it is hard to get off it. All I can say is to persevere and you never know what crops up.

        PS - I don't have children, but I don't think you should feel punished for wanting a family. Just make sure your resume shows that you've been contracting (and how many extensions you've had with those contracts) as it helps explain to prospective employers why you're not in roles for extended periods

        Date and time
        March 27, 2014, 12:03PM
      • @ Gen X Contractor
        Yes, you are being punished for having a child. It's a choice YOU made, knowing the impact it would have on your career.

        It's not those that "make the rules" that need to wake up - it's people like YOU that need to realise that the choices you make have consequences, and while your off having babies, there are plenty of others there to do the work you may have liked, and are forging ahead with their careers.

        Good to be King
        Ivory tower
        Date and time
        March 27, 2014, 11:14PM

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