According to a survey, almost every third employee in Germany (28 percent) is thinking of being fired in the next three to six months. The most important reason for this is insufficient remuneration - this was stated by 39 percent of those who are considering resigning, according to the survey by management consultancy McKinsey. 36 percent said they were dissatisfied with their managers. The lack of professional development and promotion was mentioned by 34 percent.

Conversely, the three most important reasons for staying in the job are appropriate remuneration - said 50 percent -, reliability and helpfulness in the team (39 percent) and flexibility (38 percent). The desire for flexibility in particular increased significantly during the corona pandemic, explained Julian Kirchherr from McKinsey.

The high proportion of employees who wanted to give notice or even went into internal resignation must "shake up" the company, said Kirchherr. "Anyone who is not trying to keep their employees now will be hit particularly hard by the recession."

With the currently high inflation, companies would have to quickly adjust their compensation packages, Kirchherr advised. They should also focus on targeted personnel development. The survey shows that interpersonal factors in working with managers and teammates as well as flexibility in the workplace are becoming significantly more important and decisive. "So the formula for the whereabouts of the employees is: fair wages, fair bosses and nice teams."

McKinsey surveyed 1,286 employees in Germany in September. The survey is part of a survey of 16,246 employees in nine European countries and 16 sectors. In Poland, the proportion of employees who want to quit in the near future was highest at 50 percent - in Austria it was lowest at 26 percent.