May 2023
Global Talent Trends
Australia & New Zealand edition
Global Talent Trends
Australia & New Zealand edition
Global Talent Trends
Australia & New Zealand edition
Data-driven insights into the changing world of work
In this report, we surface data insights from both LinkedIn’s Economic Graph and our member community to better understand how labour-market trends impact candidates, employees, and workplaces.
Trends in hiring
Hiring continues to slow in Australia - and around the world.
In a sample of 17 countries globally, the hiring rate decreased over the past year.
The hiring rate in Australia decreased by 35% over the past year.
* Seasonally adjusted.
Methodology: The LinkedIn Hiring Rate (LHR) is the number of LinkedIn members who added a new employer to their profile in the same month the new job began, divided by the total number of LinkedIn members in that country. By only analysing the timeliest data, we can make month-to-month comparisons and account for any potential lags in members updating their profiles.
While hiring has slowed in many countries, internal mobility is trending upward in several industries globally.
In the past year, 16 of the 19 global industries we analysed saw an increase in internal mobility (via promotions and internal role transfers).
Indicating that amidst global uncertainty, companies are preferring to fill their skilling requirements from within.
* See the October 2022 Global Talent Trends report for more information.
Methodology: All data reflects aggregated global LinkedIn member activity as of February 2023. We've defined internal mobility as any point at which an employee took a new position at the same company (via promotion and lateral moves). We first considered start dates for external and internal transitions that occurred in the last 12 months at companies that have 100+ total transitions and calculated a median internal mobility rate by industry. We then compared this against the median internal mobility rate for transitions that occurred in the 12 months prior, and lastly calculated the year-over-year percentage change in internal mobility rates by industry globally.
What LinkedIn Chief Economist Karin Kimbrough says:
What LinkedIn Chief Economist Karin Kimbrough says:
We see labour markets rebalancing further as the global economy slows. This means employers are reclaiming some bargaining power from their employees. But at the same time, labour markets remain relatively tight in many countries and industries when compared to their pre-pandemic baseline. That’s what makes this era so unique.
Our new internal mobility data insights are a bright spot - and a beacon into the future. As we learned in the last Global Talent Trends report, internal mobility increases employee retention. And despite the current hiring slowdown, everything I’m seeing indicates that a top business challenge moving forward revolves around people: finding the people who have the skills businesses need, keeping them, and upskilling them.
Karin’s counsel to talent leaders:
The way through this ongoing uncertainty and change is to create a more efficient and equitable labour market - and we do that by orienting businesses around skills.
As talent leaders, you’re best positioned to lead the way - designing roles around skills; recruiting candidates and deploying employees based on their skills; and helping employees build skills businesses need in the future.
Trends in internal mobility
Employees in Australia are more likely to consider leaving their company than look for an internal move.
Even with internal mobility increasing in some industries, it’s still not top of mind for most employees in Australia.
Respondents to our 12-country Workforce Confidence Index survey are less inclined to consider an internal move as a career option.
In Australia, employees are 1.1x more likely to leave than look for an internal move.
Source: LinkedIn Market Research
Methodology: From December 3, 2022, to March 10, 2023, over 56K employed LinkedIn members answered the question, “Which of the following statements best describes your attitude toward your current job? In the next 6 months…” and selected 1 of 6 options. For this analysis, we compared the number of employees who “plan/hope to leave their job at their current employer” to the number who “plan/hope to take a new role at my current employer.” LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index (WCI) online survey represents the world through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership and the overall market population are not accounted for.
So who is benefitting from internal mobility? People leaders and Millennial employees.
When we analysed LinkedIn members in Australia who took new positions at the same company in the last 12 months, we found:
● People leaders are 1.8x as likely to move internally as individual contributors
● Millennials experience the highest internal mobility rate, followed by Baby Boomers and Gen X
Gen Z are the least likely to move internally
Methodology: All data reflects aggregated LinkedIn member activity as of February 2023. We’ve defined internal mobility as any point at which an employee took a new position at the same company in the last 12 months ending February 2023. To calculate internal mobility rates, we included only companies with at least 100 transitions and calculated the median rate.
What LinkedIn VP of Talent Development Linda Jingfang Cai says:
All factors (like company culture and flexible-work options) being equal, employees prioritise external job opportunities over internal moves for two reasons: those job openings are easier to find, and they often provide bigger pay bumps. Even when employees do prioritise internal roles, they can get discouraged by internal-hiring processes that are often clunky, and it can be hard to demonstrate transferable skills. On top of that, their companies often won’t pay them the same as someone hired from outside.
As it stands, our labour market values experience over skills. We even see evidence of that in the populations for whom internal mobility works well - people managers and Millennials, both of whom tend to have significant work experience. So as talent leaders, we have to evangelise the shift from valuing our people’s experience to valuing their skills. We need to make it easier to assess and demonstrate skills, and adopt equitable compensation practices that are based on skills. That’s how we unlock the real potential of internal mobility.
Linda’s counsel to talent leaders:
If you haven’t already, start asking tough questions about your company’s internal mobility culture and processes.
Are internal moves encouraged? Do employees know how to access open internal roles? Is there a clear working model between the teams most likely to be accountable for internal mobility (like talent acquisition and talent development)?
Trends in employee values
Employees’ top values have stayed consistent through the turbulence of the past two years.
Despite swings in the labour market and economic uncertainty, employees in Australia continue to highlight these three areas as top priorities when considering what they want out of work.
Compensation has overtaken flexibility and both continue to lead as top two drivers. Security has jumped in to third priority from fifth, likely due to the current economic climate and uncertainty.
How employees rank their priorities, March 2023
Compensation 54%
Excellent compensation and benefits
Compensation 54%
Excellent compansation and benefits
Flexible 51%
Flexible work arrangements (i.e. when and where you work)
Flexible 51%
Flexible work arrangements (i.e. when and where you work)
Security 41%
Job security
Security 41%
Job security
But there have been shifts in key values of employees in industries experiencing or recovering from acute upheaval.
In a sampling of industries that have experienced recent upheaval - from widespread employee burnout to talent shortages, threats to business viability, mass layoffs, and more - employees have responded by signaling they want different things out of work.
Methodology: Candidate priorities are based on LinkedIn’s Talent Drivers monthly survey of global members, August 2022–February 2023.
Here are all 15 priorities we ask respondents to rank in our monthly survey.
Compensation
Excellent compensation and benefits
Work-life balance
Organisational support to balance work and personal life
Flexibility
Flexible work arrangements (i.e. when and where you work)
Upskilling
Opportunities to learn new, highly desired skills
Advancement
Opportunities for career growth within the company
Impact
Challenging and impactful work
Security
Job security
Happiness
Happy and inspired employees
Management
Helpful and supportive direct managers
Innovation
Opportunity to work on innovative projects
Leadership
Clear goals and direction from senior leadership
Culture
A collaborative company culture
Mission
Company driven by values that match your own
Diversity
Inclusive workplace for people of diverse backgrounds
Talent
Highly talented employees
What LinkedIn VP of Global Talent Acquisition Jennifer Shappley says:
Even with a job market in flux, people continue to reassess why, where, and how they work. We’re now seeing that employees have three top values that have become almost immovable. People are telling us they have basic needs they want their employers to meet. I think it’s especially important for organisations and leaders to note that employees are underscoring that, for them, flexibility is here to stay.
When we cover the basics, we can start to look deeper within our employee populations and candidate pools to see what will make the difference between them joining our organisations (or staying) and looking for opportunities elsewhere. People today want strong alignment between what they value and what their employers value.
Jennifer’s counsel to talent leaders:
The values alignment between employers and employees only works if our organisations are effectively communicating what they stand for. Get strategic about your employer brand - for both your candidates and your employees. People want to know what it’s like to work at your organization - and whether the experience will match with what they’re looking for.
Trends in employee growth and transformation
Companies whose employees learn skills on the job have higher retention rates.
Globally, companies have a nearly 7% higher retention rate at the 3-year mark with employees who have learned skills on the job.
What could this look like?
Methodology: These findings are based on a LinkedIn study of over 25,000 companies with more than 500 employees across 20 countries in 2022, looking at elements that are associated with 3-year retention.
What LinkedIn Chief People Officer Teuila Hanson says:
To me, this insight provides further evidence that a skills-first talent strategy (matching businesses and people based on skills) is good for employees and business.
Employees have long been asking for work that complements the skills they have or want to build. Now we see that when we offer them growth opportunities, they’re more likely to stay.
I know so many of us are confronting the immediate challenges stemming from the macroeconomic and labour-market uncertainty. But I truly believe we as talent leaders will succeed in the long term when we help our businesses orient around skills. When we know the skills our business has or needs, we can upskill our people accordingly. And in so doing, we satisfy both our organisations’ need for agility and our employees’ need for growth and transformation.
Teuila’s counsel to talent leaders:
Introducing a skills-first talent strategy can feel big. But this new insight confirms that every step helps. So while you may be focusing on organisation-wide initiatives, don’t be afraid to highlight the business impact that upskilling even a small group of employees can have.
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Questions? Comments? Feedback? Feel free to reach out to the report’s editor, Kris Kitto.
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