Are your employees job hunting while at work?

More than three in four employees have admitted that they are actively job hunting while at work.

This is according to a new poll from Ringover, which surveyed 1,000 employees in the United States to uncover the most common job-hunting signs.

It found that 78.8% of respondents had actively job hunted while employed, with 72.5% saying they used a work computer in their job hunt.

Employees are spending 4.6 hours a week actively job hunting, but 27.4% said they spend longer than seven hours per week hunting on company time, according to the report.

Job hunting excuses

Job hunting isn't limited to just looking for job ads - employees also have to take into account preparing and submitting their applications, as well as attending interviews.

According to the report, 78.9% of the respondents try to arrange interviews outside work hours. But another 60.5% admitted to lying to their employer about taking an interview, with the most common excuses being:

• A family emergency (32.30%) 
• A medical appointment (30.70%) 
• Sickness (27.20%) 
• Spending time with friends and family (19.80%) 
• Bereavement (19.80%) 
• Vacation (18.80%) 
• Family event (11.30%) 

Are your employees currently job hunting?

Based on the employees' responses, Ringover outlined various behaviours that employees exhibit when they are looking for new work.

The most common job-hunting behaviour is when an employee updates their LinkedIn profile, which is practiced by 38.4% of the respondents.

The report also noted that there are various in-office indicators of a job-hunting employee, with the top indicator being showing up late and/or leaving early at work (33.50%).