Do All Job Changes Increase Wellbeing? Technical Report

Moving between jobs is now seen as a common reality of most people’s working lives, and we know that government and employer policies can affect both the frequency and type of job mobility happening in the UK, for example through policies that address the supply of skills in the UK which help to better match people with jobs.

Because of this, it’s important to better understand:

• the relationship between changing jobs and wellbeing
• which types of job change are associated with the largest wellbeing changes.

We consider:

1. changing jobs with the same employer
2. changing employers for a better job – for instance one with higher wages, more desirable hours, or a permanent contract.
3. changing employers because of redundancy, dismissal or end of contract
4. changing employers for other reasons, for example family reasons or moving out of the area.

This report is for:

1. Employers and senior management teams; human resources departments.
2. Policy makers and civil servants interested in the impacts of in-work progression upon wellbeing.
3. Staff working in careers and employment services.
4. Trades Union officials.
5. Third-sector organisations dealing with the consequences of employment and career change on their client groups.

• Changing jobs is a major life event, affecting not just job satisfaction but mental health.
• Wellbeing effects of job changes very much depend on the type of job change.
• The largest changes to job satisfaction are linked to changing both the job and employer, especially when the new job is a promotion or a better job in some other way.
• Mental health declines before a job change, rises afterwards but then falls back to baseline level.