BambooHR
Workforce Insights
Monthly Report – May 2024
Welcome to the May edition of the BambooHR Workforce Insights report, where we delve into the latest trends shaping the world of employment.
Workforce Insights is powered by aggregated data trends from the millions of admins, managers, and employees who use BambooHR in the US and across the globe.
Summer’s Here, but Teachers Are Already Planning Their Fall Comeback
March to May Overview: Comparing 2023 to 2024, there's been a 4% decrease in education hires and an 11% decrease in turnover, indicating more professionals are staying put. Meanwhile, job openings have increased by 9%, suggesting schools are preparing for future needs or that teacher shortages will remain an issue for K–12 schools.
April to May Shift: The last few months of the school year is typically when there’s a flurry of activity as teachers sign contracts for the following school year. It’s also the time some contracts might not be renewed, creating vacancies and turnover.
This is consistent with what we see in BambooHR’s latest report: From April to May 2024, hires surged by 26%, turnover increased by 19%, and job openings rose by 13% in the US education sector. This uptick in activity shows that schools are actively recruiting and filling positions for the upcoming school year.
It seems that schools and educators are gearing up for a strong return in the fall, ensuring they’re ready to meet the challenges of the new academic year.
Read on for more insights into the latest workforce stats and trends from BambooHR.
Hiring, Job Openings & Turnover
- Globally, hiring and turnover are both down 21% from May of last year, with job openings up 8% from May 2024.
- The increase in job postings despite the decrease in hiring suggests that, while companies are looking to fill positions, they may be taking longer to hire, possibly due to more stringent hiring processes or challenges in finding suitable candidates.
- In the US, hiring increased 4% from April to May, in comparison to the global increase, which was marginal.
- North America continues to have the most hires, turnover, and job postings compared to other countries.
MoM 4% ⇧ increase
YoY 18% ⇩ decrease
MoM 3% ⇧ increase
YoY 9% ⇧ increase
MoM 4% ⇩ decrease
YoY 18% ⇩ decrease
MoM <1% ⇧ increase
YoY 21% ⇩ decrease
MoM 4% ⇧ increase
YoY 8% ⇧ increase
MoM 7% ⇩ decrease
YoY 21% ⇩ decrease
US Hires, Job Openings & Turnover
Global Hires, Job Openings & Turnover
Industry Trends: Hiring, Job Openings & Turnover
- Travel/hospitality and construction had the highest proportion of hires in May, a continuation of the trend we’ve seen since March.
- While travel/hospitality is hiring more employees than any other sector, they also have the highest turnover, which increased 33% from April 2024.
- Tech had the lowest proportion of hires, now joined by the food & beverage industry as the second lowest.
- After the wave of layoffs that hit the tech world in 2022 and 2023, companies seem to be slower to hire in 2024.
- Most industries saw an increase in turnovers from April to May 2024, including education, which had the second-highest change in turnover, in line with the end of the school year and contract signing for the upcoming year.
“Looking at the recent data on hiring and turnover in education, it's clear that strategic data management isn't just a corporate necessity—it's crucial in education, too. HR professionals can use data to not only fill positions but also to understand and enhance employee retention and satisfaction.
Just as schools are planning for the fall during the peak of summer, HR should also use off-peak times to strategize and prepare, ensuring a robust team ready to meet organizational goals."
Anita Grantham | Head of HR | BambooHR
Regional Trends: Hiring, Job Openings & Turnover
- North America shows the highest proportion of hires at 3.4%, with MEA having the least—a constant of this year.
- Despite this, North America still has the highest turnover.
- Turnover was relatively balanced across the regions, with North America having the highest and Europe the lowest.
- According to a UK survey, “Over half (55%) of employers are looking to maintain their current staff level. This is the highest proportion since winter 2016/17,” which could account for some of the low turnover in Europe.
Manager & Peer Reviews
- Globally, reviews have mellowed out since April, with only a 1% increase in reviews overall; however, compared to May 2023, we’re seeing an increase in manager reviews specifically.
- In the US, reviews continue to rise from March’s low.
- The US saw significant increases in both manager and peer reviews since last May, at 15% and 10% respectively.
- Among all regions, we saw a 9% increase in manager reviews from May 2023 to May 2024, but only a 1% increase in peer reviews.
- HR professionals might want to take a look at their company’s review approach and include a more holistic perspective to the process.
US Manager & Peer Reviews
Global Manager & Peer Reviews
MoM 4% ⇩ decrease
YoY 15% ⇧ increase
MoM 4% ⇧ increase
YoY 10% ⇧ increase
MoM 5% ⇩ decrease
YoY 9% ⇧ increase
MoM 9% ⇧ increase
YoY 1% ⇧ increase
Employee PTO Requests & Approvals
- Globally, May shows a drop in PTO requests month over month and annually.
- From May 2023 to May 2024, requests have decreased 3%, with approvals decreasing marginally.
- In the US, requests and approvals are nearly identical to the prior year, with less than 1% decreases for both.
US Employee PTO Requests & Approvals
Global Employee PTO Requests & Approvals
Regional Trends: Employee PTO Requests & Approvals
- PTO requests by geography mirror trends seen earlier this year, with no change in ranking and less than a 3% change from April to May for each region.
- Nearly two-thirds (63%) of European workers made PTO requests in May, with less than half being approved (45%).
- Europe leads in PTO requests while North America, APAC, and LATAM all land at or below 40%.
- Despite having the lowest number of PTO requests, LATAM continues to lead in PTO approval, with 60% of PTO being approved in May.
Industry Trends: Employee PTO Requests & Approvals
- The nonprofit industry had the highest proportion of PTO requests to employees in May, followed by finance and tech, with more than half of employees requesting PTO.
- Restaurant, food and beverage ranked dead last for requests as it has all of 2024 so far, though they had the second highest approval percentage at 53%.
- Education hovers right around the middle for both requests and approvals.
Industries with paid vacation benefits see higher percentages of PTO requests.
The availability of paid vacation roughly corresponds to the likelihood of employees requesting PTO per what we see in the chart above.
Notably, nonprofit, finance, and technology are the only industries with more than 50% of employees requesting PTO. This closely correlates with access to paid time off—according to the most recent data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 95% of financial services workers had access to paid vacation.
Likewise, industries with less access to PTO benefits show lower rates of time-off requests. This can be seen in the hospitality industry: per the US BLS, in 2021, only 43% of leisure and hospitality workers had access to PTO, which is reflected in the low percentage (27% in May) of time-off requests.
Methodology
All source data is from the BambooHR platform, gathered between December 2018 and April 2024, and includes over 4.4 million employee data points across the globe.
The data includes employee and manager performance scores, PTO requests, and other data points that have been analyzed in an aggregated, anonymized way to protect the privacy of employees and the integrity of the metrics.
Turnover includes all types of separation of an employee from their company, including voluntary and involuntary separations.
About BambooHR
BambooHR® is the leading HR software solution that sets people free to do great work, by managing the complex work of supporting employees and succeeding as a business, while giving leaders all the data they need to make informed strategic decisions.
Intuitively designed and easy-to-use benefits administration, payroll, performance, time tracking, and reporting where everything works together means less focus on process and more focus on growing what matters most—people.
Over the past 15 years, BambooHR has been the trusted partner of HR professionals at 33 thousand companies with employees in over 190 countries and 50 industries, supporting millions of users throughout their employee experience.
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