Ok, so we have probably all felt married to our job at one time or another. But seriously? Would you?

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In a February survey of  about 1,250 US adult employees working full or part time, some 15% professed such love for their work that they said they would be willing to marry their job. According to staffing automation software and performance management consultants Taleo, of Dublin, California, this is up from 9% at the same time last year.

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Given the current economic travails depressing the employment market, that is not really such a high number and smart employers are looking past the current glut of applicants hungry for any work they can find to the tightening that is sure to follow with the inevitable recovery. A 2004 Yahoo poll (when times were better and opportunities were abundant) found that nearly half (47%) of US workers were ready to change jobs “at the next opportunity”. Those numbers have fallen to about 25% in the current employment environment (with 13% now “actively looking”). The consequences of a large increase in employee turnover just as demand finally starts to accelerate are significant and go far beyond the obvious increase in hiring costs. For example, what it the impact on a company’s productivity, or even its ability to meet its production requirements, if 25% - 50% of its best and most experienced workers leave over a short period of time?

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Employers may not be able to make in-laws of their employees, but  now is the time to be laying the groundwork for retention programs that will at least keep them in the family when happy days are here again.