Are Employees Underutilized And Ready To Bolt? You Make The Call

July 17, 2026

A national survey by Resume Now, summarized by HR leaders, gathered responses from 1,018 U.S. adults in November 2025 about how fully their skills are used at work.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents said their skills and abilities are not being fully utilized in their current roles. Nearly three-quarters reported they would look for a new job if they felt consistently underutilized, and 67 percent said they would consider leaving their current employer within a year if the situation continued.

Many respondents indicated that underuse of their capabilities has slowed their career progression and contributed to lower engagement.

The findings suggest that underutilization is widespread and that it represents a retention and engagement risk for employers who do not align work with employees' skills.

Source: https://hrsea.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/industry/survey-finds-69-of-employees-underutilized-at-work-threatening-engagement-and-retention/128596265

So, the question for our readers is: Are Employees Underutilized And Ready To Bolt?

Here is the opinion of one of the McCalmon editorial staff:

Jack McCalmon, Esq.

An important unanswered question is how many of the surveyed employees who report being underutilized would also describe themselves as overworked. Underutilization, as reported in the survey, does not mean an absence of work; rather, it reflects a perceived mismatch between where employees believe their highest and best use lies and where the organization has chosen to utilize them. Most employees would naturally prefer to focus on tasks that deliver the greatest sense of personal meaning or growth, but employers must staff roles based on operational need, not individual preference alone. In that context, turnover prompted by employees seeking roles they view as more aligned with their talents or more meaningful to them is a long-standing feature of the labor market and should be evaluated as a recurring management and human resource challenge, not a new phenomenon.

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