Workers perceive job hopping as damaging to a person’s career success and believe loyalty to one employer pays off in the long run, according to Spherion Staffing Services’ 2014 Emerging Workforce Study.

According to the study, 61 percent of workers today agreed that “changing jobs every few years is usually damaging to a person’s long-term career advancement,” compared to 47 percent of workers in 2002. Also, 63 percent of workers agreed that long-term career advancement depends on staying with an employer for a long time, an increase of 19 percentage points from 2002. And this year, 70 percent of workers agreed that “my level of commitment to my employer depends on the likelihood of long-term job security” — the highest it’s been in 15 years.

In 2014, 83 percent of workers agreed that “loyalty is being willing to stay with an employer for a long haul,” up 12 percentage points since 2002. Additionally, the number of workers who believed that “loyalty is not related to how long you stay with one employer, but to how big a contribution you are currently making” declined to 62 percent in 2014 from 68 percent in 2002.

In 2014, 79 percent of workers agreed that employers should take more responsibility in creating a defined career path for their employees, up from 72 percent of workers in 2002.

“The results from our emerging workforce study speak to how the economy has changed the workplace,” said Spherion Division President Sandy Mazur. “Before the recession, it wasn't uncommon to see workers dedicate years of service to one employer. However, during the recession, workers defined their loyalty to their company as the contributions that they made to their workplace, which in turn, helped them market themselves and their experience when job security was uncertain and massive layoffs occurred. Now, as the economy rebounds, workers have had a taste of job stability, and they like it.”

The study was conducted online and by phone within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Spherion from Feb. 3 to April 11, 2014 among 230 human resource managers. An online survey of 2,019 employed adults was also conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Spherion from Feb. 3 to Feb. 28, 2014.