If you ask someone in Japan how long he will stay in his job, his answer will be immediate: “I am looking to retire in my current organization”. The answer to this question is related to your organization industry, location, market, size, environment, salary, age, and position. In fact, the US, average time spent at a single company is 4 years and is 5 years for UK workers but it is 3.6 years in the MENA region and 6 years in Africa.

It is a pretty short tenure compared to the old days when people secured a job after leaving school or university and then stayed there until they collected their golden carriage clock; but increasingly, changing one’s position every few years is considered the norm. Laire McCartney, an adviser for the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, says there’s no such thing.

“It is peculiar to the person. It depends on their profession plans, assuming they have any profession plans and whether they feel they get the right amount of difficulty and flexibility,” she says.