“Would you recommend your employer or your profession to your children—or any young people— you care about?”
When Workforce Institute asked 3400 individuals, from C-level leaders to regular employees, this question between September 16 and October 1, 2022, 46% said, “no” and 38% said they wouldn’t “wish their job on their worst enemy.”
According to those who conducted the survey, respondents in the U.S., India and France expressed the most dissatisfaction and unhappiness. The 1200 respondents from the U.S. included 600 C-suite leaders and 600 human resource leaders.
53% of those surveyed stated they would choose a completely different profession if they had it to do all over again.
64% said they would quit now if they could.
Interested in learning more? Check out We Need to Fix Work • The Workforce Institute at UKG
Posted by Lynne Curry, author of Managing for Accountability and Navigating Conflict.
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I would be curious on demographics. Was this a broad spectrum of ages, or just young adults? One thing I’ve noticed is that young adults- at least in the US- seem to view employment with something akin to hostility, I’ve even read comments referring to employment as “the new slavery”. Young adults also seem to believe that all necessities such as housing, medical care, etc ought to be free- even though those things require other people to work to provide them. As a GenX worker myself, I don’t understand that. I’ve had relatively good jobs over the years and my current job is excellent. I have no issue with trading my time and skills in exchange for pay and benefits. I’ve also never felt that the world owed me anything. I would be really curious how diverse this group that was polled was.
Dee, I checked into that. For the U.S., they had 600 C-suite leaders and 600 HR leaders. That said, I’m not sure how they arrived at their samples.
OMG! With results like that I’m amazed anyone is accomplishing anything during the day that isn’t miserable. If I lived in their (the respondents) world I would have had to shoot myself.
In a career that has now spanned six decades, and with a resumé that covers at least five different career fields and dozens of jobs (most lasting as long as the job did; a couple more than 30 years) I can only think of a few hours or days that I might have felt a twinge of what this study portends.
I looked forward to going to work literally every day, and as often as not, ‘hung around’ to complete something rather than ‘ran from the task’ at the end of the scheduled day.
I guess I was lucky. And I’m glad life is still that way.
A positive mental altitude – being high on life, and the ability to separate the BS from the roses helps.
One of my direct-reports used to tell his crew “If you don’t like what you’re doing, you either need to change your attitude about it or get out of the business. Because it needs to be done, and it’s ours to do. Now, come on, let’s get it done!”
Dan, I agreed with this–for most of my career. I worked for a few mediocre employers and agree with you–realizing it’s not your monkey, it’s not your circus, it’s time to leave makes sense.
Yup. This is why I’m glad I’m retired. The back-stabbing, vicious gossip, career-ender coworker/supervisors, the dry drunk senior staffer, the drama kings and queens, were all-too-prevalent in too many full- and part-time jobs of mine. And their behavior was permitted, if not encouraged, or at least turned-a-blind-eye-to. In between, there were some positively memorable coworkers, mentors, and people who became friends. I guess I had much of the spectrum.
Sue, and that’s what makes your blog comments so interesting…that and the fact that your writing is always intriguing.