As career-switching increasingly becomes the rule rather than the exception, employers will need to find ways to adapt to the new reality, a workforce services firm has warned.
According to a survey among 2,200 UK workers undertaken by Kelly Services, more than half expect to change careers in the next five years due to changing personal interests (27%), the need for a higher income (23%) and the desire for a better work-life balance (22%).
Dominic Graham, head of Kelly Services’ professional and technical division, said: “For an earlier generation, a change of career would have been something of a crisis. However today, it is seen as a reflection of shifts in demand for different skills and occupations as well as changing personal interests on the part of employees.”
As staff increasingly moved in and out of the workforce for both professional and lifestyle reasons, however, employers would need to “adapt to this new workplace reality, where the smooth career pathway will be the exception rather than the rule”, he added.
Industry sectors in which workers are most likely to switch careers include transport/distribution, education, hospitality, retail and travel/leisure.
But more than two thirds of those questioned also believed that they would have no problems resuming their career at the same level after taking a break for things such as maternity or paternity leave, an extended holiday or illness.
The figure rose to 78% among Generation Y-ers (aged 18 to 29), however, compared with 60% of Baby Boomers (aged 48-65) and 62% of Generation X workers (aged 30 to 47).
Interestingly, while just under a third of respondents said they aspired to an executive position, some 28% did not because of the potential impact on their work-life balance (33%), worries about pressure and stress (31%), inadequate skills (14%) and lack of ambition (9%).
