There was a time when it was cause for great pride to have your children follow in your professional footsteps. According to a release by Hudson UK, one of the world’s leading recruitment and human resource consultancies with offices on four continents, nearly one in three male lawyers (32.3%) would not encourage their children to emulate their career choice. While lawyers topped the list, they were not the only dissatisfied professionals. Happiest on the list were female IT professionals, with only 20.1% of them being resistant to encouraging their children toward careers similar to their own. That is still only one in five.
While this may smack of a “grass is greener” mentality, with parents considering that their children might find higher incomes and better work-life balance in other careers, the study’s findings are “disturbing, especially with the current economic conditions. That so many UK professionals would not want to see their children follow in their footsteps points to a workforce that is both unhappy and lacking confidence. Employers should take note of these findings and seek to tackle the sources of such gloom”, says Hudson UK Chief Executive, Andy Rogerson.
“With dark clouds on the economic horizon, employers may revert to short term retention tactics, focusing too heavily on salaries, for example. By contrast, in many cases, improved communication and a more flexible approach can empower and liberate employees”, Rogerson said, and continued with, “Trying to keep frustrated employees motivated and upbeat will be one of the key challenges for businesses in these tougher economic conditions. Ignoring employees’ concerns will not be an option.”
Hudson’s advice to employers for boosting job satisfaction for their employees included:
- Create an atmosphere of honest and personal communication with employees.
- Discovery of underlying sources of tension and dissatisfaction through anonymous employee surveys and face-to-face meetings.
- Provision of clear parameters regarding employer expectations, requirements for promotion and where employees fit within the company structure.
- Provision of appropriate employee training commensurate with their job requirements.
- Do not underestimate the value of training. Not only does it improve skill levels, it signals to employees that they are valued expected to be retained.
- Ensure regular engagement with employees to gauge satisfaction levels, so that potential issues can be resolved promptly.
- Address small problems when they are discovered so they do not create unsolvable issues.
Hudson commissioned Data monitor to survey 1,000 professional UK workers from legal, IT, HR and financial services. Respondents were based across the UK, were aged over 18 years of age, and were evenly split between males and females.
The Hudson UK study may be a strong recommendation for collaborative processed in the workplace, including team coaching and appreciative inquiry approaches. Be sure to find out more about these modalities in this website.
