Member Article

As wages get squeezed, are UK workers the most unsatisfied in Europe?

Yesterday’s latest wage growth figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed what many of us already knew: the increasing cost of stuff is putting a major squeeze on our pay packets.

According to the ONS, average earnings fell by 0.6% in the first three months of this year, as pay growth continued to be strangled by inflation despite a 1.7% average increase in our pay packets before inflation.

The problem only looks set to get worse too, with the ONS revealing on Tuesday that inflation was up by 2.1% in May and with more price rises on the way owing to the weak pound and continued political uncertainty, British workers are in for a torrid time over the coming months.

However, it is not just long hours and diminishing pay packets that are taking its toll on UK workers.

A new study of the country’s workforce by training platform Course Library has found that 80% of the workers it surveyed felt they had hit a wall in terms of their career progression.

Providing an insight into the psyche of the UK workforce, the poll surveyed 1,200 people between the ages of 18 and 64 about their job satisfaction and painted a rather bleak picture about the current state of the UK job market.

According to their findings, there was an even split between 80.6% of men and 80.8% of women who felt they had hit a career slump with lack of career progression (32%), lack of training and development (17%) and repetitive tasks (11%) all cited as the main drivers of their dissatisfaction.

Lee Biggins, who is one of the co-founders at Course Library, believes businesses should be doing more to retain their staff with more opportunities for development and training allowing employees to grow with the business.

He said: “It’s clear from our findings that many employees in the UK are hitting roadblocks in their careers. Not only is this disheartening for the worker themselves, but it can also present problems for smaller businesses when it comes to talent retention.

“Employees need to feel as if they are moving forward in their careers and this can only be achieved if SMEs are offering the right opportunities and helping members of staff to expand their skill-sets, develop and grow alongside the business.”

This is a common refrain of course, and in a period of economic uncertainty when businesses of all sizes are looking to tighten their belts often the first thing up for the chop is staff training budgets.

All this leads to the question: are the UK’s workers the most unhappy in Europe?

Do these findings chime with your experience, are things really that bleak out there? Whether you’re a disgruntled employee on a zero hours contract or an employer who places staff development above all else, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.