Market Insights

The ‘career ladder’ is outdated.

Today our working lives resemble more of a spiral staircase, with job changes helping us secure the work we want or need.

For some, this means side stepping into a new role or business to build out their CV or transferable skills. For others, climbing the ranks is far less important than things like job security or work-life balance.

While the rate of job changes has held relatively stable over time, the motivations driving these career leaps – and the industries benefiting from them – have shifted significantly.

Our survey found that three quarters of the UK workforce (75%) are thinking about making a career change in the future, meaning that employers have the opportunity to harness cross-industry trends to shape their attraction and retention strategies.

Use our Career Change Tracker to see which industries provide – and pinch – your top performers, or read on below for an in-depth view of talent movement trends in the UK.

What gives workers the push – or pull – they need to start in a new industry?

In a word: lifestyle.

As for salary? It seems money still talks, with over a fifth (19%) of career changers wooed by the competitive salaries offered in a different industry.

These motivators held fast during the Covid-19 pandemic, seeing 1 in 5 people join a new industry.

However, necessity also emerged as a primary driver during this period, with a third (32%) of people saying their move was a needs-must decision, versus 18% who said this was their reason for changing careers before Covid-19.

The pandemic also saw insecure work become more commonplace, and some industries had to press pause on hiring altogether. In fact, nearly a fifth (19%) of job changers said they were forced to look elsewhere because there weren’t enough roles available in the industry they were part of.

Notably, a third (31%) of Covid-era career changers said that the pandemic played no role in their decision to move whatsoever, a reminder that many people will ultimately be driven by their individual, localised circumstances over anything else.

Of course, not all job moves are to a whole new industry. Many workers choose to stick with their employer by landing a promotion or sidestepping into a different team, for example.

But this employer loyalty varies depending on the industry someone works in:

Policing and Public Sector staff are the most likely to stay with their employer for the long haul, working an average of 6.0 and 5.4 years respectively, before moving on. Farming and Agriculture staff follow closely behind, sticking with the same employer for an average of 5.1 years.

In contrast, Marketing and PR employers see staff move after the shortest length of time, at 2.8 and 3.0 years respectively.

Not only must employers invest resources to fill vacancies more frequently, but they lose valuable skills when staff leave. This is because when looking across all 40 industries, the average worker resigns with a cumulated 7.4 years of industry experience under their belt.

So what would keep workers, and their valuable experience, in the fold?

For employers, this underscores how crucial it is to invest in lifestyle and wellbeing programmes going forward, while striving to unlock employee potential through upskilling initiatives.

We have already seen the impact this can have: 16% of people say they feel more loyal to their employer following the pandemic, which is likely due to how their wellbeing was prioritised as part of their employer’s wider Covid-19 response.

Ultimately, employers who can balance ambitious targets with empathetic and transparent leadership will reap the rewards of loyalty and retention in the long run.

A ‘career for life’ is a less trodden path nowadays. Our insights reveal that nearly 4 in 10 (38%) workers believe that switching industries is now more acceptable to employers.

No longer a red flag of employee flakiness, career changes represent a tactical way for candidates to round out their experience, better their pay or lifestyle, or land work when the market is tough.

In fact, three quarters (75%) of workers say they’re now considering switching industries, with a quarter (26%) ready to do so in the next month*, and 27% in the next two to three months.*

This appetite for change presents a ripe opportunity for employers looking to build out recruitment strategies for the future.

Not only could this approach help plug skills shortages and introduce transferable skills into your business, it could also build out teams with people who have a crucial mindset for long-term growth: an openness and readiness to change.