Employers
could be in for a difficult start to the New Year with employees considering
their future and seriously suffering from rock bottom levels of career
satisfaction.
Several
new reports indicate that the start of 2004 has led to a bout of soul searching,
with many staff looking to move jobs, set-up on their own or simply sulk their
way through January.
A
survey of 1,000 people by awards body Foundation Degrees found more than one in
four workers are resolving to leave their current position after a period of
reflection during the festive holiday.
According
to the poll almost half the workforce admitted that they drifted into their
current professions, rather than actively choosing them.
Indifference
and apathy were major themes, with a quarter of employees citing their current
jobs as nothing more than a way to pay the bills.
Separate
research, by HR consultancy Chiumento, found that almost a quarter (23 per
cent) of senior managers questioned claim they hope to become self-employed in
2004, compared with the national workforce average of just 5 per cent.
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Workers
who have been in their job for less than 12 months are the keenest to quit,
with 67 per cent looking to move compared with 24 per cent of people with four
years of experience.
Online
jobs board Jobsite.co.uk has also reported a surge in the number of people
looking for work with the start of this month outstripping all previous records.
