Less than half satisfied with their work-life balance

An Employment Trends and Attitudes survey has found that only 49 per cent are satisfied with their work-life balance, which was also voted as key to overall satisfaction at work.

Fifty-eight per cent of respondents to the Eventus Recruitment Group annual employment trends survey said that their employers could do more to support their work-life balance.

In addition, remote working is here to stay with two-thirds being able to work remotely either full-time or hybrid at least one day a week. Allowing more remote / hybrid working was voted as the main element that employers could do better to improve the work-life balance of their employees. The most common working pattern is two to three days of remote working a week. However, it’s important that any home working policy is implemented consistently companywide as the survey results show that currently only 34 per cent of companies implements a home working policy consistently and fairly across teams.

In bigger companies in particular, it’s easy for policy to become disjointed. Sometimes policy is department led or down to manager’s discretion. This isn’t ideal, as someone who sees a colleague doing the same or a similar role to them working from home and they can’t, could become disgruntled. Possibly, even looking for hybrid jobs elsewhere.

The top five benefits ranked the most important in a benefits package are salary, holiday allowance, flexibility over location, flexibility over working hours and pension contributions. Salary and pension contributions are important to our quality of life, whereas holiday allowance and flexibility are vital for our work-life balance. Furthermore, the survey results show that the legal sector has the lowest annual leave entitlement compared to other sectors.

In addition, the survey of workers within professional services found that 55 per cent are fully engaged within their company, working with enthusiasm, whereas 45 per cent are disengaged to some degree with their employers and not fully productive. Steps need to be taken address why people are disengaged, in order to prevent them from leaving if it's not too late.

Here at the Eventus Recruitment Group, we suggest incorporating wellbeing and workplace support into monthly reviews, and anonymously surveying employees annually to find out about company culture, employee benefits, salaries and improvements that could be made. Furthermore, ineffective management was voted as the number one reason why people leave their company, followed by work-life balance and a lack of progression.

The final section of the employment trends survey explored attitudes towards career progression. 60 per cent of respondents said they would like to progress to a higher level and 18 per cent said they would like to change positions or enter a new sector. Whereas 22 per cent said they wouldn't like to progress and would like to stay at their current level / position. Furthermore, only 43 per cent think that their current company will provide them with training and support to progress in their careers. A further 45 per cent said they would need to move companies to meet their career goals. As a result, it is important to have open conversation with employees about their individual career progression and goals and implement Employee Development Plans. So, that your employees can see what needs to be done to progress and how you as their employer will support them.

Amy Watson, director of the Eventus Recruitment Group, said: “People’s confidence in their sector and the jobs market remains high and many are not being deterred from progressing with their career goals. The survey found that 58 per cent are either actively or passively job searching at present. As a result, in order to retain your top employees, it is vital to have regular conversations with employees about well-being at work and progression, make use of Employee Development Plans for those wanting to progress, and have annual reviews of salaries and benefits packages.”

To read the full report, our recommendations and what the survey findings mean for your recruitment and retention strategies, please email [email protected] to request the full employment trends report.