New study finds 50% of insurance workers looking to change career
Over half of UK employees in the insurance sector feel their employer is failing to help them realise their potential, according to research revealed today. 13% also believe their bosses have no idea where their strengths lie, highlighting a huge waste of talent.
The study, from business psychology experts OPP, reveals an enormous pool of talent which is currently untapped by the nation’s business leaders.
Not enough is being done by employers to identify and develop their workers’ strengths. Nearly half (44%) are in jobs that have no structured evaluation or feedback and less than a quarter of employers are using formal tests to assess employees’ abilities. As a result, one in five of the UK workforce feels they’ve never had a role which has suited their strengths.
The implications are costly, according to OPP. Nearly half (47%) of those in the industry are committed to changing career in the near future, meaning millions in extra recruitment and training expenses for UK businesses – something that could be avoided if firms paid more attention to supporting and developing their existing employees.
Lucy McGee, head of marketing at OPP said: “Given the increasing competitiveness of business and the sums invested in recruitment, it’s startling that so many UK companies risk alienating their employees in this way. Once hired, it seems that many workers are simply sat at their desk and given their job, with no real thought put into how best to keep them motivated and deploy them in a way that’s best for them and for the company.
“The big picture is that British business is carrying the overhead of retraining people as they career-hop. But day-to-day, clock-watching employees impact productivity and a demoralised workforce has the potential to destabilise a business very quickly. Much more effort should be put into understanding employees’ strengths and developing them through structured, thoughtful assessment and training, consistently during their career with a company, not just before they are taken on board. Businesses risk wasting significant time and money if they don’t change.”
