62% of Supply Teachers Not Happy With Career Progression

June 21, 2013 - PRLog -- Teachers are happier than the UK average when it comes to their career progression, according to research by specialist recruiter Randstad Education.

In a survey of over 2,000 British workers, only 37.6% of the UK workforce said they were content with their career progression. Only marginally more teachers (38.4%) said they were happy with how they were advancing in their careers. Those working in insurance, property, law, financial services, leisure, health, and IT & telecoms were happier than average with their career progression. At the other end of the spectrum, those working in media and wholesale were the least happy with their career progression (12.2% and 13.3% respectively).

Career Progression Doesn’t Always Go Hand In Hand with Organisational Growth

There appears to be little relationship between headcount growth in different sectors and how satisfied people are with their career progression. The education sector did not expand between 2009 and 2012, yet this did not cause any greater dissatisfaction with career progression.

For example, the number of people working in insurance – the sector in which people were most happy with their career progression – did not expand between 2009 and 2012, according to the Office of National Statistics, while those working in IT & Telecommunications, the sector that expanded most between 2009 and 2012 (44% growth between 2009 and 2012), were only marginally happier than the rest of the country’s workforce.

Jenny Rollinson, managing director of Randstad Education, explains: “We expected to find a relationship at some level between career progression in a sector and job growth. But the figures don’t bear this out. We think this points to employee satisfaction in terms of how their career progression is being managed, rather than simply the volume of opportunities on offer in a given sector.”

Promotions During a Recession

Frustration with career progression in sectors like media and wholesale may be explained by organisations’ reactions to the recession.  The economic downturn has led to some employers abandoning promotion schedules – assuming that the mere existence of a job should be enough to keep and motivate existing staff.  In terms of the public sector, some professions have been hit harder than others in terms of Government cuts, which may explain why teachers and social workers are less happy with their career progression than nurses.

Jenny Rollinson, managing director of Randstad Education, explains: “Employers are having to make difficult choices when deciding where and how to reduce costs in response to the economic climate. Education departments are making tough decisions at a time when their budgets are being reduced. If this was a conventional downturn, most employees would have accepted the lack of promotions as a temporary setback or the price of protecting their job in difficult times. But this isn’t a temporary downturn and as a result, the UK is left with a talent time-bomb – when the downturn picks up and the recruitment backlog is finally addressed, the volume of teachers wanting to change jobs will cause turmoil in the education sector.

“The wide variety of management tiers in most schools provides a wealth of opportunities for teachers to advance their careers. However, many of these opportunities for progression and pay increases have been stalled in the wake of Government cuts. Teachers are also under increasing pressure to deliver quality education to a growing number of pupils with falling levels of resource. If organisations do not look after their best employees, they could find their best staff moving elsewhere.”

“Career Blockers” Cutting Down High-Flyers’ Promotions Prospects

The variations between sectors may be explained by how talent is managed across different industries.  Some sectors that manage their employees’ careers effectively adopt "up or out" policies that require the dismissal of employees who fail to attain a promotion after a certain amount of time – ensuring high flyers’ promotions aren’t held up by “career blockers”.  The United States Armed Forces, for instance, require that certain ranks be held for no longer than a set amount of time, a lack of compliance with which could render grounds for dismissal.

In the UK, leading insurance, financial services and law firms have adopted this ‘Up or out’ American model.  And these were three of the sectors in which people are most happy with their career progression.

Jenny Rollinson, managing director of Randstad Education, said: “Dynamism in the workforce creates a high performance culture and is fundamental for the success of employers and the happiness of employees.  Many teachers complain about long-term ‘career blockers’ holding up their promotion prospects.  That’s frustrating for those high-fliers who are left with no way to climb past underperforming managers.  Increasingly we see them looking elsewhere.”

What Does Career Progression Mean To People Today?

In further research carried out by Randstad Education, http://www.randstad.co.uk/education/, when asked to think back twelve years and remember what they though the most important elements of career progression were, 62% of respondents said better pay, making it the most important factor.  However, when asked what they thought the most important elements of career progression were today, the most popular factor was Doing work that lets me learn new things, meet new people and participate in different projects – an option chosen by 74% of respondents.

Jenny Rollinson added: “Employees are redefining the meaning of career progression.  While long-term job security has traditionally been more important to teachers than pay, the whole concept of a career as an upward progression through a sequence of roles in one organisation has changed. Flexibility in the workforce means that for many a career doesn’t involve lateral progression: it may be a series of moves that go sideways, or even backwards, crossing occupational and organisational boundaries, while for others it is simply increasing their skill sets.

“In the teaching profession this is becoming evident through the supply teacher market. The use of supply staff among schools has increased by 19% since 2009, providing a safety-net for many schools who need to plug gaps and support over-stretched staff. This is only likely to increase further as proposed changes to working conditions are implemented and schools need to strengthen support for their full-time staff.“

For more information visit http://www.randstad.co.uk/education/news/supply-teachers-...

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Bernard Rostker, et. al. (1992). The Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980 - A Retrospective Assessment (PDF). ISBN 0-8330-1287-8