Most workers have career regrets, survey shows

New research by HR software and eLearning content provider Ciphr has revealed people’s biggest career regrets. 

Based on a poll of 2,000 UK employees, nearly 8 in 10 (79%) say they have regrets about a career choice or a decision they’ve made at work.

People mid-way into their career, aged 35-44 years old, are the most likely to report having work-related regrets (87%). This compares to 82% of workers under 35 and 75% of those aged over 45.

Only 21% of those surveyed didn’t have any regrets.

The top career regret, for one in six (17%) employees, involves dwelling on or worrying about a work situation or conversation that they can’t change.

Younger workers are more likely to have regrets over doing this. Nearly one in four (24%) 18-24 year olds say they regret worrying or stressing about unchangeable events or conversations, compared to one in five (21%) 25-44 year olds and one in seven (14%) workers over 45.

The next two most commonly cited regrets are staying in a job for too long (16%) and working too many hours (16%).

Other notable regrets include ‘playing it safe’ career-wise (15%) and not having enough pension savings (14%).

People’s most common career regrets include:

1. Overthinking or worrying about work situations and conversations they can’t change (17% of surveyed employees)
2. Staying in a job for too long (16%)
3. Working too many hours or not prioritising their work-life balance (16%)
4. Playing it safe: not taking opportunities to advance their career (15%)
5. Not saving enough money into their pension or not starting to save into their pension sooner (14%)
6. Putting up with a bad manager for too long (13%)
7. Not working in a higher-paying profession (12%)
8. Not pursuing their ‘dream’ job or the career that they wanted to (11%)
9. Not leaving a job that they didn’t like (11%)
10. Not changing their career sooner (10%)

Claire Hawes, chief people and operations officer at Ciphr, says: “As these findings show the outcomes most people look back on with regret are the things they didn’t do – the career path not taken, the job opportunities missed, or the work problem not dealt with sooner.

“Very few people don’t have something in their past they’d do differently, perhaps, given the chance. The important thing is that we take time to reflect and learn from our work experiences. The good and the bad. Regret might not always seem particularly helpful or productive at times, but it can be a big motivator to help us avoid repeating certain situations, to build self-awareness, and make better decisions that work for us going forward.

“One of the biggest benefits of having regular check-ins with your manager is that it helps to normalise constructive self-reflection and performance conversations. It’s important to use this time to reflect objectively and get feedback: on your successes, your challenges, on the situations you think you could have handled differently or better, or the things that may be bothering you.

“Done well, 1:1s help build trust, align priorities, boost job engagement and reinforce a sense of purpose and focus. Helping you to take more control of your career growth and development.”

Personalised employee development was recently ranked as one of the top 10 benefits people value most. Using an integrated HR and learning system like Ciphr can streamline the performance management process and enable better development conversations. Logging performance reviews and recurring 1-to-1 discussions centrally enables employees and their managers to consistently, and fairly, track progress against organisational objectives over time, to help inform goal setting, improve productivity and identify specific training and upskilling needs. Employees can access and complete customised learning plans and compliance training via the LMS, and employers have a consolidated, real-time view of their skills development and performance data.

While 1:1s are not always standard practice in all types of organisations, employees should be encouraged to check in with their manager or supervisor when they need to, advises Hawes.

The full results of Ciphr’s research into people’s biggest career regrets is available here