As a result of the coronavirus crisis, it seems that many workers are keen to make changes to their careers.

In fact, three-fifths of UK workers (60%) are open to switching careers, which is an increase of seven percentage points since July 2020 (53%).

Following research conducted as part of Aviva’s latest How We Live report, it has been revealed that changes range from the relatively minor, such as learning new skills or gaining further qualifications, to changing career paths completely.

It also found that the proportion of workers intending to find a different vocation has increased from seven per cent to nine per cent, while those planning to take on a role which helps others has spiked from six per cent to eight per cent.

From July 2020, it was discovered that the most popular career change which workers would like to make to their job roles is the ability to work from home. This figure has stayed static at ten per cent, indicating that home working has proved to be a huge benefit throughout the pandemic.

Commenting on the research, Gareth Hemming, Managing Director, Personal Lines at Aviva, shared that the pandemic has allowed professionals to truly think about what they want from their careers.

“As the pandemic has continued, an increasing number of people have given thought to what they want from their careers and now three fifths of people would like to make changes to their working lives,” he said.

“The extent of these changes varies: in some instances, people want more flexibility, such as the ability to work from home, while others wish to change their career paths completely.”

Careers within different age groups

The study also uncovered some insights in relation to specific age groups. For example, people aged under 25 are most likely to want to make changes to their careers in the next 12 months, with 87% re-evaluating their current roles.

Elsewhere, those aged between 25 to 34-years-old are more likely to want to retrain (14% compared to ten per cent across all age groups) or follow a completely different career altogether.

Workers aged 55 and over said that the crisis has escalated their retirement plans to within the next 12 months, compared to 11% in July 2020.

Executive Grapevine,

Jade Burke

April, 2021