According to a recent study, white-collar workers who are in their fifties and forties have a greater risk of experiencing a career crisis than workers with lower skills in the same age range.
According to Professor Ying Zhou of the Future of Work Research Centre, the University of Surrey and the lead author of this study, highly-skilled workers such as managers, professionals, including lawyers, accountants and other professionals, are more likely to experience a “mid career crisis” or a time of low job satisfaction.
In the study published in Socio-Economic Review, data was collected from over 100,000 workers. The study found that mid-life turmoil may be due to the fact that these workers have higher expectations for their careers than less-skilled employees. This study focuses on occupation rather than age, as previous research has focused on the relationship between the two.
Zhou wrote: “While unhappiness is common among middle-aged workers it is important to acknowledge that the experience is not universal.
Our findings show that job satisfaction for managers and professionals reaches its lowest point in their forties, but then often rises later in life. Workers in lower and intermediate occupational classes, however, do not show the same U shaped pattern. This contradicts the widely held belief that a career crisis occurs at any point in a person’s life.
The Times reported that Ann Francke is the chief executive of Chartered Management Institute. She said: “Employers will retain their best performers if they listen to their employees, understand that a drop in job satisfaction is normal, and adjust their expectations during difficult times.”
She said that those who didn’t listen to her were sending the wrong message about company culture to their employees.
Zhou’s study suggested that businesses can improve the culture of their workplace by creating an environment that encourages career development and personal fulfillment. It was becoming increasingly important to understand these dynamics, given the aging workforce.
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