Having sought the attitudes of 2,500 workers in a variety of industry sectors and job levels, UK recruitment website, Reed, discovered those in the marketing and creative sector to be the most content in their roles.

Almost nine out of 10 (89%) workers feel secure or very secure in their roles. Although, that stability has not necessarily been observed by employers, with 29% worried they could lose their most talented workers.

Catherine Maskell, head of marketing at Reed, warned that while having a workforce that is comfortable in their job stability, there may well be a downside they should prepare to counter.

“What this also reveals, however, is that with security comes confidence, which in turn encourages people to think about their next move, so employers need to be able to respond to this quickly to stop talent jumping ship,” Maskell said.

Reasons for change

Some of those concerns may not be misplaced though as Reed found that increased job security and an optimistic outlook for the economy is giving 20% of marketers the confidence to seek out a new challenge at another company.

Several other factors might be responsible for marketers looking for a change in scenery. A large proportion of respondents had not received a pay rise (71%) in the last 12 months, 64% had not been given any official training and 72% saw no staff entertainment.

Instead, employers have attempted other methods to retain marketers such as flexible working (29%), internal promotion (27%) and training (36%), all of which are used more frequently than traditional incentives.

Inadequate training

Reed states that firms and their employees run the risk of falling behind in a fast-moving digital world as 63% of marketing and creative companies fail to offer any training to staff. 

The same figure backs up another of Reed’s findings whereby 29% of marketing and creative agencies said they have a skills gap in their organisation and 63% confirmed it is having a negative impact on the organisation.

For further detail on Reed’s findings, scroll down to view an infographic the company created.