British Office Workers are Suffering from the “David Brent Effect” According to New Research
More than 63 per cent of Brits reckon they could be doing better in their career. And a quarter of the workforce blames David Brent style bosses, saying they get no support when it comes to training and career development. Employees say their Brent bosses are holding them back by failing to recognize and nurture their potential.
(PRWEB) May 19, 2005 -- The survey of 3,000 UK employees by online learning
specialist, SkillSoft, also found that women are far more likely to feel valued
by their employers - 61.5 per cent against 49 per cent of men.
People who
work in public services get the most encouragement from bosses – 66 per cent say
their employers are happy for them to develop their skills compared to 56 per
cent of people working for private firms.
Workers in public services also
receive more opportunities for on-the-job training - 40 per cent say they get
formal training and mentoring while just 31 per cent in private firms receive
the same level of support.
Kevin Young, managing director of SkillSoft,
said: "It's evident from this study that a large number of people are not being
given the opportunity to live up to their potential at work; particularly in the
private sector.
"Just consider the productivity gains that could be
achieved if UK businesses stepped up their commitment to developing their
employees' skills."
64 per cent of those questioned say their employer
allows them no time in the working day for their professional
development.
And 89 per cent of workers would prefer to be in control of
their own learning.
Kevin Young said: "This is in line with some research
we did last year amongst employees already using e-learning, the majority of
whom were taking control of their own professional development by accessing
online learning in the office before or after work, or at home in the evenings
and at weekends.
"The effect on their jobs was evident; nearly everyone
interviewed could give practical examples of how they had applied their new
knowledge at work."
This latest study shows that 53 per cent already
willingly spend their own free time on professional development.
But this
figure could be much higher – many workers say they’d spend their spare time
studying if their bosses allowed them time to learn in the office as well.
Almost half (43 per cent) of employees reckon they need to spend just
2-4 hours a week on training to achieve their full potential.
When asked
what sort of training they needed, 45 per cent said they would like more
training in communications and customer relations skills and 50 per cent wanted
more management and leadership skills training.
Unsurprisingly, most
workers think they should be paid more - 67.5 per cent say they deserve bigger
pay packets.
But despite this, the majority of Brits enjoy their work -
43 per cent say they get some pleasure from their work and 40 per cent go as far
as to say they enjoy their jobs "a lot."
Only 10 per cent said they don't
enjoy their job at all.
Notes to editors
The survey was undertaken by
SWNA on behalf of SkillSoft and took place online over a two week period during
April 2005. Over 3,000 UK employees across a wide range of industries responded.
57 per cent were from the public sector and 43 per cent from the private sector.
The full findings and statistics highlighting the differences between the public
and private sectors are available on request from Louise Jaggs at e-mail
protected from spam bots (01242 257770 or 07712 011246).
About SkillSoft
– Nasdaq: SKIL - (www.skillsoft.com)
SkillSoft is a major provider of
comprehensive e-learning content and technology products for business and IT
professionals within the Global 2000. SkillSoft’s multi-modal learning solutions
support and enhance the speed and effectiveness of both formal and informal
learning processes and integrate SkillSoft's in-depth content resources,
learning management platform, virtual classroom technology and support
services.
Content offerings include SkillSoft’s business and IT skills
courseware collections; ITPro™, BusinessPro™, FinancePro™, EngineeringPro™,
OfficeEssentials™, and ExecSummaries™ Referenceware® collections by Books24x7®;
and health and safety compliance courseware by GoTrain. SkillSoft’s
complementary technologies include SkillPort®, the company’s learning management
platform with its powerful Search-and-Learn capabilities, and SkillSoft®
Dialogue™, the company’s newly introduced virtual classroom offering with
associated tools for blended learning solutions.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb241438.htm