More than a third of people planning to quit their jobs as promotions drop due to Coronavirus

Learning platform HowNow has discovered that UK employees have received 48% fewer promotions in the last 12 months compared to previous years. The platform also found that more than half (52%) of working professionals in the UK underwent no learning and development during the pandemic, despite furlough rules allowing it, with the average company spending 67% less on staff training during the last 12 months compared to the previous year. To help boost promotions in 2021, the platform has created a guide for up-skilling when working remotely.

The platform surveyed 2,040 working UK professionals about workplace development in the last 12 months and only 24% of those surveyed said they had seen promotions on their team in the last year. When asked how this compared to 2019, 72% said that there had been promotions in the previous year, indicating a 48% drop in promotions during the pandemic.

To investigate possible reasons behind this, the platform also asked about learning and development during the pandemic. More than half of people (52%) stated that their training had stopped completely since the pandemic, while a further 23% said that it had ‘significantly decreased’. The average company spent 67% less on staff training in the last 12 months compared to the previous year.

HowNow discovered that this could lead to many wanting to quit their jobs with more than a third (35%) of those surveyed confirming they are “actively looking for other opportunities”. A lack of growth was selected as one of the main reasons employees were wanting to quit their job (42%). Although the most popular reason was stress related (60%), followed by a clash with management (51%).

When broken down into ages, those between 35 and 44, were the most likely (35%) to receive a promotion and employees aged 55+ the least likely (14%). While people aged between 25-34 were most likely to be looking to quit their job with more than half of them (54%) stating that they were actively looking for other opportunities.

When analysing Google Search trends, HowNow also noticed that searches related to job vacancies spiked in January and February 2020 and are on the rise again this January. Indicating a strong appetite from employees to move on at the start of the year, while searches for career development peak in February.

Searches related to job promotions peaked in autumn last year, indicating that the decision by many to look for a new job in January is not impulsive, but one which employees have been considering for months.

HowNow is the intelligent learning platform, which helps organisations build skills and work smarter by connecting them with the knowledge they need, when they need it, everywhere they work.

Nelson Sivalingam, CEO and Co-Founder of HowNow, said: “Through the initial stages of the pandemic when redundancies were rising, we were seeing a lot of people that were simply grateful to still have a job. However, as we approach a year since the first lockdown, that appreciation has worn off, and those that are unsatisfied now appear to be stepping up their job search.”