Nearly half of UK employees intend to leave their job after their summer holidays, due to a desire to travel or work flexibly.
According to new research by Wix, a cloud-based website development platform, along with January, September is the month that sees the highest number of UK employees quitting their day job with 49 per cent of UK employees planning to leave after their summer holiday.
Of these employees, one in three are leaving their job to travel full-time, opting for mobile working instead and setting up their own business online.
This is mainly driven by employees wishing for more flexible working hours (42 per cent) whilst 27 per cent of UK workers desire location independence. Over half (54 per cent) of UK employees believe that they would be happier working for themselves.
The top three most popular countries that UK workers want to travel to and work remotely in are the USA, Australia and New Zealand. The industries that UK employees wish to start businesses in are hospitality (10 per cent), accounting and finance (9 per cent), travel writing (8 per cent), design (8 per cent) and art and photography (7 per cent).
Despite a significant desire for flexibility and travel which is spurring high numbers of UK employees quitting their jobs, research also shows that low morale in the workplace contributes to this number too.
More than a third (39 per cent) feel that they are undervalued in their job as well as underpaid. Research also found that 31 per cent of employees say that poor management is their reason for leaving whilst 34 per cent stated that their reason was because of problems with colleagues and their boss.
Matt Rosenberg, Wix spokesperson said:
Understandably, people on holiday tend to reflect on their professional paths. Many people have hopes to combine the freedom of leisure time with the benefits of working for themselves.
The life of a digital nomad allows individuals to travel and work remotely while doing something they are passionate about.
The survey was conducted in June 2019 by Atomik Research on behalf of Wix. The study surveyed 2,000 full-time employees from the UK +/- 2 per cent margin of error at a 95 per cent confidence level.
Monica Sharma is an English Literature graduate from the University of Warwick. As Editor for HRreview, her particular interests in HR include issues concerning diversity, employment law and wellbeing in the workplace. Alongside this, she has written for student publications in both England and Canada. Monica has also presented her academic work concerning the relationship between legal systems, sexual harassment and racism at a university conference at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
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