Welsh teachers and shop workers are UK’s most undervalued employees, finds Adzuna survey

• Teachers and retail staff in Wales are the UK’s unhappiest workers, when it comes to their pay and benefits
• HR professionals based in the South East report highest satisfaction with their pay
• A “compensation complex” is plaguing the UK, with only 6% of us confident we are well-paid compared with colleagues
• Over half (53%) of Britain’s workforce are in the dark about what they should be earning.
• Only 13% of employees have ever requested a payrise - and succeeded

Retail workers and teachers based in Wales are the nation’s glummest grafters, according to recent research by job search engine Adzuna, which launched its expanded ValueMyCV tool this week. Charity workers, those in social work and in the property industry rounded out the top five least happy workers.

South-eastern HR pros, on the other hand could be the happiest workers in Britain, the research found. Consultants came a close second, with 43.8% claiming to be satisfied with current salaries. Builders, marketers and energy workers make up the top five happiest workers in the country.

The survey, conducted by job search engine Adzuna in August 2017, analysed attitudes of over 1,000 UK workers to highlight employment satisfaction levels across 30+ industries in 12 UK regions. Attitudes towards payrises were also analysed by the research, which was conducted to celebrate the launch of Adzuna’s improved ValueMyCV tool, a unique, free tool that calculates how much you’re worth based on your CV. The service also automatically suggests improvements to your CV, matches you to relevant jobs based on your skills and creates an interactive 'career pathway' based on your job title.

A Problematic Picture

The study showed that almost 40% of us are convinced we are paid less than our colleagues, while only a fraction (a mere 6%) believe they are paid more. Workers ages 35-44 were most likely to worry they were paid less than other employees, while those in their 20’s showed the highest levels of confidence in their compensation, with 10.2% believing they were paid more than colleagues.

Despite an overarching sentiment that we may be underpaid compared with co-workers, more than half of UK employees (53%) admitted they have no idea of their true value to employers.

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, commented: ”British workplaces are rife with uncertainty over pay. An ingrained lack of transparency over earnings and salary bandings has created a culture of conviction that others must be paid more than us. Combined with a lack of knowledge of what our own skills are worth to employers in today’s job market, this spells a recipe for disaster for ambitious career builders. With Adzuna’s ValueMyCV, it’s time for employees to take matters into their own hands and arm themselves with the information they need to thrive.”

Salary Secrets

The research showed over half of us (53%) of us would never discuss salary with a co-worker, which only increases the reach of the compensation complex, which plagues many UK workplaces.

As a result, more than half (56%) of the nation’s workforce have shied away from asking for a payrise, with only 13.6% of British workers ever having successfully broached the subject  with a superior.

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, concluded: “It’s time to address the UK workforces’ Compensation Complex once and for all, and declare a war on pay inequality. Our hardworking employees deserve fair pay for the work they carry out - and the tools to help them understand both their value in the workplace today - and how they can increase this going forward. It’s time for employers to play fair.”

Data tables follow:

Table 1: The 5 happiest careers in the UK:

Table 1: The 5 unhappiest careers in the UK: