The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the career progress of many business professionals, especially among younger workforce members, according to a new survey released by the global staffing firm Robert Half.
The survey found 38% of professionals stating their career stalled since the start of the pandemic, while 66% of respondents between the ages 18 to 24 complained of a sudden stagnation in their work.
Among the specific problems that professionals have faced are the lack of salary growth (54%), a halt to career advancement (47%), the inability to grow their professional network (47%) and the freezing of career skills development (44%). Nearly one in three respondents said they had a shift in perspective due to the pandemic and were eager to pursue a more fulfilling job.
And their anxiety was not imaginary ”” in a separate poll from Robert Half, 59% of surveyed senior managers postponed promoting top performers due to the pandemic, and 78% of those respondents worried about staff retention as a result.
“As the job market continues to rebound, employers need to be concerned about retention,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director at Robert Half. “Younger professionals, especially, want to be challenged and may leave if they’re unsatisfied. Now is the time for managers to invest in upskilling, review performance goals and develop mentoring programs that benefit all employees.”
The online surveys included responses from more than 2,800 workers 18 years of age or older (collected from March 26 to April 15, 2021) and more than 2,800 senior managers (collected from Nov. 19 to Dec. 18, 2020) at U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.
