How office workers yearn for freedom!

According to City & Guilds, the leading vocational awarding body, as many as one in three (33 per cent) disgruntled employees are planning on changing careers with one in five (17 per cent) yearning to get their hands dirty in a more practical or outdoor job.

A radical change appears to be taking place in the workplace with employees chasing their dreams and seeking greater fulfillment and freedom. More than one in eight (13 per cent) lawyers hope to swap the courtroom for a farm or greenhouse while the same number of architects (13 per cent) hanker to pick up a brush and become artists or cartoonists.

Wanting to be your own boss and running the show is one of the main triggers for nearly a sixth (17 per cent) of career swappers, with those working in the media (40 per cent), engineers (33 per cent) and pharmacists (25 per cent) most likely to be self-starters. And the nine to five office life is taking its toll as 20 per cent cite stress as the main reason for job dissatisfaction while 17 per cent claim they are tired of admin.

The survey also found that the longer professionals have been in their careers, the more likely they are to want to move onto pastures new. Approaching half of people (43 per cent) who have been in their existing profession for more than 10 years want to switch careers, rising to 58 per cent among those who may have reached the pinnacle of their career in the 40 to 49 year age group.

And one of the major causes responsible for triggering discontent are key age milestones, which have prompted a quarter (26 per cent) of the respondents to jump ship, followed by talking to friends (21 per cent) and inspirational TV programmes (19 per cent).

Chris Humphries, Director General at City & Guilds said: ‘Our research findings indicate that self-employment is a popular choice as workers push job satisfaction up the agenda. Britain has always had a strong enterprise culture, but anyone considering the self-employment route needs a certain set of skills to succeed, such as financial management and marketing.”

To provide would-be entrepreneurs with the tools and expertise to help them start up and manage their own business City & Guilds offers an online one-stop shop called Be Your Own Boss (http://www.city-and-guilds.co.uk/byob). This covers setting up your own business to writing marketing materials and keeping accounts, and provides a range of tools and courses from which would-be entrepreneurs can pick and mix.

Over 3,000 new businesses are set up in the UK each week. Be Your own Boss ties in with the government’s recent campaign to re-ignite the UK’s enterprising culture whereby anyone with the talent, potential and drive to succeed in business should have the opportunity and support to do so.