What motivates professional development?

Seven out of ten employees plan to progress professionally within two years. A little more than half in the next twelve months. Especially for better pay. But without abandoning their company or their sector of activity.

According to the new Active Future barometer, a majority of employees want to develop professionally. And many would like to make this wish come true in the coming year. How to proceed? Decryption with Sarah Lemoine.

franceinfo: This is understandable, many employees want to earn more and progress in their career, but without leaving their company and their professional sector?

Sarah Lemoine: This is the main lesson from the new Avenir active barometer, the structure which oversees the Professional Development Council for current employees and the self-employed.

Among the 4,800 employees surveyed this summer, 69% expressed a desire for professional development in the next two years. Knowing that only half of them were considering it in February 2020, just before the first confinement. This progression results from both personal and intimate questioning about the relationship with work since the health crisis, mbut also the impact of inflation on wages and the loss of purchasing power.

The desire to see one’s salary increase by six points compared to last year is the first reason cited, ahead of that of taking on a new challenge or the need to improve one’s working conditions.

Do employees express the desire to radically change jobs?

Not necessarily. 65% of employees surveyed want to progress in their company, and almost as many in the same sector. “We have the feeling that the time has come to retreat a bit from our job, from our company, from our activity, from what we know”analyzes Gérald Maury, director of the Professional Development Council of Aquitaine.

According to him, this need for security is explained by a fairly anxiety-provoking environment, on a political and institutional level. Nearly 3 in 10 employees also think that artificial intelligence will have a strong impact on their job in the coming years. An exacerbated feeling among employees in Ile-de-France, due to the concentration of large companies in this region, which are beginning to integrate these new technologies.

Employees who want to progress, but who don’t really know how to go about it, who can they turn to?

Towards the CEP the Professional Development Council, precisely, which is a public service, completely free, but which more than half of French people do not know about. “Those who have identified it mainly associate it with supporting professional retraining, even though the range of services is much broader,” indicates Gérald Maury.

The mission of the CEP is to support all workers who want to take stock of their situation, to facilitate dialogue with their employer, and if necessary, to help them develop a strategy, even if they do not wish to not make a 180 degree change.

To introduce these services, the CEP is organizing “Professional development weeks” from October 7 to 18. On the program: 70 free webinars open to all.