Key findings

1. Career dissatisfaction is taking a serious toll on people’s lives

• 73% of career changers say their work negatively affects their overall life satisfaction
• Of these, 91% report that their work negatively affects their mental health
• Only 3% always feel fulfilled by their work; 48% never or rarely feel fulfilled by it

2. Unsupportive or unhealthy work environments are the most important motivations for change – not pay

• The three leading motivations for change are unsupportive or unhealthy work environments (43%), poor work-life balance or wellbeing (41%), and values or purpose misalignment (40%)
• Pay is important (30%), but less so than other factors

3. The biggest barrier for career changers isn’t fear or money – it’s clarity

• 49% say the biggest obstacle to changing careers is figuring out what else they want to do
• Only 12% cite financial constraints as their top obstacle
• Nearly 60% want to move into a different industry entirely, yet 36% have no idea which industry or role they’re aiming for

4. Most career changers have been considering a change for at least a year

• 3 in 4 career changers (74%) have been thinking about changing for a year or more; 1 in 4 have (26%) been considering it for 3+ years

5. Almost half of career changers are navigating a life-defining decision completely alone

• 47% of would-be career changers have drawn on no support at all
• Of those who have sought help, the most common source is friends and family (38%), not professional guidance

6. Most career changers feel neutral about AI – and even those who feel negatively struggle to articulate why

• 75% of people believe AI will have a neutral effect on their careers
• Of those who felt negatively about AI’s impact, 52% of these feel unsure about what that impact might be
• The creative industries are the exception: 35% of creative workers report negative effects, and they’re the most able to explain why

Key recommendations

For individuals

• Most career changers know they want to change but don’t know what to change to, three quarters have been thinking about it for more than a year, and almost half are navigating the process entirely alone. 
• Based on this data, the most important thing career changers can do is start, even before they feel ready. Clarity comes from small, low-risk experiments, rather than analysis alone. Structured support is more effective than relying on friends and family alone, and it’s worth being wary of letting financial worries become a reason not to begin exploring. 

For employers

• The factors that are most driving career changers to want to shift are also ones that employers have direct influence over. 
• Employers who want to attract and retain good people should focus on prioritising psychological safety and sustainable workloads, investing in internal mobility, normalising career development conversations, measuring overall career health, not just engagement, and designing for the flexible, non-linear careers that are now the norm.

For policymakers

• Working lives are getting longer and career transitions are becoming more frequent, yet public support remains disproportionately focused on early-career and unemployment pathways. 
• The data in this report points to four priorities: strengthening support for mid-career transitions, creating financial safety nets that reduce the risk of change, embedding wellbeing as a measurable outcome in workforce strategy, and investing in the development of agency – the single highest-leverage skill for navigating career change – in young people and adults alike.

Download the full report