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March 2023 - Engineering

Almost half of UK engineers are considering a change of job: A survey has revealed that almost half of the engineers polled in the latest Engineer's Salary Survey (47%) are considering a change of job, up from 42% in the last survey. However, 81% of these are not planning to leave the industry altogether in the next five years. Almost three-quarters of participants said they would likely consider a sideways move to another sector, an increase of 6 percentage points since last year (67%).

The Engineer's 2023 Salary Survey polled 891 engineers working across 12 different sectors, also finding that 49% of the engineers polled would consider taking a job overseas.

When looking at which sector they may side-step into, renewables was the most attractive (56%), with the least attractive areas being food and drink (11%) and telecoms/ utilities (14%).

The engineers most likely to consider a change of role were those working in manufacturing (58%), renewables (53%), chemicals and pharma (52%) and telecoms/ utilities and electronics (52%. These were followed by oil and gas (49%), aerospace (49%), food and drink/consumer goods (48%) and automotive (45%). The least likely to consider a change of role were those working in materials (23%) academia (25%), defence and security (41%) and rail/civil and structural (44%).

Looking at the top motivators for considering a change of job, the survey found that almost two-thirds were considering it in order to boost their salary (65%), while slightly fewer said they wanted a new challenge (63%). Other reasons cited included 'limited opportunity in their current role' (36%) and 'the pursuit of better flexible working' (26%).

However, despite the findings relating to changing roles, 55% of engineers said they are happy in their current job. It also found that the average salary for a UK engineer is £57,366.

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