New research reveals the most common career regrets from Gen Z to Baby Boomers – and offers advice on how YOU can avoid them

The old saying goes that people on their deathbed never wish they had spent more time in the office. A new study showed that this applies to at least 59 percent of employees.

A survey of 1,000 workers from the United States, Britain, France and Germany found that nearly three-fifths of respondents, of all ages, say they regret “not prioritizing work-life balance in their career’.

And it was Generation Z and Millennial respondents, the survey said, who reported these regrets more than any other age group.

The statistic was topped by only one other top regret among the thousand workers surveyed: exactly three-fifths, or 60 percent, wished they had asked for a raise.

But across the range of questions and answers, a larger pattern emerged, according to one of the career and resume writing experts behind the new survey.

“People who played it safe, by staying in an unsatisfactory role or not asking for a raise,” said career expert Heather O’Neill, “have more regrets than those who acted and worked to change their situation for the better .’

But across the range of questions and answers, a larger pattern emerged, according to one of the career and resume writing experts behind the new survey. “People who played it safe, by staying in an unsatisfactory role or not asking for a raise,” one expert said, “have more regrets.”

Overall, a supermajority of 66 percent of survey respondents had some form of workplace regret, but the mid-career age groups, Millennials (70 percent) and Generation X (69 percent), reported the most overall sorry.

People early in their careers, such as Generation Z (61 percent), and those entering retirement, such as baby boomers (52 percent), reported fewer regrets.

And across gender lines, male respondents reported regretting leaving a job more often than female respondents (44 percent versus 34 percent).

The research was conducted on behalf of Resume nowthat promises to help potential employees better market themselves during their job search.

However, the company offers a variety of career coaching and professional resume writing services some users have on Reddit complaints filed about Resume Now’s subscription model and automatic billing practices.

“Lesson learned to consistently check your bank statements,” said one Reddit user Posted in February, in some ways expressing their own career-related regrets in their job search.

Resume Now’s research found that these types of ‘proactive’ regrets were less common than inaction regrets: for example, 58 percent of respondents wished they hadn’t stuck in a job they didn’t like, while only 38 percent had regrets of stopping

Resume Now’s research found that these types of ‘proactive’ regrets were less common than inaction regrets: for example, 58 percent of respondents wished they hadn’t stuck in a job they didn’t like, while only 38 percent had regrets of stopping.

More than half, 53 percent, reported that they “regretted not speaking up in a meeting,” compared to just 38 percent who “regretted saying something in a meeting.”

Fortunately, as O’Neill noted, “If you’re experiencing career regrets, it’s not too late to rectify them (…) Change doesn’t come easy.”

And more than half of Resume Now survey respondents (55 percent) said they had at least one career-related resolution for 2024.

For almost all of these people (54 percent), learning a new skill was high on the list, while many others (45 percent) said they hoped to find a new job.

About a quarter of respondents had committed to improving their professional status, be it with a new professional certification (23 percent), expanding their network of professional contacts (25 percent) or something else.

And roughly one-fifth of the international sample of American, British, French and German workers surveyed said they were planning (or hoping) to make a major career change in 2024 (19 percent) and/or specifically find a new job that would allow for that was suitable. working remotely (18 percent).

And yet, despite this issue being the top workplace regret in all four of these countries, only 21 percent of respondents reported that 2024 would finally be the year they planned to ask for a raise.