Just 17% of UK professionals have used a business coach, despite 83% of those saying that they found it beneficial
Only 17% of UK professionals have ever used a professional coach, according to new research from the Work&Grow.
This is despite the fact that 83% of respondents who had received professional coaching said it had been beneficial to their career.
The main benefits of coaching cited were improving their ability to manage challenges at work, helping them to become better leaders and enabling them to build more confidence.
The research was carried out for a whitepaper - Coaching: The New Retention Strategy - by Work&Grow in partnership with the Financial Times.
It will initially target finance and professional service businesses as well as scale-ups, bringing vetted professional coaching and coaching practice, and curated content and insight from the Financial Times aligned to the individual’s professional ambitions.
Despite the economic uncertainty, cost of living crisis, and general post-pandemic malaise, most professionals (59%) were positive or very positive about their career opportunities over the next five years. Less than 10% had a negative outlook.
Of perceived career threats to respondents, the three biggest were digital disruption (20%), the economy (16%) and work/life balance (15%).
James Brookner, Co-Founder of Work&Grow, said, "It's been a tumultuous and uncertain few years, but despite this, UK professionals remain optimistic about the future.
“Yet despite the clear and tangible benefits to be had from a carefully identified professional coach, less than one in five professionals have ever used one.
“We want to make business coaching much more accessible and help professionals prepare for whatever the future of work may bring.”
Not only had just 17% of professionals ever used a career coach, but 42% said there was no budget available to them for coaching in their current role.
36% were not aware if they had a coaching budget available.
James added, “It’s clear that coaching should be much more accessible than it is currently.
“By investing in coaching, employers not only unlock the potential of their employees and enable them to thrive in a challenging business landscape but significantly improve employee retention.”
Sam Bradshaw, Head of People at Astute, added, “In the past 12 months, Astute has added two Recruitment Coaches to the team, in order to support our recruitment specialists with their learning and development.
“Feedback from the team has been incredibly positive, as have results, with the business on course for a record-breaking year.
“Investing in the team in this way is relatively unusual for recruitment businesses, but with numerous benefits, I would encourage more companies to consider utilising coaches to get the best out of their teams."
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