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OFFICE OF THE CHIEF RESEARCHER
CARE IN SCOTLAND WAVE 3 - 2004 PRE-CAMPAIGN DEVELOPEMENT RESEARCH
Scottish Opinion
The views expressed in this report are those of the researcher and do not necessarily represent those of the Department or Scottish Ministers.
Scottish Opinion was commissioned to carry out research on behalf of the Scottish Executive on the subject of social care and careers. A total of 1014 telephone interviews were carried out between Tuesday 6 th and Wednesday 14 th January 2004. All interviews were conducted using Scottish Opinion's CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system, and analysed using SNAP 6 software.
Key results are highlighted and commented on below
Job Satisfaction
Respondents were firstly asked how satisfied they are with their current job. Results are shown in the chart below.
The vast majority of all working respondents (82%) claim to be either very satisfied or satisfied with their current job. Few are very dissatisfied, although one in ten admit to being dissatisfied.
Some differences in opinion are evident amongst different demographic groups. Males are slightly less happy than females (80% vs 84% total satisfaction). Job satisfaction increases in direct correlation with age - meaning that the older the respondent, the more satisfied they are with their job. Respondents in the youngest age group are least satisfied with a quarter (25%) saying they are very dissatisfied or dissatisfied. Differences are also clear between social groups 2 with those in the lowest group, DE, most likely to be happy with their job (88% total satisfaction) whilst those in the C2 group are least likely to be satisfied (19% total dissatisfaction).
In terms of regional variations, job satisfaction is highest amongst those living in Central (89%), Highlands & Islands (88%) and Strathclyde (87%) regions, and lowest in Fife (74%) and Lothian & Borders (75%).
Likelihood of Changing Job
All those currently in employment, regardless of their level of satisfaction with their current job, were asked whether they would consider changing jobs to do something more meaningful or worthwhile.
As the chart above shows, in total 41% of all those currently in employment would consider changing job to do something more meaningful or worthwhile. 17% are definitely interested in the idea, whilst just under a quarter say they would possibly consider it. As might be expected, a large proportion (43%) are definitely opposed to the concept, whilst a further 14% are unlikely to consider changing job.
Again, there are demographic differences in responses to this question. Not surprisingly, likelihood of changing jobs greatly decreases with age - that is, the older the respondent the less likely they are to consider changing job. Those in the 18-24 year group are most likely to consider changing jobs (66%) - in line with the finding that those in this age group are also the least satisfied with their current job.
Propensity to change job also decreases with social grade with those in the AB group most likely to consider doing something more meaningful or worthwhile (47%), and those in the DE group least likely to do so (33%). It is important to note that the difference in responses between social grades is largely explained by the difference in answering "yes, possibly".
Males (43%) are slightly more likely to consider moving to a more meaningful or worthwhile job than females (36%), although again this is driven largely by possible rather than definite intention.
In terms of geography, those in the Lothian & Borders and Dumfries areas are most likely to consider a career move with half of all respondents in each of these areas giving a possible or definite "yes". Respondents in Highlands & Islands (32%) and Tayside (21%) are least likely to consider moving to a more meaningful or worthwhile job.
Likelihood of Considering a Career in Social Care
All working respondents were then asked whether they would consider a career in social care, with the following results.
At the total level 35% of respondents say they would consider a career in social care. Half of the sample, 50%, is definite that they would not take this into consideration, and a further 13% say they don't think they would consider it.
Further analysis shows that only two in ten people (19%) would both consider changing jobs and would consider a career in social care.
The data shows that again those in the lowest age group, 18-24, would be most likely to consider a career in social care (46%), as would those in the DE social group (45%). Males, those in the 55+ age group and those in the AB social grade are least likely to consider social care as a career, and in terms of geography those in Central and Dumfries regions are most negative towards the idea.
Perceived Annual Earnings of Newly Qualified Social Worker
All working respondents were asked how much they thought newly qualified social workers earned on an annual basis.
The first point of note in the above results is that a quarter of the sample did not give an answer to this question, saying they were unsure what a newly qualified social worker earns. The largest proportion of respondents (41%) thought that the social worker's annual salary would be between £15,000 and £20,000, whilst a fifth (20%) thought it would be lower than this and the remaining 14% expected it to be £20,000 to £25,000.
In terms of demographic differences in opinion those in the older age brackets (55+) were more likely to expect the salary to be less than £20,000, whilst those in higher social groups (ABC1) expected the salary to be higher - £20,000 or more.
Important Factors when choosing a Job
The final question in this survey asked respondents to rank order the importance of the following five factors when choosing a job: salary level, security of the job, job variety, job satisfaction / sense of purpose, flexible hours. A summary of rankings across demographic groups is shown below.
| Total | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ |
|---|
Job satisfaction / sense of purpose | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|---|
Salary level | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
|---|
Security of the job | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
|---|
Job variety | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
|---|
Flexible hours | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
|---|
| Total | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | Male | Female |
|---|
Job satisfaction / sense of purpose | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|---|
Salary level | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
|---|
Security of the job | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
|---|
Job variety | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
|---|
Flexible hours | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
|---|
At the overall level, rankings are clear - job satisfaction is the most important factor, followed by salary, then security. Job variety and flexible hours are less important to respondents.
These rankings remain fairly constant across the demographics with a few notable exceptions. Respondents in the 25-34 age group and in the C2 social grade put job security ahead of salary in terms of their key criteria for job selection, whilst understandably, those in the 65+ group are more interested in flexible hours than security or variety. ABs are less interested in security and more in variety of the job.
Interestingly those in the youngest age group put salary level as their most important factor when choosing a job. Given that this group is also the least satisfied in their current job, and the most likely to consider changing to a more meaningful or worthwhile job, or to consider a career in social care, they are probably the best group to target for social work recruitment, and are likely to be motivated by salary.
Footnotes
1. A widely-used scheme of classification is a scale dividing occupations into five categories, with a sub-division at C:
Class A : Higher managerial, administrative or professional
Class B : Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
Class C1: Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional
Class C2: Skilled manual workers
Class D : Semi-skilled and unskilled manual
Class E : State pensioners, those on social security and casual workers
2. The structured six social grades, commonly used in research, are based on the current or previous occupation of the chief income earner in the household. ABC1 includes professional, managerial and non-manual occupations, while C2DE includes manual and unskilled occupations and the long-term unemployed.