British travel professionals feel less valued in their jobs than their counterparts elsewhere in the world, according to new research.
Results of the Happiness Index study, conducted by global travel and hospitality recruitment leader Progressive Personnel, showed only travel professionals in Australia felt as under-valued and as little respected as Brits.
In addition, British travel professionals are less capable of learning new skills than travel professionals anywhere else.
North Americans are the world’s happiest, most satisfied and motivated travel professionals, and enjoy the best work balance and remuneration among their global counterparts, according to the research. North Americans are also more likely to stay working in travel.
The Happiness Index study was launched in May with the aim of assessing the general satisfaction of international travel and hospitality staff in the workplace.
The survey is the first of its kind in the global hospitality and travel environment to probe three areas: happiness at work, work/life balance and future prospects.
General Manager James Roberts said the aim was to see how motivated staff felt at work, whether they were being remunerated adequately, and whether they felt respected and valued in their job.
"We also looked at how stressful they believed their job to be, how often they worked outside contracted hours and what their prospects were for promotion, growth and development, not to mention whether they would recommend working in travel and hospitality," he said.
The survey found male travel professionals are happier than their female counterparts, baby boomers are the happiest generation of travel professionals, and Australian travel professionals believe themselves to be the least fairly remunerated travel professionals globally.
Travel professionals in the Middle East believe there to be fewer equal opportunities in the workplace compared with the global average, South African travel professionals perceive their jobs to be the most stressful, while Australian travel professionals work more overtime than their global counterparts.
