The startup boom has raised awareness of the job opportunities and office culture offered by fresh and exciting companies, increasing the expectations workers have of their employers. Indeed, The Social Network, the film about the creation of Facebook, and The Internship, the movie starring Vince Vaughn as a Google trainee, are examples of the public getting a look behind closed doors. But it seems as if UK employers may need to rewatch these films to raise the morale of their staff.
According to a survey of 1,200 employees by CV-Library, the job site, an alarming 71.5% of UK workers feel their career has damaged their self-esteem and 55.7% said jobs placed too much importance upon them. Respondents admitted they feel low for various reasons, chief among them when they believe their skills aren’t good enough at 42.5%. Other problems leaving workers down in the dumps include making mistakes, facing redundancy, losing out on promotion opportunities and not passing probation.
However, people don’t just feel bad once they’re in a job: businesses also risk causing upset during the recruitment stage too. Indeed, 52.8% of job-seekers have questioned their abilities when browsing careers, 38.3% have felt despondent when rejected from jobs and 32.6% when recruiters ignore their application.
Commenting on the research, Lee Biggins, founder and managing director at CV-Library, said: “In a world where awareness around mental health and wellbeing is now more prevalent than ever, our latest findings shed some light on the true impact that work can have on employees’ self-esteem. As professionals, we always want to perform to the best of our abilities and there can often be incidents in the workplace that make us question our performance and goals.
“However, it’s important to remind your staff are only human and we cannot always predict what may happen throughout our careers. Providing constructive feedback after they’ve finished a task and having regular one-to-one catch-ups can go some way towards helping to build your employees’ confidence in the workplace.”
With all of this in mind there’s a very real opportunity for business leaders to sit back and consider how their staff really feel from an ethical and well-being perspective, which will surely not just boost staff self-esteem but company culture overall. Just off the top of our head, a movie night with the team might be a good start. 
