Marketers might claim to be so busy that they barely have time to breathe, let alone go out to lunch, answer the phone or even read emails but the reality is somewhat different, according to a new survey which claims the profession is the laziest of the lot.
According to independent job board CV-Library, by their own admission six in ten (60.8%) marketing professionals fess up to slacking off in the workplace.
The study, which surveyed 2,000 UK professionals, also found that this number is the highest of all industries. Following marketers, 48.3% of finance professionals admitted to being lazy at work.
Alongside this, marketing professionals were asked their top reasons for slacking off, with top of the pile being “I’ve achieved as much as I can already” (71.4%), boredom (35.8%), lack of motivation (28.6%) and finally “nobody is monitoring me” (14.3%).
Interestingly, while only 7.7% of marketing professionals felt they could get away with being lazy in the workplace, this number drastically increased for senior employees, at 61.5%.
CV-Library founder and CEO Lee Biggins said: “Marketing is a unique industry in the sense that there’s more freedom to set your own workload, based on reacting to market trends and opportunities. As such, it’s not surprising to see that the main reason for laziness among marketing professionals is that they often feel like there’s no more progress to be made.
“Yet, if you’re not being challenged enough at work, it’s your responsibility to speak up. While we all have days where we don’t achieve as much as we’d like, this shouldn’t become a regular occurrence. Explore the possibility of training and development opportunities with your manager – it could make all the difference to your attitude.
“It’s a well-known fact that when you’re starting out in your career, there’s marginal room for error and even less room for laziness, whereas senior employees have somewhat earned a little leeway. However, for your own job satisfaction and to set a good example for others, senior employees especially should always be striving for more.”
However, the findings are at odds with another CV-Library study – carried out in 2017 – in which 75% of workers in the marketing sector cited workplace stress as a key cause of disrupted sleep, with 43.8% claiming that they feel exhausted on a daily basis.
Related stories
Over a fifth of marketers say workplace is not diverse
Too old or too young; age discrimination rife in industry
Boredom and anger driving marketers to seek new job
Too knackered to work? Eight top tips to get those Zzzs
Finding a marketing job is more stressful than the work
Stressed out marketers struggling to get a decent kip
