Over a third (36.8%) of marketing professionals blame their jobs for making them gain weight and – as a result – making them unhappy, citing a combination of sitting at their desks all day and not having enough time to exercise.
The survey of 1,200 workers by recruitment site CV-Library sought to explore the affect jobs have on health, weight and happiness. Of those who admit that they have gained weight because of their current job, the majority (85.7%) said that this has left them feeling unhappy.
Marketing professionals identified a number of causes for weight gain at work, including sitting at a desk all day (71.4%); colleagues bringing in unhealthy snacks (60.1%); working long days that don’t leave time to fit in exercise (59%); eating more due to stress at work (57.1%); and snacking a lot at work (42.9%).
In addition, 73.7% of workers in the marketing sector revealed that there are other aspects of their job that made them feel unhappy. For the majority (53.8%) it is because they work for a company with poor culture. This was followed by being over worked (31%), finding their job boring (30.8%), having a poor work-life balance (24%) and long commutes (23.1%).
The majority (76.9%) of those who are unhappy with aspects of their job admit that they do proactively try to make themselves feel better. In fact, 70.1% talk to their colleagues when they are feeling down, 19.7% take regular breaks and 10% browse social media.
CV-Library founder and managing director Lee Biggins said: “We spend a lot of our time at work, so it’s important that our job makes us happy. While it’s good to see that some professionals in the marketing sector are taking positive steps to make themselves feel better at work, if you’re suffering from a poor work-life balance, being overworked or long commutes, it’s unlikely that regular breaks or browsing Facebook will solve the problem in the long term.
“Instead it could be time to speak to your manager about getting a better balance or taking the next step in your career.”
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