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- 1 in 3 UK nurses say they would never go back into their jobs if they had the choice.
- That’s despite 82% of nurses saying they either love (28%) or like (54%) their job.
- Nurses are more than 2x more likely to say they are paid badly than the wider UK workforce.
Many people would take a pay cut for a job they actually loved. But is there a limit to how much ‘meaningful work’ is worth?
New data suggests that nurses’ compensation hits that limit. Moneyzine.com can reveal that nurses report higher positive feelings towards the work they do than the average UK employee - yet over a third would not go back to work if they could.
Nurses find their work meaningful
A recent study comparing NHS nurses to the broader UK workforce unearthed a core paradox that helps illustrate the extent of nurses’ pay problems. It found that 82% of nurses either love (28%) or like (54%) their work, while just 75% of other NHS workers - and 68% of the general workforce - said the same.
This would suggest that nurses actively want to do their jobs. And it’s backed up by other data: in another global study 60% of nurses declared that ‘doing meaningful work’ was a reason they would stay in their job. But further data from the same survey suggests that simply loving what you do is not enough.
Meaningful work is not enough
While just 8% of nurses say they dislike the profession, more than a third say they would not choose the job if they had the choice again - and a similar number (31%) say they would discourage others from joining the profession.
This should not come as a shock: nurses find meaning and worth in their work, but that is not enough to sustain them through the torturous hours, brutal workload and most importantly - the unusually poor pay.
Nurses are more than twice as likely as the average Briton to say they are badly paid. While 5% of the general population say they are paid ‘very badly’, 14% of nurses say the same thing. And while 17% of the general population feels they are paid ‘fairly badly’, 35% of nurses feel that way.
“We’ve heard a lot about people’s desire for ‘meaningful work’ in the last few years. And while that’s obviously important, this data helps put it into perspective. A sense of purpose is not - and should never be - a substitute for proper compensation.”Jonathan Merry, CEO of Moneyzine.com
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