Certain professions, particularly high stress ones, such as teaching, finance and medicine are particularly vulnerable to brain drain. Often it manifests itself during the most productive employment years, when mid-career staff face the tough decision on whether to “double down” on their fast-paced professional track or take a break to devote more time to family, entrepreneurial ambitions or other personal aspirations.
As described in Schools Week as part of a spotlight on flexible working, “There is a well-documented recruitment challenge in education, and we’re interested in this group of women aged 30 to 39. 6,000 of them leave the profession every year, and there’s not much data on what happens to them.
They aren’t the only people for whom flexible working would be beneficial, but they are nearly 30 per cent of the teachers leaving the profession, and it does suggest that teaching somehow, whatever people believe on the outside, is not compatible particularly with having a family.” 2

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In similar reporting, FE News published data this Spring from the National Education Union survey on the State of Education in the UK. Quite alarmingly, some “35% of total respondents reported they would definitely be no longer working in education in five years’ time.” 3
Moreover, “Of those who indicated they would no longer be working in education, either in two or five years’ time, we asked them why. The most common reason was that the education profession is not valued or trusted by government/media (53%), closely followed by workload (51%), then accountability (34%) and pay (24%).” 4
Having the right hiring plan, recruitment model and delivery partners in place go a long way to helping break this vicious cycle.