Part 1: Happy planners – but only just

More than half of planners are happy with pay, conditions and opportunities for development – but a significant minority register dissatisfaction in The Planner’s 2018-19 Careers Survey, reports Simon Wicks. 

The degree of discontent is more apparent among public sector planners than private sector planners, according to almost 1,000 responses from the survey conducted last October and November. In particular, the survey finds that:

• Salary: 55% of all respondents said they were happy with their salary progression; but 45% said they felt they were underpaid.
• Development: 65% said they were happy with opportunities for development provided by their employer; 35% said they were not.
• Career progress: 60% of all respondents said they were happy with how they were developing as a planner; 33% expressed doubts.
• Value: 61% of all respondents said they felt their team or department was valued by their organisation; 24% said they did not feel their team or department was valued.
• Resources: Significantly more than half of all respondents – 53% – said they did not feel their team or department had the resources it needed to deliver its goals. One respondent noted: “I think there could always be more staff, and workloads are very high, but currently we have the resources”.

Download The Planner's Careers Survey

A PDF of the full careers survey report can be downloaded here (registration required). We explore some of the topic in more detail in the 2019 February issue of The Planner.

Simon Wicks is deputy editor of The Planner