The UK’s proudest professions are not digital

A new study says farming, teaching and pharma are the UK’s proudest professions, not the digital and creative industries.

professionsAccording to a new survey from fishing waterproofs brand Stormline about pride in the workplace, farming, education and pharma came out on top while those in the digital and creative industries came somewhere in the middle.

The biggest reason for professional pride was the ability to create or make something. Innovation and helping others were also big sources of professional pride… meaning that the digital industry still has some way to go convincing its creative workers that they are ‘making a difference’.

“The UK’s farmers should deservedly feel proud of their industry and our study bears this out. The overwhelming majority of them feel proud of what they do. They can go home at the end of the day knowing they’ve played their part in producing something.

“This isn’t to do down the pride that those at the cutting edge of software development should feel, they are rightly proud of their professions too, but there is something uniquely satisfying about producing something that you can one day hold in your hands,” said Regan McMillan, director of Stormline.

Other findings were:

* Producing something tangible was the most commonly given reason for professional pride, more commonly cited than innovation and helping others.

* Workers in education, health, social care and personal services all rated high for professional pride and said ‘making a difference’ or ‘helping others’ were the reasons

* The real estate and food, beverage and tobacco industries have the fewest professionals who identify as either ‘very proud’ or ‘extremely proud’ of their industry

* A third of UK workers cited ‘innovation’ as their biggest source of pride. Innovation was the most given reason for professional pride among pharmaceutical, aerospace and chemicals professionals