The average professional lifeismade up of six jobs, nine pay rises, three big bust-ups with colleagues and one office romance according to a new study from AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians). AAT looked at the experiences people have in the working world and found out that:

British people have on average six different job roles from the moment they start full-time work to when they retire, spanning across six different companies. We enjoy nine major pay rises across our years of work. In a career, people have an average of two bouts of unemployment before getting back on their feet in the job market. When seeking ‘pastures new’ in a new job, we will endure an average of ten job interviews, but an unlucky one in ten will plough through the interview process over 25 times.

Three major bust-ups will occur over the years, either with clients, colleagues or the boss, but small disagreements in the workplace will raise their ugly head more frequently at 15 times a year. The typical employee will enjoy one office romance, although a busy six per cent will rack up to five or more. With this in mind it’s no surprise that the average worker will hear six pieces of juicy gossip through the rumour mill. The average Brit believes their time is worth around £17 an hour, more than twice the UK living wage set out by the Living Wage Foundation this week.

Mark Farrar, Chief Executive of AAT said: ‘’Our working lives see many ups and downs as we move up the ladder, deal with new challenges, or change job completely. ‘’It’s revealing to see that the average person will work for at least six different companies over a lifetime, proving that the traditional ‘job for life’ may well be a thing of the past. People should always ensure they take up training opportunities and their skills are up to date so they can be ready if they need to change job.’’

In addition to the other results, AAT’s research also found that 54 per cent of people believe their commitment to work has impacted their relationships and personal lives and over six in ten say trying overly hard to progress has disrupted their work-life balance. 39 per cent admit to changing jobs purely to restore it; in fact, 46 per cent say they’d quit a job they’d had for years for better job satisfaction, even if it meant re-training or having to gain new qualifications.

A LIFETIME OF WORK WILL SEE –

1 office romance

2 bad bosses

3 heavy bust-ups

6 job roles

6 different companies

9 pay rises

94 sick days

141 times late

705 minor disagreements 

9,024 hours of overtime

29,328 cups of tea