Career compromise or being stuck in a job one did not aspire to is one of the biggest causes of dissatisfaction among workers, regardless of salary, according to psychologist John Moulder-Brown.

As a result, employers should offer support to staff seeking to attain their career goals – even if those eventual aims are with a different company or different profession.

Moulder-Brown told Recruiterthat managers should not turn a blind eye to unhappy team members, despite the pressure of targets, and instead encourage them to reach their career goals.

“Companies should have people in jobs they want rather than jobs which represent career compromise,” said Moulder-Brown. “The greater level of compromise, the more trouble there will be. If people are not performing or they want to move on, they can always be replaced.”

Moulder-Brown carried out his research while at City University, London, studying for an MSc in organisational psychology. It comprised collating responses to face-to-face interviews and questionnaires over a four-month period to October last year.

He recently spoke at the British Psychological Society’s conference in Brighton on career compromise.

He suggested that salary was not an issue in determining the level of career compromise, and cited the example of a female sales worker from a City bank he interviewed during the course of his research.

Despite earning a sizeable salary, she was so unhappy in the job her dissatisfaction often led to her not attending work and also needing personal therapy.

Moulder-Brown argued that those who felt they would reach their career goals were much happier, even if they had to do a job they may not enjoy to get there.

“If they are in a situation where they are working towards their goals they will be much happier.”

Moulder-Brown contended that employers should use so-called ‘soft’ skills – the ability to have good relationships and empathise with other people - to establish whether their employees were happy in their jobs, and even offer counselling if necessary.

“If companies notice that somebody is in a bad way, they should offer them counselling at work and show them they care, support them in any way they can.”