Most people feel they still have a ways to go before they’re operating at their full potential at work.
Indeed, just 5% of people say they are using 100% or more of their potential, according to the latest reading of an ongoing query by Comparably. The most popular response among those polled was “50% to 75%.”
The older you are, the less confident you are that you’ve reached full potential
It may seem counterintuitive, but younger workers are more likely than older workers to say that they are working at or near their full potential. Twelve percent of workers aged 18 to 25 reported using at least 90% of their potential, the most of any age group. That number declined in each successive age group, hitting a low of 9% among workers aged 51 to 55.
Workers aged 18 to 25:
Workers aged 51 to 55:
Workers who feel most fulfilled
Thirty percent of people who work in an executive role at their company feel they have achieved at least 90% of their potential. That’s the highest among any department. The departments with the next highest levels of fulfillment were HR (18%) and finance (17%).
Executives:
HR:
Finance:
Workers who feel least fulfilled
Workers in administrative roles, customer support, IT, and legal were least confident in having reached their full potential. Twenty-nine percent of workers in administrative roles said they were using only 0% to 50% of their potential; that number was 25% for customer support workers, and 22% for workers in either legal or IT.
Administration:
Customer support:
Legal:
IT:
The results are from a Aug. 11 reading and include the responses of more than 10,000 workers in the technology industry.
