How happy are Residential Conveyancers?

With spring coming to an end and summer just around the corner, people might be looking at their circumstances and whether they are happy in their current role. 

A recent article on Today’s Conveyancer has highlighted the ‘bank holiday blues’ that Conveyancers might be facing after a long weekend, and these blues might be what convinces people to leave their roles. But is there a long-term trend for Conveyancers wanting to move, or are feelings like this transitory, depending on the current market pressures? 

To find out, we took a look at some data from our salary survey. We found that, according to our pool of respondents working in both Residential and Commercial Conveyancing, the number of those who were happy in their jobs was above half (59%), indicating that job satisfaction has actually climbed from last year, when 56% of Conveyancers chose that option. This is also reflected in the numbers choosing the unhappy option – 21% of respondents were unhappy in their jobs, whereas the number was 26% last year. The drop, particularly amongst those unhappy in their current roles, shows just how happy those in Conveyancing seem to be. These numbers are measuring overall happiness, however, so it’s worth looking at some individual satisfaction indicators as well.

In terms of salary, we looked at whether people seemed to think it fell short of the market average as an indicator of how happy they were with it, and this produced a slightly more mixed picture. Indeed, while 58% of people felt they were being paid at or above the market average, this was contrasted by the 33% who felt it fell short. The numbers around bonuses were a lot stronger: 71% of the number surveyed were happy with the bonus they received (even if they didn’t get one), with only 3% unsatisfied with their package. Indeed, 55% of people didn’t get any bonus at all (with only 27% definitely getting one), so it’s clear that some didn’t find the lack of a bonus particularly off-putting.  Another area we examined was people's satisfaction with their benefits. 39% were satisfied overall with these benefits, while 22% felt their benefits didn’t meet their needs. From these numbers, it seems that people, generally, are happy in their roles and are satisfied with the main motivating factors that might lead to them leaving their roles. 

However, the key question is: Are people actually looking to move? Well, our survey asked whether respondents were likely to change roles in the next six months, and just under 50% said they were unlikely to do so. 24% had set their mind to changing, while 27% were undecided. While satisfaction with your job, what you’re being paid and what benefits you are getting are important, there are other factors to consider. 51% of those surveyed were looking at reaching a partner or manager level, but 28% of those who aspire to this level didn’t believe they could achieve this level with their current firm. The structure of the firm was the most commonly sighted reason for this – in fact, 50% of those who were looking to reach that level believed this was the reason why they would have to change roles. For 21% of respondents, this was the reason why they had already left their role, so it may be that, rather than feeling frustrated with their current role, Conveyancers may be more ambitious when making their next move. 

So, it seems like the Residential Conveyancing market is a relatively satisfied one, at least with regards to their current roles. However, that doesn't mean it’s a static market, and we have identified at least one reason why people might be moving. Our job numbers here at Douglas Scott continue to increase quarter-on-quarter, with the last quarter up 17% on the previous one. So, people are still looking to move – however, even these ones are looking to move are generally still happy with their work.