Working in beauty and fashion not all glamour

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Jun 21, 2013

Is the fashion industry a cruel one? According to a study by U.S. fashion and retail talent agency 24 Seven Inc., the atmosphere at work is not very upbeat. The agency conducted two international studies, one focusing on fashion and retail with feedback from 1,300 participants, while the other interviewed 900 beauty industry professionals. Both survey samples included members from all levels of each industry's corporate ladder. Such precise methodology has yielded a message: beauty professionals and especially fashion and retail employees are dissatisfied with their jobs.

Regarding beauty, 60% of those surveyed are happy with their positions, a figure that drops below 50% and 48% for fashion and retail respectively. The study's details reveal that the most dissatisfied personnel are those who work for lifestyle brands, while luxury and e-commerce seem to be more successful in maintaining employee satisfaction.

Such a sentiment takes a heavy toll on employee loyalty. In the beauty world, 66% of respondents plan to change jobs within the year. That same statistic is a very high 86% for fashion and retail. The top issues include salary and career development, making industry professionals very likely to change jobs often to get ahead faster. 36% of fashion / retail employees and 30% of beauty professionals also complain of an imbalance between work and private life.

According to the study, such dissatisfaction creates stress among executives for whom attracting and retaining talent is the biggest problem on a daily basis. However, only 68% of beauty executives and 40% of their counterparts in fashion say they have a formalized strategy for identifying talent. In fact, the study shows that they are increasingly relying on external freelancers than in the past.