Career anchors: results of an organisational study in the UK

Career anchor theory developed by Ed Schein in 1978 has been subject to limited further research, despite being widely used as a career tool within organisations. This article describes the importance of career anchor data for organisational as opposed to individual use and reports on a study of the career anchors of 374 employees in the UK. The results show that age, gender and length of service have no significant effect on the distribution of anchors, although there are grade‐related differences. Suggestions are made on how career anchor distribution data could be used by organisations to determine appropriate career development strategies.