Nearly 85% of young professionals aspire to be tomorrow's managers, a survey commissioned by Investors in People reveals. In stark contrast, many respondents say their careers are restricted by current working environments. Only 52% of those surveyed are satisfied with career developments on offer and only 45% feel employers encourage them to gain promotion.

Ruth Spellman, Chief Executive, Investors in People UK, said: "It's very encouraging that so many young people aim to play a pivotal role in the future running of their organisation. However, these results also help illustrate a managerial supply and demand problem in the UK. On the one hand we have a raft of young people eager to be the leaders of the future and on the other we have reports of an emerging management skills deficit, as outlined in the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership (CEML)1 report.

The MORI research of 1,000 full time employees aged 18-25 also reveals:

- 34% feel they have to get a new job to gain the promotion they deserve

- 40% are dissatisfied with their current jobs

- 44% believes their employer works to make sure the right people get to management level

- Only 49% believe their employer promotes people on merit

- 21% aim to reach director level or above