Three-quarters of UK employees are not given opportunities to progress and 67% are not offered opportunities for training and development, a new survey suggests.

Statistics in a YouGov poll, commissioned by Jack Morton Worldwide, suggest that a substantial part of the workforce could be unmotivated.

While on average only 17% described themselves as unhappy at work, more than a quarter (26%) of those polled felt that their employer did nothing to inspire or encourage them to continue working in their employment.

And despite employment terms, such as proposed changes to paternity terms and the issue of availability of flexible working conditions, only 9% of employees feel that they were offered good maternity and paternity terms and only 28% were offered flexible working conditions.

The most satisfied workers can be found in Wales, where 26% are very happy with their jobs and the least are in the South East where 23% are unhappy. To ensure happiness at work, it emerges that the best industry to work in is energy and mining.