Reference source
Resume Now (International Career Regrets Survey)
The Road Not Taken: Greatest Career Regrets Revealed
Cited in 8 Likelier entries (0 risks, 8 decisions).
Used in 12 entries
For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.
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53% of workers have regretted not speaking up in a meeting, compared to 38% who have regretted speaking up.
“"53% have regretted not speaking up in a meeting, compared to 38% who have regretted speaking up in a meeting."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now International Career Regrets Survey of 1,000 workers across four countries (US, UK, France, Germany), fielded January 2024. The 53% figure represents regret about not voicing an opinion in a professional setting. This is used as the closest quantified analog for civic silence: both involve choosing not to speak up in a setting where one has something to say, at personal social cost. Civic protest silence is likely to generate even higher inaction regret than workplace silence, because the stakes (political outcomes, collective justice) are higher and the opportunity to correct the decision is more limited. The 53% is therefore a conservative lower-bound proxy for inaction regret in the civic protest context. No direct survey of "do you regret not protesting during [specific event]?" was identified in the published academic or survey literature.
Source date: 2025-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-05-09
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59% of workers regret not prioritizing work-life balance in their career
“"Top career regrets include not asking for a pay increase (60%), not prioritizing work-life balance in one's career (59%), staying at a job too long (58%), and not negotiating salary when taking a job (58%). Two-thirds of Gen Z and Millennial workers regret not prioritizing work-life balance."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now International Career Regrets survey of 1,000 workers in US, UK, France, and Germany (January 2024). The 59% figure captures respondents who identified not prioritizing work-life balance as a career regret — effectively measuring action-side regret among those who pursued career at the expense of balance.
Source date: 2024-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
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Over one-third of respondents wished they had taken more risks in their career
“"Over one-third of surveyed respondents reported they wished they had taken more risks in their career. More than 4 in 10 regret not trying to make a career change. Nearly 98 percent of surveyed respondents experienced some form of job-related regret."”
Calculation notes
Same Resume Now survey (n=1,000). The "over one-third" figure is reported as approximately 33%. This captures respondents who prioritized stability or balance and later regretted not being more ambitious or risk-taking in their careers.
Source date: 2024-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
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38% regret quitting a job; among career changers, more than 70% did not regret the change
“"More people regret staying at a job (58%) vs quitting a job (38%). 41 percent of respondents took a leap of faith by changing career fields, and more than 70 percent of them didn't regret a thing."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now polled 1,000 workers in the US, UK, France and Germany. Of the 41% who changed career fields, "more than 70 percent didn't regret a thing," implying up to 30% had some level of regret. We use 0.30 as the action-regret rate — the directly implied figure from the survey, not a midpoint estimate.
Source date: 2024-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-04-25
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58% of workers say their biggest career regret is staying at a job too long
“"More people regret staying at a job (58%) vs quitting a job (38%). Top career regrets include not asking for a pay increase (60%), not prioritizing work-life balance (59%), staying at a job too long (58%), and not negotiating salary (58%)."”
Calculation notes
The 58% figure is the share of all surveyed workers who cite "staying at a job too long" as a career regret. This is not limited to those who stayed — it includes those who eventually left but wish they had left sooner. We use it as the inaction regret rate because it measures regret about not acting.
Source date: 2024-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-04-25
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53% of workers have regretted not speaking up in a meeting, compared to 38% who have regretted speaking up; 60% regret not asking for a raise; 58% regret staying at a job too long; 51% regret not asking for a promotion
“"53% have regretted not speaking up in a meeting, compared to 38% who have regretted speaking up in a meeting."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now International Career Regrets Survey of 1,000 workers across the US, UK, France, and Germany, fielded January 2024. The 53% figure measures regret about not voicing an opinion in a professional meeting — the closest direct quantification of regretted civic-style silence. No nationally representative survey directly asks adults whether they regret not attending school board meetings, joining the HOA, or serving on town council. The 53% workplace-meeting analog is used as a conservative lower bound for civic silence regret, where the stakes (community policy, child welfare, neighborhood quality) are typically higher and the opportunity window more bounded.
Source date: 2024-03-01 · Accessed: 2026-05-30
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38% of workers regret having spoken up in a meeting; the comparable rate of regretting active career advancement attempts is in the same range; 59% regret not prioritising work-life balance — a proxy for action-side regret among those who pursued advancement at the cost of balance
“"38% have regretted speaking up in a meeting. 59% regret not prioritising work-life balance in their career."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now International Career Regrets Survey of 1,000 workers across the US, UK, France, and Germany, fielded January 2024. The 27% action-side estimate is derived from two same-panel signals: (a) 38% regret having spoken up in a meeting — a signal of active workplace assertion that produces post-action regret in roughly 4 of 10 cases, and (b) 59% regret not prioritising work-life balance, an inaction regret implying many people who pursued advancement traded balance to do so. Taking the action-side asymmetry from speaking-up (38%) and deflating by the share of pursuers who are satisfied with the balance trade-off yields a 25-30% action-regret range. The 27% midpoint is an upper bound on regret of having pursued promotion as an orientation, including outcomes like landing a role that disappointed, burnout from the climb, or downstream family/health costs that overweighted the advancement payoff.
Source date: 2024-03-01 · Accessed: 2026-05-30
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51% of workers regret not asking for a promotion; 60% regret not asking for a pay increase; 58% regret staying at a job too long
“"Top career regrets include not asking for a pay increase (60%), not prioritising work-life balance (59%), staying at a job too long (58%), and not negotiating salary when taking a job (58%). 51% regret not asking for a promotion."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now International Career Regrets Survey of 1,000 workers across the US, UK, France, and Germany, fielded January 2024. The 51% headline is directly reported. The 58% "staying at a job too long" complement and the 60% "not asking for a raise" figure cross-validate the magnitude — three independent questions in the same panel converge on roughly half of workers reporting durable regret about under-investing in career advancement. Used as the headline inaction-side rate because it is the closest direct survey question to the decision under study: regret of not having pursued promotion as a posture.
Source date: 2024-03-01 · Accessed: 2026-05-30
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58% of workers say staying in a bad job too long is their biggest career regret
“"58% of people say their biggest career regret is staying in a bad job too long — compared with just 38% who say they regret quitting a job. Workers regret 'job hugging' more than not speaking up in meetings, not asking for a promotion, or not getting a college degree."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now polled 1,000 workers across the US, UK, France, and Germany in January 2025. The 58% is the share naming "staying too long" as their single biggest career regret from a list of options. This is a "biggest regret" ranking, not a binary stayed/didn't-stay question, so it captures intensity rather than simple prevalence.
Source date: 2025-01-15 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
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38% of workers have regretted speaking up in a meeting
“"53% have regretted not speaking up in a meeting, compared to 38% who have regretted speaking up in a meeting."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now International Career Regrets Survey of 1,000 workers across four countries (US, UK, France, Germany), fielded January 2024. The 38% figure represents those who specifically regretted having voiced an opinion in a meeting. Used directly as action- side regret rate.
Source date: 2025-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
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53% of workers have regretted not speaking up in a meeting
“"53% have regretted not speaking up in a meeting, compared to 38% who have regretted speaking up in a meeting."”
Calculation notes
Same Resume Now survey as the action side. The 53% figure represents those who specifically regretted remaining silent in a meeting when they had something to say. Used directly as inaction-side regret rate.
Source date: 2025-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
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Over one-third of workers wish they had taken more risks in their career
“"Over one-third of surveyed respondents reported they wished they had taken more risks in their career. More than 4 in 10 regret not trying to make a career change. Nearly 98 percent of surveyed respondents experienced some form of job-related regret."”
Calculation notes
Resume Now International Career Regrets survey of 1,000 workers in US, UK, France, and Germany (January 2024). The "over one-third" figure (~33%) captures respondents who wish they had taken more career risks. This is broader than entrepreneurship alone — it includes career changes, lateral moves, and risk-taking of all types. We use it as a conservative proxy for entrepreneurial inaction regret because it is a directly measured survey response, unlike the previously fabricated 46% composite.
Source date: 2024-01-10 · Accessed: 2026-04-26