Most workers in the City of London want to quit their job and flee London within the next five years, according to a new report.

They are plagued with worry over the threat of terrorism and financial concerns, according to Facing the Future in the City' a survey by human resource consultants Chiumento.

About 78 percent of the four hundred workers surveyed want to leave the city to pursue their dreams elsewhere, the report said.

Just seven percent wish to remain in their current job. A third of those surveyed want to move out of London to the Home Counties and South East, while the same number would like to move abroad.

The workers are also concerned about job security, as 79 percent of those questioned believe redundancies will increase in the city during the next six months. Half believe city jobs will never return on the same scale.

Chiumento CEO Richard Chiumento said he was surprised by the "starkness of the attitude" of the workers surveyed.

Younger workers were more likely to become downshifters', and trade in their city lifestyle to purse a passion elsewhere, he said. Older workers were less able to quit because they were more likely to be trapped by mortgages and money commitments, he said.

According to Recent research by Datamonitor, the market analysts, about 2.6m Britons are downshifters', up from 1.7m in 1997, when the trend started. Datamonitor predicts that by 2007 there will be 3.7m downshifters, part of a European- wide trend.

Mr Chiumento said the study showed city workers were fed up with working long hours, battling transport problems, and living with the threat of redundancies and terrorism.

"In my view employers are not doing enough to retain staff and to win . . . their commitment. Employers are still underestimating the difficulties employees face when their colleagues are made redundant."

It was important employers made their staff feel like they had a future and gave them a reason to stay in their present jobs, Mr Chiumento said.

The survey provided an interesting benchmark and there were plans to conduct another in the future, he said.

The report is to be circulated to the capital's main employers.

April 29, 2003 15:30