Salary, Flexibility and Perks
Salary, flexibility and perks not the key to retention
A major new study on retention shows that the key driver for skilled employees to stay with a company is the perception that they are learning and progressing in their careers.
The To Have and to Hold: Retaining and Utilising Skilled People study, by researchers from Charles Sturt University on behalf of the National Centre for Vocational Research, concludes that retention of skilled people "is not necessarily improved through strategies such as increasing wages, adopting family-friendly working policies, and the use of non-monetary rewards".
"These things help make people feel satisfied, but they are not sufficient to retain skilled people in a tight labour market," the report said. Instead, a culture of high-performance work practices, such as a commitment to learning, open-mindedness and shared vision, leads to better retention and less staff turnover, it said. The study was based on interviews, case studies and statistical modeling of retention rates.
CareersMultiList 2008 Job-seeker Values Survey
These findings above are supported by the annual CareersMultiList / Human Capital magazine job-seeker values survey, now in its 4th year.
Late last year over 300 candidates were asked a series of questions to determine what they wanted from their job, their insights into recruitment agencies, and why they left their previous roles. Candidates were able to choose the top three benefits or features (from a list of 10) that were most important to them when choosing a new employer.
The survey results revealed that the 'big three' (salary & remuneration, career development & training, and workplace culture & environment) remain firmly entrenched at the top of the list.
When weighted responses were tallied (totals of those candidates voting one, two and three), the top three for 2008 emerged: work culture and environment (24%), closely followed by career development and salary/remuneration coming in equal second with 20% each. Given some minor reshuffling, the results are similar to 2007, when culture was number one (23%), followed by career development (22%) and then salary (19%).
Greg Riley, director of CareersMultiList, believes that by and large the market has moved on from looking solely at remuneration as a factor for switching jobs. "When we first did the survey three of four years ago we'd been through a quieter time in the marketplace, and candidates were less keen to move. I think now there's a fair bit of competition on salary, and over the last few years salary has built up a little more and most candidates are satisfied with that side of things. Their focus has shifted to other factors," he says.
To put it even more plainly, people will not take a job just for money - especially if they feel relatively secure in their current job. Indeed, concern over the economy has shaded many responses to this year's survey, as people 'make do' with their current positions. However, the fundamentals still ring true.
"If candidates believe a company doesn't provide career opportunities and the sort of work culture they want to work in, then even if the salary is reasonably high they won't take the job Riley says.
