Black Enterprise (BE) had a great feature in their April 2008 issue titled “Here’s what I’m looking for! Employees and Management still disagree on what is important.” Citing a 2007 survey conducted by Spherion Corp., BE noted that the top three drivers of job retention among employees were Benefits, Compensation, and Growth & Earnings Potential.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top 8 ranking priorities:
Drivers of Retention
Employer Employee
1. Management Climate 1. Benefits
2. Supervisor Relationship 2. Compensation
3. Culture & Work Environment 3. Growth & Earnings Potential
4. Benefits 4. Management Climate
5. Growth & Earnings Potential 5. Time & Flexibility
6. Training & Development 6. Culture & Work Environmen
7. Compensation 7. Supervisor Relationship
8. Time & Flexibility 8. Training & Development
Okay, there’s a whole lot to dissect/discuss here, but I’d like to focus on one VERY interesting driver ranking, Compensation.
It’s pretty clear that employers were very “me-focused” when took this survey. They may have tried to think of what their employees view as important, but in the end the came up with what was important to them. Are things like management climate and supervisor relationship important?Absolutely, BUT do you know anyone who stayed with a company thinking “Well…the benefits aren’t great… and they pay about $7,000 less that the other places I’m interviewing with but the supervisors are awesome”?
If you do, let me know where they live because I know a couple reporters who’d be very interested in testing the water.
I must say money’s not everything. I’ve turned down several jobs in the past that offered more because other criteria didn’t line up. However, like many of my Gen-Y co-workers, I’ve got student loans and everything else to deal with, so salary is still very much on my mind at this point in my career. Money is not everything…but it’s a lot. Its 2nd place ranking proves that. To all those employers who ranked Compensation so low that it came in 7th place, don’t act surprised when your hallways start emptying out.
Personally my top three looks like this (Not 100% sure about the order):
- Compensation
- Training & Development
- Growth & Earnings Potential
How about you? What would keep you from jumping ship?
Compensation & Benefits are definitely top on my list.
Growth and Earnings Potential are probably second.
Time & Flexibility are also critical for me.
This is a subject that has always fascinated me. The challenge with it is that what the employees say is almost always not true. It may not be true because they weren’t given good options, or because they aren’t being rational (We never are).
Truth is most people (Gen Y perhaps less so), will not leave a job unless they become actively dissatisfied with it. Dissatisfaction is bred by management, supervisors, bad work environment etc. Unless benefits are reduced, compensation is cut, or the company changes those ‘important’ things underneath an employee, the employers are right. Most of us won’t leave.
Gen Y offers a challenge, because as boomers often put it, we’re “spoiled.” I wasn’t satisfied being grossly underpaid and underappreciated so I left a company I’d been at for several years. I took a chance and am making an amount closer to market value for my skill. In a year I’ll probably move on again. Employers will need to modify their understanding of how to retain employees as gen Y becomes the more crucial part of the work force. Those that don’t will be unable to retain the quality people, and eventually fail. Darwin rules!
Hi Theo,
Thanks for weighing in. I’ve asked several people to share their perspective, and many did bring up supervisor relationship. One of the most popular responses was “people join companies and leave managers.”
James
Hey James,
I would say your top three mirrors mine definitely…compensation, then training, after that is growth potential.
at this stage in the game (only a year or two out of college), i’m not always expecting compensation to be as ideal as i want it to be, but at the same time, i’ve been in a job where there was no growth potential and no compensation and that was hard.
i’d say that any time when more than one of those pieces are missing is definitely not ideal.
Hi Elledub,
Anytime one of those pieces are missing it’s definitely not ideal, but another thing that plays a very important role (and should be in the survey) is having meaningful/interesting/engaging work. Without that type of work, it would be very hard for me to consider staying in a job.
James
One more thing about managers/employers and how low they ranked compensation:
the problem with most managers, I think, is that a lot of them don’t remember or don’t care to remember what it was like to be in our [entry to mid level] shoes
which is why things like training often fall by the wayside….i have experienced this myself.
not to mention the office politics hierarchy–bosses can get away with and do certain [jerky] things simply because it is “what bosses do” (that is a completely different topic)
a few words on office politics: it has been said that for those in the quarter life crisis period of their life (technically from 21-29), learning the way office politics works is akin to learning a brand new language since college life doesn’t necessarily teach you those skills….another reason why training and growth potential are so important.
As for the work being engaging: i’ve learned that in the wacky world of entry level, it is oftentimes normal for your job to be about 60% administrative (read: BORING) and maybe 40% engaging/exciting etc….mostly because a hard but very important part of the career climb called “paying your dues”
we ALL gotta do it
and in the end it becomes very important
I could go on but we’d be here all day
-loryn
Loryn,
I’m with you on most of your points except the part about engaging work and paying your dues.
Every task/project/account has its exciting moments (travel, events, etc) and its not so exciting moments (budgets, billing, creating project trackers). In my experience, just about everyone, except the top dog, has to deal with that 60% percent you spoke of.
When I spoke of meaningful/interesting/engaging work, I really meant work that you care about, work that’s important to you. For example, one of my best friends in OBSESSED with politics. Watching Fox News probably ranks somewhere in his top 5 favorite things to do.
He is not someone who can go to work, do something random for 8 – 10 hrs everyday, pick up a check and go home. Conducting research and digging up facts for work is interesting and meaningful to him, so if the compensation is in the right range, he is being trained, and there is an opportunity for growth, he most likely will stay with that job for while.
I view the engaging part as being a little different from paying your dues.
ah—i understand your point now
and I can say that i TOTALLY agree with you…i’ve been on both sides of the fence; being at a place where the work is meaningful and being in a place where the work doesn’t have not even one iota of meaning to you….and the level of interest/meaning made ALL the difference.
I’ve been working for a while now, so I’m going to assume whatever job I take will be in the salary range that I require. That being said, here’s what’s most imporant to keeping me:
1. Who I work with – it doesn’t matter the money, prestige, type of work, if I work with a bunch of asses, then I hate it.
2. Being able to focus on my strength areas 60% of the time. I like to teach, present, and write. If I can do this most of the time, I’m willing to suck it up and do other needed things the rest of the time.
3. Flexiblity. Already have done the being chained to the desk thing. It’s ridiculous and I simply refuse to do it any more.
Hi Suzanne,
Looks like we have a few things in common when it comes to strength areas. I’m working on getting to the point where I can focus there. Thanks for weighing in.
James