Employees Today Want Jobs That Offer a Future and Good Pay

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Is it really that simple? Employees want to work for companies that offer them a future and a competitive employee value proposition.

A few weeks ago, I asked for your feedback on a poll about “Why Would You Leave Your Organization?” And here’s what you said at the time we wrote this article:

We ran a similar survey to this one on HR Bartender a couple of years ago. One of the areas I was curious about was the pandemic. We’ve heard a lot over the past few months about how COVID has impacted the workplace (i.e., The Great Resignation). I wanted to see how the pandemic would rate in the responses. Interestingly, it rated low on the list of reasons that individuals would consider leaving their current employer.

The top two responses were increased opportunities for advancement and better compensation and benefits. It was interesting to see how close the percentages were. Since this was the first time we’ve done the same survey twice, I compared this year’s rankings to our previous poll and guess what? Back in 2018, the first two spots were the same: better compensation and benefits and increased opportunities for advancement – just in reverse order.

I think this is very telling. Is the key to attracting, engaging, and retaining talent really that simple? It could make some sense for organizations to ask themselves a couple of questions:

• Do we offer a pay and benefits package that’s internally fair and externally competitive?
• Does the company make it a priority to provide employees with advancement opportunities?

Maybe this is the place to start when it comes to the employee experience. If organizations don’t focus on these two things, then I’m not sure that fancy amenities are going to convince employees to stay. The poll results said to me that organizations need to get the basics right. They need to build a solid foundation for employees then add those unique elements that make your organization unique and contribute to your culture.

If you’re wondering how to figure out the answers to the two questions above, here are a few places to look:

1. Benchmarking surveys. Organizations can compare their pay and benefits to others in their competitive set. It might be possible to get survey data based on your industry or your location.

2. Employee surveys. Review prior survey results for employee feedback on pay and promotional opportunities. Organizations should also check stay interview and exit interview data.

3. Internal mobility metrics. Look at the internal job posting and job bidding processes. Does the company track how many people apply for internal opportunities? How many openings are filled with internal candidates (versus external hires)?

The good news is that many organizations have this data at their fingertips. It might not answer all the company’s questions, but it could be a great place to start your analysis. Especially right now as organizations are creating their return to the office plans. We can – and need to – focus on the right things now, so employees know the company is prepared to invest in their success.

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