80% of workers are open to recruitment, even if they are happy in their job; corporate culture one key to retention: US National Survey

Employers and Human Resource Managers may have to work extra hard to retain workers, according to data from 2018 Job Seeker Nation Study in the U.S, which indicates 80% of workers are open to new job opportunities. According to the data, a large cohort of employees are happy now but, open to an opportunity. Likely, the data would be similar in Canada.

Although the data indicated it was more difficult to find a better job in 2018, the majority were quite open to recruitment based on specific criteria, such as compensation, advancement, work-life balance issues (flexibility) and empowerment. Company culture topped the list, with 88% considering this critical to their loyalty.

In a survey of 1,500 U.S. employees, Jobvite’s 2018 Job Seeker Nation Study [1] found that the top reason for a job change was to improve compensation. Depending on age, growth-opportunities and potential for advancement were significant, with the youngest cohort stressing this strongly. In the middle age cohort, work/life balance became the dominant issue, likely as families grow and life-stress increases. For many, the issue was independence. Others emphasized recognition for achievements. A corporate culture encouraging and rewarding innovation and creativity was high on the list as well.

The data backs up previous studies, including one from Gallup. For example, the Gallup poll found that “87% of Millennials rate professional career growth and developmental opportunities as important to them in a job.” [2]

It isn’t a significant change from a previous study from Corporate Responsibility Magazine[3]: “92% would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role with a company that had an excellent corporate reputation.”

Most of your employees, for one reason or another, will consider moving to another company. Which begs, the question — given the cost of recruiting new talent — what are the best strategies for HR Managers (or your outsourced HR Management company) to retain your top trained talent?

• Do you have a question about retaining your valued employees? Need expert HR Management advice? Use the Pivotal live chat (bottom right) or the form at the bottom of this feature.

It starts with On-Boarding

In the Jobvite survey, 30 percent of recruits leave a job before the 90-day mark. Slightly less than half of these cite their new company as being “not what they expected.” Another 33 percent cited unsuitable corporate culture.

First impressions matter. Many HR Management companies stress the importance of proper on-boarding — not just training, but helping them “settle in” to their new home. A weak or stressful on-boarding process often leads to a quick departure for your recruits. A new company can be a culture shock, as almost everything changed: new business associates, new policies, new bosses, new expectations and goals, new corporate culture. There aren’t many experiences in life that can be quite as traumatic as trying to fit in with a new company.

Corporate culture matters

An overwhelming majority of people rate corporate culture as important:

• 88 percent in the survey, rated corporate culture as necessary.
• 46 percent rated it as “very important.”
• Perhaps most telling of all, 32 percent indicated they would take a 10 percent pay cut to move to a company with a corporate culture that was more appealing.
• 15 percent turned down offers for jobs based on their evaluation of the corporate culture.

One of the key reasons companies outsource professional Human Resource Managers and specialists is to improve culture for their employees. Although it has always been rated as important to employees, this new survey seems to make it one of the most important — surpassing even compensation in the case of nearly a third of respondents.

Many outsourced HR Managers coach internal teams on improving corporate culture aspects, such as “transparency” and “being valued.”

For a consultation on how you can improve your employee retention and corporate culture, use our live chat feature (bottom right) or contact the HR Management experts at Pivotal HR Solutions with this form:

NOTES
[1] 2018 Jobvite Job Seeker Nation Study
[2] Gallup Poll (2016)
[3] Corporate Responsibility Magazine, September 2015