What employees want: getting the balance right

Earlier this year a series of chain e-mails circulated that showed off Google's mouth-watering office environment, with "colours, lighting, and shared room locations to encourage focused creativity and interaction", alongside massage rooms, deluxe cafeterias and games areas. As you take a look around your (possibly blander) office, the thought may have occurred to you: is this really what employees want? Or does it take more than a fancy office fitout and bright employee perks to attract and retain employees? What if the basic building blocks aren't in place - do the rules change?

The fundamentals
As in previous years, 300 candidates applying for jobs across a range of industries through the CareersMultiList network of employment agencies 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 two or three 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.

There is greater interest to be seen in fourth place, where values and ethics came in with 12% of votes. This has moved from sixth place just two years ago. With the focus increasingly on corporate social responsibility, sustainability and corporate branding to advertise these initiatives, this is hardly a surprise. It also demonstrates that employees and candidates are looking at these issues more than ever before.

"Organisations are increasingly promoting the values they stand for, and will actively demonstrate their involvement in social awareness programs and social responsibility programs. Candidates are becoming aware of those companies that contribute to the community and those that don't. We know from experience that there are some companies and industries that it's very difficult to recruit for. There are some that would prefer not to display their brand, for instance, in display advertising. They don't feel their brand is an attractor for candidates - that could be because they've got a reputation for cutting costs or people have been made redundant, there could be all sorts of reputational reasons why people don't like them," Riley comments.

Does age matter?
As most HR professionals and recruiters are no doubt aware, the attractors of a job will be different for different people - especially when it comes to age. It's interesting to note that the top priority specified by the 16-25 age group was career development. With these workers setting out on their careers and looking to fast-track their pathway to the top, it's hardly surprising that this is the case.

For the 26-35 age group the priorities shifted towards factors like management style and the ethics and values of the company. The two primary concerns for the 36-45's meanwhile were work culture and environment and salary & remuneration - no doubt as raising families and paying mortgages off becomes a priority.

Although only representing a small percentage of the overall survey respondents, for those aged 46+ there was a marked shift towards placing the values and ethics of the company as a top priority. Not only does this age group have many years of workplace experience under their belt and are aware of what works for them in terms of management style and work culture, they are perhaps in a position to look at their personal and professional legacy with a more critical eye.

Nice but not yet essential
Given the brouhaha and amount of time and resources dedicated to allowing workplace flexibility, it's surprising to see how low these ranked as priorities. Flexible work hours garnered only 5% of weighted votes while work from home garnered a negligible 4%. As the parental leave debate hots up and more and more people transition to retirement it will be interesting to see these results for these benefits in coming years.

Why are they leaving?
It's also apparent that the reasons why people leave one employer are different to the reasons why they join another employer. "The question of how you attract candidates cannot be answered by asking current employees why they're there, and that's why a survey of job hunters is useful," Riley maintains.

Again, it's not money (or lack thereof) that is the overwhelming 'push' factor. Only 14% of respondents listed that as a reason for leaving their previous employer. Nor is it conflict with a direct manager, which is frequently cited as a major reason why people leave. Coming out on top was simply the need for a change (21%) or improved career options (18%). Again, this is a strong indication that it is those organisations that can offer clearly defined career paths and the resources to help employees follow those paths that will stand to benefit. Interestingly, 13% of respondents listed 'job with more meaning' as a key reason for leaving their previous employer, indicating that those engaged with their work and aligned with the company's core raison d'etre could be factors in keeping them there.

Redundancies accounted for just 6% of respondents leaving their previous employer - a statistic that will no doubt increase in the coming year as more employers tighten their belts.

As for what organisation type is most attractive, large stable companies came out on top by some margin with 38% of the votes. Given the increasing likelihood of tough economic times ahead it's not surprising that the perceived job security of larger organisations is a factor. Fast growing dynamic companies took out 22% of the vote while SMEs accounted for 19%.\

"Obviously big and fast growing companies are very attractive, but having said that there's a large following for small companies. Whether big or small, it's really a worthwhile exercise for organisations to communicate to candidates exactly who they are and what they stand for so they can attract the right kind of candidate," Riley says.

General economic conditions have also likely influenced responses to the question regarding preferred salary/remuneration options. An overwhelming 84% of respondents selected 'strong base salary only' as their preferred remuneration package - indicating that cash in hand (or in the bank) is king.

"People like the strong base salary, and if they did have a bonus they preferred it to be on a personal basis rather than a company profit - and they weren't particularly keen on non-salary benefits," Riley concludes.