Employers vs. Employees: A Disconnect for Retaining Talent

Friday, December 09, 2011

What workplace issues are important to employees and do employers and their employees agree on them? The simple answer is No! Workplace issues which are important to employees and what employers perceive as important do not align. This failure to align has and continues to create an inability of employers to both attract and retain workers with the desired skills. Even in the face of high unemployment, many employers continue to struggle with their failure to attract and retain talent. Towers Watson a global professional services company reports that as much as 60% of North American organizations are continuing to report “having trouble attracting critical-skill employees”. Furthermore, employees and employers disagree on what pay and workplace issues are important to employees.

In its May, 2011 report, “The 2011/2012 Talent Management and Rewards Study, North America” Towers Watson surveyed 316 employers in the US and Canada on a variety of workplace issues including the top 5 concerns which are important to employees. In virtually every case, employers and employees disagreed on what was important to the employee. US employers perceived that employees were attracted to their organization due to, Base pay, Organization's mission, Organization's reputation, Career development, and Challenging work. However, employees reported that Job security, Base pay, Health care, Length of commute, and Time Off were their top five reasons to join an organization. The only issue that employers and employees could jointly agree on is “Base pay”.

Employers are equally disconnected with the reasons which would cause employees to leave. Across the board, US and Canadian employees reported Work-related stress as the top reason they would leave while employers perceived that Base pay as the top issue. Clearly, employers are out of touch within those issues which are important to employees, affecting both attraction and retention.

What are the driving forces behind the differences between employers’ and employees’ perceptions of Base pay vs. Work-related stress as competing top factors in US employee’s decision to leave an organization? One thing is clear; employers are expecting more from employees. Not only have employers expected more hours but more knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies. As organizations have restructured to remain completive, employers have sought out ways to leverage those employees left in order to meet customer demands. Additionally, organizations have begun and are continuing to change how employees are rewarded at all levels. Employers are recognizing the fact that many of them have not aligned their reward practices with their organizational needs. This includes short and long term incentives as well as career pathing, coaching, mentoring, development, leadership, and succession planning programs.

Even as the recent economic conditions reached their deepest point, many employers were struggling with attracting the critical-skilled employees their organization required. By 2010, organizations were reporting a doubling of concern over critical-skilled employees and their inability to attract and retain them in spite of an average of 5 applicants per job opening. Furthermore, despite a decline in the quit rate, many employers were reporting concerns over being able to fill critical-skills positions.