Companies that do not get their offer to the labour market right have to pay 50% more in compensation premium to hire the people they want. A competitive employee value proposition – the mix of attributes that characterize what value employees get for their work (compensation, benefits, work-life balance, development opportunities, etc) – will help businesses decrease annual employee turnover by 69% and increase new hire commitment by nearly a third (29%).
Work-life balance remains the single biggest consideration for British workers. Over half of UK employees (53.7%) rank work-life balance as one of the five most important criteria when choosing a job, followed by location, stability and respect. Financial benefits do not even come up in the top five - just 25.8% of employees in the UK prioritise getting a good salary.
These are the findings of recent research by member-based advisory company CEB, highlighting the trends from the firm’s most recent Global Labour Market Survey of approximately 18,000 employees.
The preferences of UK employees are in stark contrast with other major European and global economies where workforces are driven much more by pay and benefits. Compensation is the most important factor when choosing a job by the majority of workers across the US, Germany, China, Brazil and a range of other countries.
Jean Martin, Executive Director at CEB comments:
“Many businesses wrongly assume that money is the primary motivator for staff but throwing money at recruitment may be the least effective option – particularly in the UK.
“Of course money is important, but most UK employees actually aren’t chasing the best pay packages. Instead the top three factors they care about are work-life balance, location and stability.
“Companies have to understand what truly motivates the workers they are targeting – or double their hiring costs unnecessarily. What’s worse, if the overall offer to employees is not right, the high premium paid to get people through the door will not stop them becoming disaffected and leaving – and will be entirely wasted in the long run.”