Employers New Year headache

PAís, secretaries and other support staff play a critical role in companies. Just how much they contribute to the business often goes unnoticed ñ until they leave. It may therefore come as a shock to employers that 36% of support staff are actively seeking a new job in a new company, according to Secslife 2005, the eighteenth annual survey of support staff from London recruitment consultant Gordon Yates and the Guardian.

ìThis figure is far higher than we expected, ì comments Richard Grace, Joint Managing Director Gordon Yates. ìWith a shortage of high calibre people on the market this level of turnover could pose real problems for companies. It appears from our research that people join and then leave a company for quite different reasons. Employers need to understand these motivations if they want to attract and retain the best people.î

Support staff want an interesting job and career development
An interesting job and opportunities for career development are the most common reasons for joining a company, closely followed by ìan interesting industryî. Pay is given as a reason by only 7% of respondents. However, once in the job, pay becomes more of an issue and a significant 45% of support staff claim that they stay in their job because of their pay packet.

Boredom drives them away!
In contrast, it is a ìboring jobî that drives almost half of support staff away from a company; ìlack of recognitionî also ranks highly. The implication is that there is a ëshelf-lifeí for support roles; after a period of time, around three years, support staff move on, usually to seek a more fulfilling job with development opportunities. In fact, 47% of staff think it is important to have a ìsatisfying jobî and a further 31% are ìambitious and want to progressî in their career. Only 19% are disinterested in their job or simply do it to earn a living.

ìThere are important messages here for employers,î comments Richard Grace. ìEventual staff turnover may be inevitable, but fair pay, interesting job content and positive recognition of good work can significantly extend job shelf life.î

Turnover is increasing
With support staff facing increasing pressure at work and claiming dissatisfaction with their role (47% are less satisfied with their job than a year ago), it is no surprise that 23% of employers report higher staff turnover than in 2004. But there are positive signs that employers are taking steps to develop
and therefore encourage people to stay. For example, investment in training is rising: 28% of companies spent more than 500 per person on training in 2005, compared with 16% in 2004.

Finding a job - another headache?
When secretaries and PAs leave a company, chances are that they will need resilience to secure their next job. Experienced and skilled senior PAs are in high demand and tend to be snapped up fast. But for many others, finding a job may be less easy. Employers have high expectations of support staff and 88% believe there is a shortage of people with the necessary skills and experience.
The increasing dominance of the internet has raised opportunities, but also difficulties. One third of job seekers turn to websites first. Advertising a job is relatively cheap and multi-applications can be made at the press of a button. As Richard Grace says, ìAn increasingly typical response is simply to apply for everything on the list!î The huge numbers of applications is making it difficult for good people to stand out, and for employers to find them.

Temping: a way to stand out from the crowd
One solution may be to turn to temping while seeking a permanent job. This is a high calibre workforce (60% of temps are graduates) and most use temping as a stepping-stone to a full-time job. In fact 68% of temps say they would prefer to work in a permanent role. Temping is an important way for people to impress an employer, which may lead to a full-time job offer. ìEmployers often discover talent in a temp that they would almost certainly have overlooked if recruiting in any other way,î comments Richard Grace.

Other findings
The 42-page report contains many other findings - a few highlights include:

Support staff pay ñ on the up: average support staff salaries rose by 4.77% in 2005, compared with 3.8% in 2004.
Demand for support staff is growing, but at a reduced rate: 40% of companies took on more staff in 2005 and only 14% cut back. 32% of companies plan to employ more support staff in 2006.
Most support staff work for ìmulti bossesî: more than half support four or more people.

For a copy of SecsLife 2005 (price 150) contact nadia.sharif@gordonyates.co.uk or call 020 7494 4466.