Key attraction drivers for employees
When clubs want to keep their star players or managers, they usually have to resort to the tried-and-tested method of offering more money, but what if they can’t do that? Football clubs (those funded by Sheiks and oligarchs aside) generally aren’t in a terrific financial state.
According to CEB’s Global Labour Market Report from Q1 in 2012, it isn’t necessarily compensation which tempts employees away. In fact, this measure as an attraction driver for employees remains flat globally, sitting at 9.8% at the end of the 1st quarter of 2012, merely 0.1% up on the final quarter of 2011.
The report asserts that in many markets compensation is not actually the key driver of attraction for employees. This suggests that the costs associated with creating additional employee value proposition (EVP) value may not be as great as many fear.
EVP values (global differences)
The report shows how relatively low-cost EVP attributes such as work-life balance, location, respect and stability figure at the top of the ranking of attraction drivers for potential candidates in the United Kingdom. Indeed, respect stands out as the fastest rising attribute, cited by 6.6% more survey respondents during the first three months of 2012 than during the three months previous.
The pattern in the United States is similar, with stability being the top attraction driver. Other low-cost EVP attributes US employees look for include respect, work-life balance, ethics and integrity.
In emerging markets, where the economic outlook is more positive than many Western markets, compensation isn’t always the number one driver of EVP. In India, for example, compensation is not as important to potential candidates as future career opportunities or a healthy work-life balance.
Even in economies like Brazil and the aggregated South East Asia region, where new-hires on average see their base salary increase by 27.6% and 23.7% respectively, compensation does not necessarily reign supreme to attract new talent. In South East Asia, work-life balance outranks compensation as an attraction driver.
Additionally, in Brazil, where half (51%) of potential candidates cite compensation as one of the most important attraction drivers for a new job, salary doesn’t tell the whole story; more than a third still rank stability (35%) and respect (34%) as important.
Non-financial attributes of EVP
As well as attraction drivers, it is important to note attrition drivers. The number one global reason cited for leaving a job is dissatisfaction with future career opportunities. This sentiment is echoed in the UK, closely followed by dissatisfaction with opportunities to develop.
The imperative to retain your best talent needed to maximise growth opportunities in a challenging economic climate only builds the case for companies to pay attention to the non-financial attributes of their EVP offerings to retain their talent. The underlying message is simple: if star players and managers must be retained in order to achieve success next year, HR leaders have many options they can turn to that won’t break the bank and may even be more effective than increased compensation in keeping top talent.