Thursday, November 16, 2006
Tweet[IWS] Watson Wyatt: EMPLOYERS/EMPLOYEES DISCONNECTED [15 November 2006]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Watson Wyatt
Disconnect Between Employers, Employees Threatens Loss of Key Workers, Watson Wyatt Finds
Employers Report Difficulty Attracting, Retaining Critical-Skill Employees
http://www.watsonwyatt.com/news/press.asp?ID=16726
WASHINGTON, November 15, 2006 Employers and employees are not in sync over the effect that changes to pay, health care and retirement plans are having on recruiting, motivating and keeping key talent. These findings are based on a recent survey of 262 large U.S. companies across all industries and a complementary survey of 1,100 workers conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm, and WorldatWork, the association for human resources professionals.
With many firms revamping health care and retirement programs, high-performing employees are placing strong emphasis on pay, but many employers appear to underestimate its importance. According to the 2006/2007 Strategic Rewards® survey, 71 percent of top-performing employees rank pay as one of the top three reasons they would leave an organization, but only 45 percent of employers believe pay is a top retention issue. Instead, employers rate promotion opportunities (68 percent) as one of the top three reasons employees leave, closely followed by career development (66 percent).
The employer-employee deal is changing, and so are employees priorities, said Laura Sejen, director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt. Regardless of whether companies are retaining the older lifetime career deal or a newer, less paternalistic deal, it is important to balance business goals with the rewards that employees value. Firms that do not get the pay-benefits mix right risk losing some of their best talent.
[TABLE]
For the third consecutive year, employers report difficulty in attracting and retaining employees, particularly critical-skill and top-performing employees. More than half (63 percent) of employers report a moderate or high level of difficulty in attracting critical-skill staff, and 39 percent report moderate or high difficulty in retaining them. At the same time, relatively few employees (19 percent) cite difficulty in finding another job as a key reason they remain with an organization, and 15 percent of top performers are not sure they will remain with their present employer.
A factor in that indecision may be the difference between what employees value and what employers think they value. Overall, 86 percent of companies think they do a good job of treating employees well. Only 55 percent of employees agree. Furthermore, 54 percent of employers say they will do a better job of treating employees well over the next three years; only 24 percent of employees make the same prediction.
As labor markets tighten, employee commitment takes on increasing importance, Sejen said. Those employers that understand what drives commitment particularly among top performers and act on it will be best positioned for success.
Copies of the survey are available via http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=2006-US-0038&page=1
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Watson Wyatt
Disconnect Between Employers, Employees Threatens Loss of Key Workers, Watson Wyatt Finds
Employers Report Difficulty Attracting, Retaining Critical-Skill Employees
http://www.watsonwyatt.com/news/press.asp?ID=16726
WASHINGTON, November 15, 2006 Employers and employees are not in sync over the effect that changes to pay, health care and retirement plans are having on recruiting, motivating and keeping key talent. These findings are based on a recent survey of 262 large U.S. companies across all industries and a complementary survey of 1,100 workers conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm, and WorldatWork, the association for human resources professionals.
With many firms revamping health care and retirement programs, high-performing employees are placing strong emphasis on pay, but many employers appear to underestimate its importance. According to the 2006/2007 Strategic Rewards® survey, 71 percent of top-performing employees rank pay as one of the top three reasons they would leave an organization, but only 45 percent of employers believe pay is a top retention issue. Instead, employers rate promotion opportunities (68 percent) as one of the top three reasons employees leave, closely followed by career development (66 percent).
The employer-employee deal is changing, and so are employees priorities, said Laura Sejen, director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt. Regardless of whether companies are retaining the older lifetime career deal or a newer, less paternalistic deal, it is important to balance business goals with the rewards that employees value. Firms that do not get the pay-benefits mix right risk losing some of their best talent.
[TABLE]
For the third consecutive year, employers report difficulty in attracting and retaining employees, particularly critical-skill and top-performing employees. More than half (63 percent) of employers report a moderate or high level of difficulty in attracting critical-skill staff, and 39 percent report moderate or high difficulty in retaining them. At the same time, relatively few employees (19 percent) cite difficulty in finding another job as a key reason they remain with an organization, and 15 percent of top performers are not sure they will remain with their present employer.
A factor in that indecision may be the difference between what employees value and what employers think they value. Overall, 86 percent of companies think they do a good job of treating employees well. Only 55 percent of employees agree. Furthermore, 54 percent of employers say they will do a better job of treating employees well over the next three years; only 24 percent of employees make the same prediction.
As labor markets tighten, employee commitment takes on increasing importance, Sejen said. Those employers that understand what drives commitment particularly among top performers and act on it will be best positioned for success.
Copies of the survey are available via http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=2006-US-0038&page=1
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 11:31 AM
