Do you know why you’re losing valued employees and promising job candidates?
If you don’t, chances are, the incentives, workplace culture and other elements you offer may be missing the mark.
Factors like the amenities and benefits and general workplace environment you provide can have a significant effect on employee satisfaction, engagement and, by proxy, retention.
To reduce the risk of losing valuable assets, it’s important to know what employees want. A number of recent studies have examined workers’ needs and desires; some of the things they’re looking for from an employer include:
Location, location, location
Not only do employees across all age groups prefer to work in cities/town centers, where they can be close to public transit and a wide array of amenities, a quarter would be willing to commute an extra half hour for their ideal workplace environment, according to research from the British Council for Offices and global real estate provider Savills. Open-plan office spaces are the dominant choice; but nearly half of employees aren’t happy with their workplace’s noise level. Adding quieter areas for concentration may help.
Well-paired personalities
Working within a company culture that echoes their personality was one of the highest ranked items employees said they valued in a job, according to a survey conducted by LinkedIn — making hiring people who fit your workplace culture more important than ever. Find out how in our post on formulating the perfect candidate culture match.
Supportive management
Nobody wants to find themselves working for a difficult boss; however, the influence a bad manager can have on employees’ experience may be greater than you think. Gallup research found managers account for at least 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement scores; one in two U.S. adults have left a job to get away from a difficult boss at some point in their career.
Room to grow
Yes, compensation is a factor; but challenging work and career advancement opportunities were two of the top rated elements candidates want in a job, according to 2016 LinkedIn data.
If your list of amenities, workplace culture and other offerings are lacking, or you’re not quite sure exactly what employees want, get tips on creating a more compelling situation for candidates in our blog posts on assessing your employer brand, creating the most effective employee value proposition, adding today’s top benefit trends and crafting an engaging recruiting strategy.