A desire to 'increase pay and benefits' has become the number one reason why employees want to change jobs, overtaking 'improving job satisfaction' according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) Employee Outlook survey, as the economic downturn continues to erode people's standard of living.
The survey of 2,000 employees finds more than half of workers (54%) say their top reason for wanting to change job is to increase their salary and benefits, with improving job satisfaction cited second most commonly (42%). This is a reversal from last year when 61% cited job satisfaction and 48% said improving pay and benefits. The trends are uniform across all sectors.
Other findings that highlight increased financial pressure include:
· 36% of employees report their standard of living has worsened over the previous six months, compared to 29% saying this was the case in summer 2010
· Just 7% report an improvement in living standards, a fall from 10% a year ago· Almost a fifth (18%) of employees say they run out of money at the end of the week or month either always or most of the time
· One in five (18%) say keeping up with bills and financial commitments is a constant struggle, while one in 10 (8%) are falling behind with bills or credit commitments
Low levels of job satisfaction and engagement in the public sector are likely to be influenced by rising levels of job insecurity, with over a third of public sector employees (35%) thinking it likely they could lose their jobs compared to 30% last quarter.
Gareth Osborne of APA said: "The heightened level of uncertainty around job security in the current economic climate creates an even greater need for employers to communicate and consult with their staff. PAs are the perfect people to measure increasing unease amongst colleagues and should listen for financial concerns and report them to their Bosses; it could be critical in the short term for productivity and the retention of key personnel.”
APA
APA
3 comments:
I was interested to read the results of the latest quarterly CIPD Employee Outlook survey which found that pay and benefits are now the most important factor influencing employee engagement.
The new survey results are interesting because they show how much the employee landscape has changed in just two years. In 2009 MidlandHR also commissioned independent research which uncovered the driving factors behind employee engagement, but found that pay and benefits were the two factors least likely to promote engagement. The main influencers were relationships with peers, relationships with line managers and recognition of achievement.
Many industries are clearly still in a state of flux following the recession, with figures showing a mere 0.2% growth in UK GDP for Q2 2011. This suggests that boosting pay and benefits is not a viable option for many businesses and in those cases increasing employee engagement through alternative means is vital to motivate and retain talent whilst making people feel secure in their roles.
As such it is essential for organisations to do everything they can to really understand what motivates their employees. We find that more of our customers are looking to provide flexible benefits and clearly communicate their employees’ total reward package, something which still relatively few employees really understand. Regular communication and monitoring of levels of engagement are also important to ensure workforce optimisation and alignment with organisational goals.
Thanks Karen, an extremely valuable and well presented professional opinion. On the APA PA Diploma programme (DipPA) we spend quite some time looking at motivation (individual and corporate)and how important it is to monitor changes and understand why they occur.
Please feel free to contribute at any time.
I'm one of the downbeat Civil Servants and I have to say I've never known motivation to be so low - and no-one is speaking to us!
To say the atmosphere is bad would be an over-statement. It really is death by a thousand (or a hundred of thousand)cuts. Even the politicians are keeping a low profile.
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