Economic malaise and dismal  job creation certainly isn’t encouraging workers to leave their jobs, or is it?

1.1 million US workers choose to quit

Ere.net reports that in the last month the bulk of 1.1 million workers left their jobs voluntarily, the largest number of “job-leavers”, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in more than a decade. Although the type of worker leaving isn’t clear, it’s an alarming figure.

Universum’s research on US young professionals indicates a similar trend of general dissatisfaction – a whopping 70% surveyed are interested in changing employer sometime during the next four years, with the largest percentage – 26% – wishing to leave in the next six months. Moreover, during the past 12 months, 33% have applied for a new job.

With the result of our survey, and others, Ere.net rightly points out that “employees are disengaging… [and are ready to] bolt should an opportunity come along”.

Measure your Employer Brand

For that reason, we strongly recommend employers to track levels of attractiveness, both externally and internally, and secure that their Employer Branding strategy is aligned with their organisation’s workforce and business plan.

Attrition isn’t a problem just yet, or is it? The question is irrelevant – neglecting your workforce is generally imprudent, as organisations will now or later begin to haemorrhage.

The issue of gender in the management of businesses has been pretty hot in recent years with a lot of research being focused on it. An article by Nancy Carter and Christine Silva published in the Harvard Business Review in March 2010 made some very interesting points on the “Delusions of Progress” when it comes to Women in Management:

• Women represent only 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs
• Women represent less than 15% of corporate executives worldwide
• Among graduates of elite MBA programs, Women lag women at every career stage

Such studies have historically (and perhaps understandably) focused on the developed world. However, a Master’s dissertation being written at the Stockholm School of Economics focuses on the issue of gender and management in Pakistan, a case study at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Preliminary research has uncovered some interesting similarities and differences:

• In retrieved data of 951 employees, 8.1% are Female while 91.9% are Male.
• The average monthly salary for Males is PKR 63,000 while for Females, it is PKR 103,000. However, this impossible huge gap in salary is due to the fact that 55.8% of all employees are in Sales, which has 99.1% Males with an average salary of about PKR 40,000. The Male prevalence in this department is due to the fact that Sales requires people to be out in the market and local culture discourages women to take such roles.
• If the Sales department is put aside and salary differences within departments are considered, in most departments, Females earn lower salaries than Males and the Female average is skewed positively by a couple of high earners at the top.
• Women have the highest proportions in Income Groups 1,2, and 4 (the lower the income group, the higher the salary i.e. Group 1 is the highest and Group 10 is the lowest) and lowest in Groups 3, 8, and 9.

That was just a glimpse into the study. The data will be analyzed in more detail and interviews will be conducted to ascertain how gender perceptions and beliefs help explain these differences. The most interesting thing is going to be how perceptions differ from those in the developed world. How do you think gender diversity can be promoted in conservative cultures where women are primarily supposed to raise children and take care of the household? How do you think such diversity can be promoted in cultures where many roles can be uncomfortable for a woman to undertake (e.g. spending a significant amount of time on field)? What do you think about the stronger presence of women (as a proportion) in higher Income Groups rather than the lower Income Groups?

Career Goals Heat map

How important is to be competitively or intellectually challenged on the job? What do students say?

Take a look at the heat map to see how cultural and regional differences play a part in what new talent want.

Austria is the country where it is the most important for students to be competitively and intellectually challenged by their employer, followed by Switzerland and Spain.

Universum’s employer brand study in France reveals that French students give great importance to companies with active CSR policies and practices. Questioning a whopping 26,878 students, only a small minority of students (4%) were totally indifferent.

A warning sign for all companies that pay lip service to CSR, French students will be watching and judging you! Nearly half of France’s young career-seekers decide to choose you or not based on your social engagement and commitment.

The importance of CSR in France

As a fun follow-up to yesterday’s post, I mentioned that the meaning or understanding of an employer offering can change depending on the culture or country you’re in, right?

Well, we saw that for the British a positive work environment was one of the most important criteria of work/life balance (27%). Now for the French, however, the meaning of work-life balance is somewhat different.

Close to 40 per cent of 26,800 French job-seekers say that work/life balance means mostly having enough leisure time for their private life, while respect for leisure time was important to only 13 per cent in the UK – a striking difference.

Another interesting dissimilarity between the two nationalities is with regard to both financial and job security. Eighteen per cent of French versus 26 per cent of British students thought financial security was an important component, as 10 per cent of  French versus 24 per cent of British students thought job security was imperative. It seems that the French are less concerned about money and losing jobs.  

Yet what do they have in common? Similar to students in the UK, the French also feel that a good office atmosphere (35%) and interesting and challenging work (26%) help contribute to finding a harmonious balance – something which both parties seem to agree upon.  So far, so good…we might have found the common denominators for both countries.

The meaning of work/life balance in France

• It’s mostly about generating a positive work environment and giving employees the means to live – a secure and steady income.

People would naturally assume that work/life balance would mean working less and having more spare time with family and friends. Or would it mean something else?

UK students define the meaning of work/life balance, based on the answers of 13,000 students. The good news for employers is that it doesn’t mean working less.

Surprisingly for UK career-seekers, work/life balance mostly means the following: a positive work atmosphere (27%), financial stability (26%), job security (24%), interesting and challenging work (23%), flexible working hours (22%), etc.

In fact, only a minority of students think that work/life balance should be: consideration for private interests when requesting leave (6%), leisure activities with colleagues (6%), adequate recovery time following peak work periods (5%), compliance with standard working hours (5%) . 

In short, if you’re an employer keen on implementing a work/life balance programme in the UK, you’ll just have to work on 1) creating a positive vibe, 2) remunerating people fairly, 3) offering them secure employment,  4) giving them interesting and challenging work as well as 5) flexible working hours – doesn’t sound hard now, does it?

Be careful though, work/life balance could take on a different meaning depending on the culture and country you work in. Therefore, don’t be to bold and claim you offer something, until you have confirmed how the labour market understands the employer offering.

The meaning of work/life balance

The data featured comes from Universum’s Employer Branding Insights 2011 report. During December 2010 to January 2011, Universum interviewed 632 global employers in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The majority of respondents were at manager/director level in HR, recruitment, or employer branding functions. Based on the data gathered, it was possible to identify seven clear trends.

Trend no. 7 –  Employers agree on the most important benefits of a long-term employer branding strategy.

• Employers think their long-term employer branding strategy is most important in
achieving the following outcomes:
1. Improve your organisation’s ability to attract the right talent
2. Be more consistent in your communications (internal and external)
3. Improve your organisation’s ability to retain the right talent

Long-term Employer Branding. Click on the image to see the full size.

Implication: finally, although still identified as important by over half of employers, build employee engagement and increase group performance is helped the least by a long term employer branding strategy. With the economies returning to pre-recession levels, the focus to retain and manage the current right talent will be crucial for business success.

Employer Branding trends from Employer Branding Insights 2011

 The data featured comes from Universum’s Employer Branding Insights 2011 report. During December 2010 to January 2011, Universum interviewed 632 global employers in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The majority of respondents were at manager/director level in HR, recruitment, or employer branding functions. Based on the data gathered, it was possible to identify a number of  clear trends.

Trend no. 5 — Hiring trends: Employers focus hiring efforts on recent graduates and young professionals.

• 74% of employers are looking to hire talent in the range of college graduate to professional with 8 years experience.

• By contrast, only 18% are looking to hire senior professional (more than 8 years experience).

Click on image to see full size. Question: which target group represents the main proportion of your new hires?

Implication: logically, companies should ensure they have a pyramid structure in terms of the age distribution of their employees – the larger proportion of employees should be under the average age of 35.

Employer Branding Trends from Employer Branding Insights 2011

The data featured comes from Universum’s Employer Branding Insights 2011 report.

Trend no. 4 — Employer image and attractiveness is the most important element of finding the right talent for your organization.

• Among employers who have been able to attract the right talent, 76% select the attractiveness of their employer reputation and image as a factor. Nearly as important for these employers is their people and culture (61%), while competitive pay is comparatively less important (34%).
• By contrast, visibility and attractiveness stand out as the primary struggles for those employers who have not been able to find and attract the right talent.

Click on the chart to see the full size. Question: how have you been able to attract the right and competent people?

Click on the chart to see the full size. Question: why are you not finding and attracting the right and competent people?

Implication: while a range of inputs/variables can help you find the right talent, developing your profile and image as an employer with an attractive image/reputation is critical. Currently, there is a clear trend that employers are shifting their focus from “top talent from top universities” to “ideal talent for our culture.” In other words, the level of academic skill is less important than the person’s ability to apply those skills within the specific company culture. Employers have also realized that diversity – academic as well as ethnic – strengthens their business. Therefore, mixing people from different universities and with different degrees is a high priority. Simultaneously, talent groups are continuing to prioritize cultural fit and values over financial benefits when they choose employers.

Employer Branding Trends from Employer Branding Insights 2011 

This is a follow-up to blog post “Talent investments have a clear impact on both company revenue and recruitment costs”. The data featured comes from Universum’s Employer Branding Insights 2011 report. During December 2010 to January 2011, Universum interviewed 632 global employers in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The majority of respondents were at manager/director level in HR, recruitment, or employer branding functions. Based on the data gathered, it was possible to identify clear trends. 

Trend no. 3 – Top performers are leaving either for greater challenge and opportunity or money 

• Nearly 2/3 of employers highlight the new challenge or opportunity offered by another company as the main reason they lose top performers, while 43% consider money as a reason. 

Click on chart to see full size. Question: What are the reasons your top performers leave your organisation?

Implication: there is a higher demand for top talent in the recruitment market and they are more likely to be headhunted in comparison to regular employees. Employers thus need to carefully evaluate what drives and satisfies their best employees and keep them moving and progressing internally. Universum has witnessed a positive sign that companies are increasingly trying to hire based on a cultural match and be more transparent about their culture in the recruitment process. Consequently, an environment of belonging is created and mitigates – although not eliminates – the tendency of top talent to look outside the organization for a better fit. In conclusion, top talent will always be on the lookout, but a focus on personal fit and offering new personal growth opportunities are essential to do’s.