Increased Hiring, Job Mobility Creating Attraction and Retention Challenges for Employers, Towers Watson Surveys Find
29 July 2014 - 11:05PM
Business Wire
Surveys reveal employers fail to recognize importance of job
security, senior leadership
With hiring and turnover levels on the rise, employers are now
experiencing challenges with both attracting and retaining
employees, especially top performers and high-potential employees.
Adding to the challenge is that many employers don’t understand the
important reasons that employees join and stay with a company,
according to two major surveys conducted by global professional
services company Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW).
The Towers Watson Global Talent Management and Rewards Survey, a
study of 1,637 companies globally, including 337 from the United
States, shows there has been an uptick in labor market activity.
Globally, nearly half of employers (48%) said hiring activity has
increased compared with last year. For 15%, hiring has jumped
significantly. Additionally, more than one-third (35%) indicated
that turnover was rising. Nearly two in three respondents are
experiencing problems attracting top performers (65%) and
high-potential employees (64%), an increase from two years ago.
Further, more than half reported difficulty retaining
high-potential employees (56%) and top performers (54%).
“With talent mobility on the rise, employers need to understand
what employees value if they are to succeed in attracting and
retaining employees. Unfortunately, our surveys reveal a
significant disconnect between employers and employees,” said Laura
Sejen, managing director at Towers Watson, who led both surveys.
“While employers recognize the importance of pay and career
advancement as key reasons employees choose to join and stay with a
company, they don’t place the same importance on another top
attraction and retention driver: job security, or a key retention
driver: trust and confidence in senior leadership.”
Indeed, the Towers Watson Global Workforce Study, a survey of
32,000 employees worldwide, including 6,014 from the United States,
revealed that job security is the second most important reason they
join a company and the fourth most important reason they stay.
Employees also ranked trust and confidence in senior leadership as
the third most important reason they stick with a company. However,
employers did not rank any of these factors as key attraction and
retention drivers. Not surprisingly, less than half of employees
think their company does a good job when it comes to attracting and
retaining the right workers. Only 46% said their organization hires
highly qualified employees, while 42% said their employer does a
good job of retaining talented employees.
The Global Workforce Study also revealed that many employees
feel blocked in their current position. Four in 10 employees (41%)
said they would need to leave their organization in order to
advance their careers. Even worse, the same percentage (41%) of
employees who have been formally identified as high potentials by
their organization said they would need to leave their organization
to advance their careers. From the employer perspective, less than
half of respondents (49%) believe they are effective at providing
traditional career advancement opportunities, while 35% said that
compared with last year, career advancement opportunities are
improving.
“Organizations continue to miss the mark when it comes to career
development. Given how important career advancement opportunities
are to employees, the fact that so many employees, and especially
high potentials, feel stuck should serve as a wake-up call to
employers to review their career development programs. Employees
will have more opportunities to seek employment elsewhere as hiring
activity continues to increase, and employers will be on the
lookout for high-potential and top-performing employees,” said
Sejen.
The Global Workforce Study found that leadership is the top
driver of sustainable engagement (i.e., the intensity of employees’
connection to their organization). However, less than half of
employees (48%) agree that senior leadership is effective.
“The importance of leadership can’t be overstated. Employees are
more likely to remain at their companies if they have trust and
confidence in their senior management and leaders,” said Sejen.
“And importantly, senior leaders, managers and supervisors each
play a critical role in fully engaging employees.”
About the Surveys
The Towers Watson Global Talent Management and Rewards Survey
was conducted from April to June 2014 and includes responses from
1,637 companies worldwide, including 337 companies from the United
States. The participants represent a wide range of industries and
geographic regions.
The Towers Watson Global Workforce Study covers more than 32,000
employees selected from research panels that represent the
populations of full-time employees working in large and midsize
organizations across a range of industries in 26 markets around the
world. It was fielded online during April and May 2014. The U.S.
sample includes 6,014 employees and has a margin of error of
±1%.
About Towers Watson
Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW) is a leading global
professional services company that helps organizations improve
performance through effective people, risk and financial
management. The company offers consulting, technology and solutions
in the areas of benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and
capital management. Towers Watson has more than 14,000 associates
around the world and is located on the web at towerswatson.com.
Towers WatsonEd Emerman, +1
609-275-5162eemerman@eaglepr.comorBinoli Savani, +1
703-258-7648binoli.savani@towerswatson.com
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