The Google effect–pay to stay

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:29:33 +0000

Winners and Losers: Wow, I’m sure it was a great day for Google employees when they heard about their 10% raises and the holiday bonus (and a great day for consumer spending!). And a great day for recruiters, because it confirmed that there still is a war for talent going on. I’m guessing it wasn’t such a good day for start-up CEO’s, with limited budgets, or CFO’s who were trying to hold their budgeted pay raises to 2-3% (still above the rate of inflation!).
It will be interesting to measure the longer term impact of Google’s pay to stay policy. When I googled “reasons for employee turnover”, the first result is an article entitled “Seven Reasons Why People Quit Their Jobs”. None of them are pay related (ok, the article was written in 2005 when we had equity in our homes…maybe it’s not relevant? How did it come up as #1 in the search then?). The second Google search result “Reference for Business” discusses higher pay as one of the most obvious contributors to turnover, but then it quotes a survey where more than half of the respondents didn’t even list pay in the top 3 reasons they believed people quit their jobs. And the third result from Business Owners TookKit, “Understanding and Remedying Employee Turnover” lists Unequal or substandard wage structures. When 2 or more employees perform similar work and have similar responsibilities, differences in pay rate can drive employees to quit for higher pay. Maybe Google should have done a search before they made an across the board increase in pay.
While it’s great to have more money in your paycheck—no complaints here—it’s important that people feel useful, can contribute to the company’s success, and work for a manager where there is mutual respect. So if you’re looking to make a job change, focus on the people, the market opportunity and career path. And if the new position offers all of those benefits, negotiate a fair compensation package and you’ll be well positioned for a rewarding and satisfying new role! Good luck!

Employee Turnover—Good news/Bad news

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:17:54 +0000

Recently I’ve been seeing numerous comments about employee turnover. This is good news and bad news. The bad news is that hiring managers are at risk of losing some talented people. The good news is it means employees are feeling more confident about the economy and are willing to take the risk of moving to a new company.
According to a survey of U.S. workers released by Right Management, many workers are unhappy with their present jobs and 60% of employees intend to leave and an additional one-in-four are networking and updating their resumes. Only 13% of employees say they intend to stay.
“Employees are clearly expressing their pent up frustration with how they have been treated through the downturn,” said Douglas Matthews, president and chief operating officer at Right Management. “While employers may have taken the necessary steps to streamline operations to remain viable, it appears many employees may have felt neglected in the process. The result is a disengaged and disgruntled workforce.”
Information is power and there is still time to act. As a hiring manager myself, my experience is that you can definitely change employee discontent into content. The number one reason employees changes jobs is unhappiness with their manager. And often that can be as simple as “my manager doesn’t recognize my work”, or “there’s no work/life balance” at my company. These are problems that can be solved quickly and the results are immediate. So take a look around, and make sure your top talent is happy and engaged. We all know it’s much easier to retain talent than replace them.

STReBlog » Employee Retention

The Google effect–pay to stay

Employee Turnover—Good news/Bad news