Are Perks and Bonuses Enough to Satisfy U.S. Workers? (5/28)

Are Perks and Bonuses Enough to Satisfy U.S. Workers?

Bonuses. Massages. "Bring Your Pet to Work Day." Companies are resorting to extreme measures to retain the best and brightest in a lean labor market. Some are calling it "fringe benefit mania," and it's sweeping the nation. To save their bottom lines, many employers are taking a closer look at creative ways to drive employee satisfaction, loyalty and retention.

Interim Services explores the issues of an emerging workforce that can save employers millions of dollars in what is perhaps the most challenging recruitment and retention environment of the decade. Experts agree the downsizing of the 1980s and '90s forever changed the values of a growing number of American workers. And according to Interim research, companies that want to improve their recruitment and retention odds must gain a better understanding of this new breed of employee -- the "emergent worker."

Interim reports emergent workers currently make up more than 20 percent of the U.S. workforce. These workers do not like to follow rules of organizational charts, but instead thrive on gaining new experiences. The study says failure to understand the new face of the American worker can cause significant retention issues. In fact, Interim says employers must become emergent or risk alienating the top one-fifth of the workforce.

Mentoring, training and growth opportunities are good practices for reducing turnover. Interim, in conjunction with data from the human resource think tank Saratoga Institute estimates that providing these types of programs and opportunities saves companies with more than 1,000 employees up to $40 million. "Companies can either invest in providing mentoring, training and growth opportunities now or pay the costs of turnover later," states the report.

Companies should also be open to the management style of the future. According to Interim, the traditional rules of management -- not fraternizing with subordinates, respecting the organizational chart, and socializing only with those of similar rank -- may need to be tossed out the window. Instead, the new management style, which is signified by being friends with subordinates, is associated with significantly higher employee satisfaction in all aspects of work. In fact, ratings of job satisfaction, trust in employer, quality of management and employee loyalty were 25 percent higher for survey respondents who reported their supervisor was also their friend.

It's also time to dispel the myth that older workers, aged 53 and up, experience a slowdown. According to Interim, employees not only improve with age, but experience and age seem to bring about greater career satisfaction. And with such a lean labor market, older workers will become increasingly important as Generation X struggles to fill the shoes of their more mature coworkers. The good news, states the report, is that today's census figures indicate people are working longer, retiring later and in better health today than ever before.

An often-overlooked trouble spot for emergent workers is poor supervisor performance -- one of the most basic components of employee retention. "No matter how much a company invests in fringe benefits, a bad supervisor can override that effort and cause employees to leave," concludes the report. "Good supervisor performance is a minimum requirement for employees to stay with an employer."