Labor & Employment Law

Why do Employees Stay in Their Jobs?

It seems that employers and employees don't necessarily agree.  A recent survey suggests that  "...Employers and employees have dramatically different opinions of why workers remain in their jobs, showing US companies may struggle to retain employees in an improved job market."

For employees its 1) benefits, 2) financial compensation, and, 3) their career growth and earnings potential.  Employers, however, believe that management climate, supervisor relationships and culture and work environment keep their employees at work.

In my experience, managers always seems to have a relatively warped sense of their value to employees.  They believe that they are engaging, motivate employees, have open door policies and send messages to employees that they are valued.   For their employees, it seems that according to this survey, nuts and bolts count first, particularly in this economy.  Even if employers do believe this about themselves, many times their actions in practice are contrary to the spirit of these employee-friendly policies.

Not all employers are as misguided as I suggest, but if an employer doesn't even know why employees work there, that's a problem.  And those that think human resources is back office administration, holiday parties and compliance are the ones most likely to fall into this trap and face massive turnover once the economy recovers

Follow this Link:  Firms, workers differ on why people stay in jobs

Full post as published by Strategic HR Lawyer on October 24, 2009 (boomark / email).