Many employers are claiming to have a hard time filling job openings. And there’s every indication that the job market is tightening. Here’s some insight into what attracts the top candidates (and it’s not always money).
And for job-seekers, take a look at the skills employees most need vs. the top college majors.
Benefits
When it comes to employment perks, benefits tops the list. A recent survey by Frac.tl found that 88% of employees would consider a lower paying job for better health, dental, and vision insurance. In contrast, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports that only 53% of companies offer some health benefits, but for those who do, they contribute an average of 82% to single person premiums and 69% of family premiums.
Flexible Hours
Flexible working arrangements are becoming more and more important to job seekers. The Frac.tl survey found that 88% would prefer flex time or work-from-home options. But the New York Times reports that only 30% – 61% of companies offer it, depending on industry.
In addition to flex time, vacation time rated high with 80% of the Frac.tl survey respondents and 65% said the were looking for unlimited vacation. Paid vacation is pretty common for full-time employees, but only 5% offer unlimited leave.
Learning at Work
Even though Training Magazine reports that 76% of employee training is delivered in a classroom or through web courses, Jane Hart’s Learning in the Workplace Survey found that 93% of employees prefer learning work experience. 90% like to share knowledge with peers, and 79% enjoy searching the web to learn. Only 41% would select online courses as a preferred option, and only 31% went for classroom sessions.
More and more, companies cannot afford to ignore learning programs. Clear Company reports that 68% of employees say training and development is the most important company policy. But the 2017 Training Industry Report notes that companies devote just over one week, 47.6 hours to training.
Onboarding
The first few months at a company can make or break an employee’s success there. But many companies neglect onboarding. An Office Team survey found that 54% of new hires experienced some king of day 1 mishap, such as not having a computer or supplies or not being introduced to co-workers. The same survey found that 92% of HR managers felt their onboarding processes were very or somewhat effective.
Feedback
Some people don’t like getting feedback, but in a Price Waterhouse Cooper survey, 75% of respondents value feedback from managers and peers. And a similar study from Office Vibe confirmed that 68% would like more feedback than they’re getting. However, 58% of managers believe they already give plenty of feedback.
In fact, employees are looking for more communication in general. Survata reports that 70% of employees want more communication from leaders, but a Harris Poll found that 69% of managers are uncomfortable communicating with employees. This mismatch shows. According to Engage for Success, 58% of employees do not know the company’s vision, mission, or values.
Skills Gap
We’ve looked at several ways in which organizations could do better for employees, but it works in the other direction, too. College students are not gravitating to the skills employers most need.
According to Niche, the most popular college majors by degrees awarded are:
- Humanities
- Business
- Nursing
- Health Professions
- Biology
But LinkedIn job postings indicate that employers need more technical abilities:
- Cloud and distributed computing
- Statistical analysis and data mining
- Mobile development
- Storage systems and management
- User interface design
Graduates with these high-demand skills will probably be in a better position to ask for some of those key benefits above.
Acknowledgement: Working icon created by Marie Van den Broeck for Noun Project