Study: What perks work best at keeping employees

CareerBuilder Survey Reveals Most Wanted Office Perks and What Motivates Workers to Stay With Companies
By Career Builder.com

If you could have one perk – any perk – in your workplace, what would it be? If you had the choice, would you rather have a bigger title or a bigger office? If you were thinking about leaving your company, what would make you stay? A new CareerBuilder survey explores which job factors are most important to today’s workers. More than 3,900 full-time workers nationwide participated in the survey conducted online by Harris Interactive© from November 1 to November 30, 2012.

Nearly one-third of employers (32 percent) reported that top performers left their organizations in 2012 and 39 percent are concerned that they’ll lose top talent in 2013. While most workers (66 percent) stated that they are generally satisfied with their jobs, one in four (25 percent) said they will change jobs in 2013 or 2014.

How important is title?

While upward mobility is a key factor in job satisfaction and employee retention, having a certain title isn’t important to more than half of workers (55 percent). The vast majority (88 percent) reported that salary matters more. Other factors that outrank job title in what is most important to workers are:

· Flexible schedule – 59 percent

· Being able to make a difference – 48 percent

· Challenging work – 35 percent

· Ability to work from home – 33 percent

· Academic reimbursement – 18 percent

· Having an office – 17 percent

· Company car – 14 percent

Do perks matter?

Twenty-six percent of workers said that providing special perks is an effective way to improve employee retention. When asked to identify one perk that would make their workplace more satisfying, early dismissals, convenient gym access and casual dress scored highest:

1) Half-day Fridays – 40 percent

2) On-site fitness center – 20 percent

3) Ability to wear jeans – 18 percent

4) Daily catered lunches – 17 percent

5) Massages – 16 percent

6) Nap room – 12 percent

7) Rides to and from work – 12 percent

8) Snack cart that comes around the office – 8 percent

9) Private restroom – 7 percent

10) On-site daycare – 6 percent

What ultimately entices workers to stay with a company?

Not surprising, the majority of workers (70 percent) reported that increasing salaries is the best way to boost employee retention while 58 percent pointed to better benefits. Other actions workers said employers should take to reduce voluntary turnover include:

· Provide flexible schedules – 51 percent

· Increase employee recognition (awards, cash prizes, company trips) – 50 percent

· Ask employees what they want and put feedback into action – 48 percent

· Increase training and learning opportunities – 35 percent

· Hire additional workers to ease workloads – 22 percent

· Provide academic reimbursement – 22 percent

· Carve out specific career paths and promote more – 21 percent

· Institute a more casual dress code – 14 percent

“What determines job satisfaction is not a one-size-fits-all, but flexibility, recognition, the ability to make a difference and yes, even special perks, can go a long way,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. “Being compensated well will always be a top consideration, but we’re seeing work-life balance, telecommuting options and learning opportunities outweigh other job factors when an employee decides whether to stay with an organization.”

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,611 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,991 workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between November 1 and November 30, 2012 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,611 and 3,991, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.92 and +/-1.55 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.