A quote from my post on Tuesday:
And don’t assume its about money. When someone quits her job, 89 percent of managers assume it was over money, whereas 91 percent of the workers who quit say it was anything but, Murphy said.
From a CareerJournal article titled Opportunity Knocks, And It Pays a Lot Better:
Managers like to say employees leave companies because of bad bosses or lack of career growth. A new report suggests a more straightforward reason: money.In a survey of about 1,100 U.S. employees, 71% of top performers listed pay among the top three reasons they would consider leaving their employer. Yet in a sister survey of 262 large employers, 45% of employers cited pay as a top-three reason workers leave.
Dueling surveys. So which survey is accurate? I’m not sure. One thing is certain, turnover is an issue in today’s market:
Nationally, the annual rate at which workers quit their jobs was the highest last year since 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Here is the stat that I think drives the pay discussion:
The average employee is forecast to pay $3,305 next year in premiums and out-of-pocket costs for health care, a 7.8% increase over this year and more than double the $1,640 paid in 2002, according to human-resources consultant Hewitt Associates Inc.
Benefits are becoming a much larger piece of the compensation puzzle and if not properly managed (see General Motors), they can become an anchor around a company’s neck. Some where in the past, employees forgot that businesses to not have to offer insurance and retirement – it is simply a “benefit.”
I think this person has the best grip on the rationale behind the responses:
Some career experts question whether pay is pre-eminent. They assert that pay often isn’t the root of employee dissatisfaction, even when employees say it is. Meg Montford, an executive-career coach in Kansas City, Mo., says clients who blame pay often have a deeper problem such as career stagnation, boredom, or feeling unappreciated. “They may come to me with the idea that it’s pay, but usually that’s a camouflage for something else,” she says.
My experience is heavily slanted towards sales positions where compensation is king. Salespeople will leave if they are battling against an unreachable commission goal. Yet, that situation is rarely the reason. Most of the candidates we talk to are actually looking for a different challenge to their skills. Often this challenge involves more responsibility within the company, especially the opportunity to substantially contribute to the overall direction of the company.
I believe “feeling unappreciated” is probably the top reason for an employee to leave their current employee.