Indulge me if you will
Let’s pretend you are looking for a new job, you’ve just been for 2 interviews for comparable jobs. Both jobs are great, the companies appear great, your potential new boss come across as great – everything was great. Great, great, great.
Employer A discussed salary and benefits; flexibility with hours – yep sure it’s 12 hour shifts and the work is dictated by the client but if you want a few extra days off here and there to go away it’s no drama, they understand you want a life. They also offer salary packaging, discounts on everyday items like gym membership and a monthly lunchtime BBQ if you’re in the workshop. HECK YEAH!
Employer B only offers a salary, don’t get me wrong it’s a very, very competitive salary so you ask a few questions to try and get an idea of how they stack up against Employer A. “You mentioned that quite often you work 14 shifts on 2 shifts off, can you request extra unpaid days off to have a better break” “Only if you book it as annual leave well in advance because we can’t really afford to not have people at work” hmmmmm, “Do you offer any extra benefits at all?” “No” End of conversation.
Which job would you choose?
The dynamic of the workforce is changing, the days are long gone when employees expected very little from their employers except for their wages at the end of the week.
These days, increasing numbers of skilled employees expect a lot more from the companies that they work for. With many companies offering impressive perks and benefits for their workers, the pressure is on for businesses of all sizes to up their game and to offer something more to their staff than simply the satisfaction of a job well done.
In-fact, millennials, more so than any other group, prioritise access to additional benefits as a driving factor towards choice of employer, and before you chalk this up to yet another reason for you to (unjustifiably) hate on millennials consider this – millennials make up 50% of the workforce. You can no longer bury your head in the sand. The workforce is changing, you either change with it or ring the bell and get off the bus.
In Australia, employment opportunities remain strong and employers are grappling with a talent shortage, Australian workers enjoy a high degree of choice of employer. Quite often business owners & leaders can overestimate the loyalty of their employees, and their ability to source new ones if and when required, with a significant gap in perceptions of the employer – employee relationship.
Numerous Australian studies reveal employees prioritise workplaces that offer benefits over higher salaries that trade off against additional perks. Big ticket items are a healthy balance to life; favourable working conditions & health & wellness benefits. Financial savings; discounts on everyday items, access to wealth creation strategies. And career development opportunities; access to relevant workshops / seminars / training and / or acting or promotional opportunities.
And now comes the sell, you may have received one of these babies in the past fortnight or saw it plastered it all over social media.
I am working on pulling together an Employee Benefit Program to assist my clients with the attraction and the retention of employees. What I was hearing & seeing from clients was the lack of ability to compete against the bigger employers in town with their deep, deep pockets. And quite often the salary on offer was comparable, if not equal to the big companies, but the the lack of capacity, for whatever reason, to match the additional extras hit their efforts hard.
So I’ve taken the guess work, and hard work, out of getting a program in place, and taking a proven, proactive measure against the hiring difficulties for small – medium businesses in the Goldfields.
I mean, after this who wouldn’t want to be my client!! 🤣 But seriously, the ability to participate in this program is reliant on you being an ongoing client of mine, so engaging me to implement your HR framework or implement a performance management program, a comparatively small cost for a potentially large return on investment.
If you are a retailer or service provider and you haven’t received the flyer as yet, and you love to join to have another avenue to drive sales to your business please contact me today! The more diversity & variety the program can offer the greater the chance of it being a success.
It’s time for HR to move beyond policies, practices and processes. The People & Culture Office can partner with you to gain a competitive advantage through people & culture initiatives Contact Us to arrange an appointment to discus what solutions we can put in place to drive achievement of your strategic goals.
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