Retaining Workers: Money Still Talks

Even though other reasons are increasingly swaying workers to stay put, 43.2% say that a raise was still the most likely factor to persuade them to stay at their current employer. The survey released last month by management search firm BridgeGate LLC, Irvine, Calif., found that the second most persuasive factor in getting employees to stay also was compensated-related -- that is, improved benefits. Some 14% cited a more flexible work schedule, 8.6% stock options, and 4.7% better training. Women were one and a half times more likely to value a more flexible work schedule, while nearly three times as many men were more likely to be motivated by stock options. Workers under the age of 24 are twice as likely to be influenced by the amount of training. Two key regional differences: Only 33% of workers in the West said that a raise would convince them to stay compared with 43% nationwide, and workers in the West were two and a half times more likely to be influenced to stay by an increased amount of training.