Money Is the Main Motivator, But Just Barely

If you consider yourself a top performer, or more to the point, if your boss considers you a top performer, you'll be interested to learn that companies are getting more creative in their strategies to attact and retain their best employees. An emerging trend at some companies, according to Compdata Surveys, is to offer enhanced compensation packages to key employees. That includes things like picking up more of the tab on healthcare coverage as well as offering flexible work schedules.

The real issue, according to Amy Kaminski, manager of marketing programs for Compdata, is that the budgets for pay increases at many companies has been basically flat over the past several years, making it more of a challenge to come up with a compensation package that is sufficiently padded with perks that an employee will think, "I'm not going anywhere this is the company for me."

And that doesn't always necessarily mean money. According to the IndustryWeek 2007 Salary Survey, when asked, "What matters most to you about your job?" although the number one answer was indeed base salary, it wasn't by a very wide margin. Salary got 18% of the responses, but the next three responses followed closely behind: "recognition of your importance to your company" got 17%, "job stability" got 16% and "career advancement opportunities" had 15%. "Benefits" (6%) and "flexible schedules" (4%) were not among the top vote-getters.

Compdata's survey of 5,300 employers in all fields (not just manufacturing) indicates that the total turnover rate was 17.6% in 2006. The difference between the voluntary and total turnover rate, Compdata points out, was just 5.9%, indicating that most employees are leaving on their own rather than being pushed out the door.

Compdata also points to analysis from Yahoo! HotJobs that predicts nearly half of the 5,000 U.S. workers surveyed plan to search for a new job this year, for all the usual reasons: better salary, potential for job growth and better benefits. And maybe just a few more "attaboys."