LizStevens, Author at Best Money Moves

Why You Need to Train Employees for Future Tech

by LizStevens | Nov 6, 2018 | Blog

Why you need to train employees for future tech. Upskilling helps them meet the rapidly developing technology that your company will inevitably implement.

Why You Need to Train Employees for Future Tech

Ninety percent of executives say they pay attention to employee needs when introducing new tech, but half of their employees disagree, according to new research by PwC. It matters because more than half of employees are going to need significant skills training by 2022, according to The World Economic Forum.

The good news is that employees are willing to spend up to two days per month on training to update their digital skills if their employer offered it. Effective, efficient training programs are going to be critical for companies that want to keep up with developing technology while retaining good people.

What drives employee’s interest in advancing digital skills? Almost 40 percent of employees are likely to adopt new tech if it helps them advance their careers or gain status, through promotion or other recognition. For more than 30 percent, it’s curiosity and the promise of better efficiency and teamwork that drives their interest in advancing digital skills.

Conversely, almost a third of employees prefer individual achievement within a predictable environment. They like to stick to established routines, which means they’re least likely to see the importance of digital skills for their work. Additional communication and training might make this segment of employees more amenable to new tech.

What Employers Should Consider Before Adopting New Tech

Before adopting new tech employers should first consider what work is like for employees. Direct feedback from employees can pinpoint exactly where technology can improve the process. A range of employees from all levels and departments should play roles in the planning, selection and design of technology tools. Employee involvement makes them feel valued and can get them invested in the new tech so they’ll be less resistant when it’s rolled out.

“Enterprises aren’t so much falling behind as struggling to keep up with what’s next,” the report reads. “With companies’ near-continuous deployment of new applications, Intelligent Robots Process Automation, and more, employees must quickly master sophisticated new skills, too. And the pressure on companies and individuals to keep up will only intensify: the rise of artificial intelligence will soon make even the most tech-savvy in the workforce look for ways to stay relevant.”

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How Do You Improve Employee Retention?

by LizStevens | Oct 30, 2018 | Blog

If you want to know how to improve employee retention, you need to know why employees quit and Work Institute’s exit interview gives you a great place to start.

The vast majority of employees who quit could have been retained, according to Work Institute which conducted over 234,000 exit interviews.

Roughly 30 percent of employees will leave their jobs in 2018 to work somewhere else. “Employee turnover is anticipated to hit record highs and cost U.S. companies more than $600 billion in 2018,” Danny Nelms, President of Work Institute, writes in his introduction.

From 2009 to 2017 the unemployed persons to jobs ratio fell from 7:1 to 1:1. The national average for open jobs has seen an inconceivable 141 percent increase since 2009. Work Institute expects the number of employees leaving their jobs to increase as involuntary turnover will continue to decline (by 25 percent over the next two years).

Why Do Employees Leave?

A lack of career development was the most common reason employees left their jobs in 2017 (for the eighth consecutive year). More than 30 percent left their jobs because of the type of work, either because they wanted to change industries and do something different or because they found a better opportunity. Over 20 percent left their jobs because there wasn’t a chance to acquire new skills, or because promotion and advancement didn’t seem possible. Almost 20 percent left their jobs to go back to school and advance their careers, or because it was too overwhelming to balance work and school.

More than 10 percent of employees quit because of a poor work-life balance regarding their company’s schedule, commute, flexibility or travel. In their explanations for their responses employees said their employer lacked flexibility for new parents or those dealing with a family emergency, had them travel too frequently, wouldn’t allow them to switch shifts, or they found a job with an easier commute.

Manager behavior was another main driver for turnover, primarily, for 35 percent of employees a managers unprofessionalism was enough to drive them away. For almost 20 percent it was a lack of support or poor employee treatment. Management behavior that employees took issue with included: supervisors using inappropriate language, yelling at them in public, failing to stand up for their team with upper management, communicating poorly, uppermanagement staff that was either hostile or overly friendly with one another, favoritism and inconsistency in management practices.

Workers also left for their jobs in favor of their own well-being, citing personal issues, life challenges or medical issues. Or because of compensation and benefits, for example, one worker said they left because they had been with the company for 8 years without a single raise.

Other workers left because of unfavorable job characteristics, like being overloaded or underscheduled. And finally, six percent of employees left because of the work environment, most commonly because of problematic co-workers or an unfavorable culture.

What Can Employers Do to Retain Employees?

Employers can use the information from Work Institute’s report to target areas of their organizations that could be contributing to the main drivers of turnover, but they’ll have to evaluate which categories are most applicable to their business. Work Institute notes that each organization has its own unique drivers for turnover, for example, one company loses employees mostly due to relocation and retirement while another company loses them because of job characteristics or compensation and benefits.

New employees accounted for 40 percent of turnover in 2017, almost a 20 percent hike from 2016, giving an area for most businesses to target for improvement. An effective onboarding process has to be a priority for companies looking to reduce turnover. Schedule, compensation and type of work were the top three reasons employees left in the first year. Setting up realistic expectations in the interview and the onboarding process can help improve new hire retention.

Can Transparency Close the Pay Gap?

by LizStevens | Oct 29, 2018 | Blog

Can transparency close the pay gap? Transparency can close the gender pay gap, but open discussions about compensation are still taboo in the workplace.

Close to half of employees believe men are paid more than women, particularly in technology and banking and finance, according to recent research conducted by beqom, a cloud-based compensation software provider.

Why? Over a third of employees believe managers set pay based on feelings and opinions about the employee rather than an employee’s performance, experience or skill set.

Pay discussion isn’t as taboo as it once was. Nearly half of employees know how much their colleagues make or have discussed their salary with colleagues. It’s a generational trend as more than half of Millennials share or discuss their salary with colleagues compared to roughly 30 percent of Baby Boomers.

The CEO Pay Gap

There’s another fair compensation concern employees think about, the CEO pay gap. The vast majority of employees believe that most CEOs and top executives of companies today make too much compared to their employees. More than half of workers want to know what their CEO makes. Almost 30 percent of them believe pay transparency creates a better company culture, more than 20 percent believe it would motivate them to work harder and just over 11 percent want to compare their salary to their CEO’s salary.

Employees might want to know coworkers and CEOs salary’s but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to discuss it. Most employees are more comfortable talking about their work performance, career trajectory, or even their happiness or discontent than they are talking about their salaries.

Should Employers Start the Conversation?

More than half of employees don’t plan on asking for a raise or additional benefits at the end of the year, which is especially interesting since almost 30 percent plan to get a new job because they’re dissatisfied with salary and compensation. It might be advantageous for employers to start the conversation and ask employees how they feel about their compensation. If a minimal raise could improve job satisfaction and avoid costly turnovers, it might be worth it.

“Today’s workforce demands pay transparency because they believe it will motivate employees to work harder, create a better company and ultimately solve pay gap disparities among age, gender and race. We must do better to ensure that we’re creating and sustaining a vibrant, motivated and diverse workforce,” says beqom CEO Fabio Ronga.

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Are Employees Who Work From Home Happier?

by LizStevens | Oct 23, 2018 | Blog

Are employees who work from home happier? Remote workers might have slightly higher job satisfaction, but their office-only counterparts are convinced those who work from home are far happier than they are.

Employees who work remotely or split time between home and the office are happier than their office-only counterparts, according to recent research by Porch. When it comes to matters like pay, growth opportunities and overall job satisfaction, remote and split-workers are more satisfied than those who work exclusively in the office.

Surprisingly, just a few percentage points separate remote, split and office-only workers when it comes to satisfaction with work-life balance, relationships with co-workers and family life. This runs counter to popular thought, like the notion that better relationships are developed with coworkers in-office or that split-workers have a significantly better work-life balance.

Office workers’ perceptions of remote employees are particularly interesting. Nearly 80 percent of office workers think that remote employees are happier than them. Office workers are split on whether remote employees are less, the same or more driven, hardworking and productive. Most employees agreed remote workers were as necessary or more necessary than office workers.

So, what’s so great about working from home? The top two perks of remote work, by a long shot, are having no commute and a more flexible schedule. Other perks include staying home with kids or pets, less supervision, fewer interruptions, better focus and no workplace drama. More than 60 percent of remote workers complete personal tasks on the clock. Nearly 80 percent of them have watched TV when working from home. Distractions aside, employees who work from home actually feel more productive than office-only employees.

There are some perks to working in the office that might be the reason why almost half of remote workers plan on going back to an office environment. More than half of those who work from home feel lonely during the day. Close to 40 percent of them miss being around other people. They also miss office camaraderie, free coffee and office parties or social events.

Split-workers seem to have the best of both worlds. They get to enjoy the camaraderie and free coffee that come with office work and the flexibility that comes with remote work. It might explain why split-workers feel more valued by their employers and are less likely to feel disconnected from coworkers.

Employee Benefits Success is All About Communication

by LizStevens | Oct 16, 2018 | Blog

Employee benefits success is all about communication. A third of compensation costs go towards employee benefits and some employees would forgo a raise for better work-life balance or better healthcare benefits, but almost half of employees don’t even understand the benefits their employer already offers.

Benefits account for more than 30 percent of total employee compensation, but that doesn’t mean employees use them. Nearly half don’t understand all the benefits their organization offers, according to a report from Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

Even though they don’t have a good grasp on their current benefits, more than 40 percent of employees would forgo a raise in favor of work-life balance benefits and almost 20 percent would accept lower pay for better healthcare coverage.

More than 80 percent of employees have paid vacation time and over 70 percent have paid sick leave. Less than half of organizations offer paid maternity leave and only a quarter offer paid paternity leave. Recently large organizations have overhauled their benefits for parents, like Pinterest, whose benefits now include four months off for mothers or fathers, one-on-one classes with a parenting coach and online classes if children have learning or developmental disabilities. In the next few years, organizations offering maternity leave are likely to increase and there’s a chance companies that offer paternity leave might see a significant spike too.

Benefits that were nonexistent in 2013 (at least in terms of EBRI’s report) like health savings accounts and accident insurance are now offered by more than 15 percent of organizations. Student loan assistance is a trend EBRI started measuring this year and almost 15 percent of employees said their employer provides student loan debt relief/repayment assistance. The IRS recently ruled that a company could contribute to an employee’s 401(k) based on student loan payments, so employees can pay down their student loan debt and save for retirement at the same time with employer contributions. Employers are also helping employees continue their education as more companies partner with institutions to offer employees free college tuition.

Most employees predict weakening benefits offerings in the next three years, but everything I’ve seen in benefits trends this year points to stronger benefits offerings on the horizon. However, recently companies like Walgreens have started to slash benefits in order to raise overall wages. It’s a concerning trend to keep an eye on in the years to come.