Aussies restless for a dream employer

By Kate Southam

Workers in Australia and New Zealand are restless with 45 per cent planning to move jobs within a year.

The greener grass employees are hoping to find includes employers that offer greater work life balance options, communication, business processes and rewards and recognition.

According to a survey of 7,100 employees, only 40 per cent of people are satisfied in their current role and only 33 per cent would recommend their current employer as a good place to work.

Sectors with the most restless workers are energy with 66 per cent of those surveyed planning to change jobs in the next year, hospitality (66 per cent) and state government (57 per cent).

Now in its second year, the 2011 Dream Employers Survey also released its list of top employers as voted by its respondents. Google topped the list of dream employers with “self employment” taking out second place in both Australia and New Zealand.

Following the two top placed best places to work were Virgin Group, Qantas, Apple and Microsoft in Australia and Air New Zealand, Apple and Kiwi Bank in New Zealand.  Qantas is the subject of mass industrial action from sections of its staff today protesting pay and job security issues.

The Dream Employers Survey is the work of Insync Surveys and RedBalloon and is now in is second year. Google was the inaugural winner.

While the top 20 dream employers were announced yesterday the survey results on what makes a dream or dud employer were only released today.

The degree of restlessness amongst the survey group echos a great deal of research out this year including CareerOne’s Hidden Hunters report released in March. The Hidden Hunters report revealed that executive men in particular were on the hunt for new opportunities after putting career progression on hold during the GFC to stay put in their jobs.

The 2011 Dream Employers Survey group also nominated areas of strength and weakness for their current employers.

Of those surveyed, 38 per cent nominated pay, benefits and conditions as the top three ingredients needed to create a great place to work. Work/life balance (nominated by 37 per cent) and culture (36 per cent) were close behind.

In 2010 the top attribute of a dream employer was brand or company reputation as nominated by 41 per cent of the survey group but only 27 per cent rated this attribute in 2011.

When asked what employees liked best about working for their current employer, 46 per cent nominated work-life balance, 39 per cent culture and 33 per cent pay, benefits and conditions.

As for areas for improvement, 41 per cent of those surveyed want their organisation to improve systems and processes, 39 per cent want better communication and 38 per cent want rewards and recognition.

RedBalloon founding director Naomi Simson warned employers not to react to the results by simply throwing more money at restless employees.

“Cash rewards don’t inspire employee loyalty. Studies have shown that non-monetary incentives have a higher perceived value and are 24 per cent more powerful at boosting performance than cash incentives.

Ms Simson said the positive impact of a pay rise lasted only as long as it took the employee to use the money to pay for their credit card or other ongoing expenses. She said true staff engagement was generated by providing employees with fair treatment, autonomy, and the opportunity to learn and develop.

Insync Surveys and RedBalloon  also warn employers about the impact of “badvocacy” – employees bad mouthing or at least not talking positively about their organisation as a place to work. Only a third of the survey respondents were prepared to recommend their employer.

“Over time research has shown that three quarters of companies have more detractors on staff than advocates,” says Insync Surveys CEO James Garriock.

The “badvocacy” findings are supported by a recent survey from international research and advisory firm the Corporate Executive Board, showing a significant rise in the percentage of employees who would not recommend their former employer – 75 per cent in 2011 compared to 42 per cent in 2008.

The top 20 Dream Employers named yesterday as a result of public vote were Google, self employed, Virgin Group, Qantas, Apple, Microsoft, OMD, Walt Disney, BHP Billiton, Getaway, United Nations, police force, Vodafone, NASA, Rio Tinto, departments of defence, Commonwealth Bank, Cadbury, Facebook and Lonely Planet.

New to the list in 2011 were NASA, Rio Tinto, Cadbury, police force, departments of defence and Facebook. Making way for these new additions are Sydney Water, Coca Cola, eBay, Salmat and ABC, who have all dropped from the top 20 this year.

CareerOne.com.au, September 20, 2011