careerarc-2015-workplace-flexibility-study-dl
TRANSCRIPT
This study provides insight into employee and employer preferences on issues of work-life balance, flex programs, and benefits.
2015WORKPLACEFLEXIBILITY STUDY
INTRODUCTIONWithin the past year, employee turnover increased by 44%1. To recruit and retain the best employees, companies are investing more in flexibility and wellness programs than ever before—programs which job seekers are growing to expect and thus could quickly become the new standard.
Who RespondedThe Workplace Flexibility Survey was completed in January 2015 by 116 HR professionals and 1087 employed and unemployed professionals.
HR Respondent Breakdown
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1 http://www.ere.net/2015/01/12/the-top-10-bleeding-edge-recruiting-trends-to-watch-in-2015/
Worker Respondent Breakdown
Employed
Unmployed Job Seekers
1-99Employees
100-499Employees
500+Employees
51%32% 28%
17%72%
HIGHLIGHTS
Companies are investing more in work-life balance programs this year.53% plan to invest more, or expand, their work-life benefits programs in 2015.
67% of HR professionals believe their employees have a balanced work-life, yet almost half (45%) of employees still want more time each week for personal activities.
Job seekers would choose one company over another if that company offered outplacement as a benefit.
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SECTION
The State of Employee Work-Life Balance
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TIME SPENT WORKING OUTSIDE OF OFFICE & OFFICE HOURSEmployee BreakdownHours include time spent working outside office hours and outside of the company office or work site.
One in five (18.5%) employees surveyed spent over 20 hours working outside of the office each week
1 - 10 Hours
60+ Hours 51 - 60 Hours
41 - 50 Hours
31 - 40 Hours
21 - 30 Hours
11 - 20 Hours
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WHERE IS THE DISCONNECT?
EMPLOYERS
YES! NO!
EMPLOYEES
67% of employers said “Yes.”
Do you think your employees believe they have a balanced work life?
We Asked:
Do you believe you have a balanced work life?
45% of employees said “No, we don’t have enough time each week outside of work to engage in personal, social and recreational activities.”
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TECHNOLOGY MAY BE TO BLAME
Constantly tethered to technology, today’s working professional is pushed closer to a 24/7 workday.
Employers vs EmployeesWe asked employees if, and by what medium, they were expected by their employers to be reachable outside office hours. We also asked employers how accessible they expected their employees to be.
No
Yes(phone & email)
Yes(via email)
Yes(via phone)
SECTION
The State of Workplace Flexibility & Work-Life
Benefits
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THE MAJORITY OF COMPANIES OFFER WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY PROGRAMS
of employers currently offer workplace flexibility programs to their employees.
Biggest positive: Improved employee satisfaction
Biggest concern: Potential employee abuse of the system
of those employers use their flexibility programs as a recruiting tool.
offer personal time off during work hours
offer telecommuting
offer shift arrangements
Top programs offered:
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THE INVESTMENT: WHAT’S THE COST OF WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY?
How much did employers invest in work-life benefits programs in 2014?See the next page for a complete list of work-life benefits included in the survey.
$40,000+
$20 - 30,000
plan to invest more, or expand,
their work-life benefits programs
in 2015.
$30 - 40,000
$10 - 20,000
$0
Less than $10,000
Don’t know
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WHERE IS THE DISCONNECT?
Ranking the Importance of Benefits: We asked employed and unemployed workers which benefits they valued most over others. We then turned to employers and asked them which benefits they thought their employees valued most.
Workplace flexibility
Paid and unpaid time off
Health and wellness
Community involvement
Caring for dependents
Financial support
Outplacement
Culture change initiatives
Although both employers and workers rank Workplace Flexibility and Paid and Unpaid Time Off as the two most important benefits, other areas show large disparities in perceived value—such as Health and Wellness, Financial Support, and Outplacement. These disparities help point employers in the right direction when considering which benefits to offer.
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WHERE IS THE OPPORTUNITY?
Among all the benefits included in our survey, Outplacement had the highest disparity in perceived importance.
71% of job seekers answered that they were likely to choose a company that offered outplacement (career coaching and transition services for laid-off employees) over a company that did not, if all else (salary, role, etc.) was equal.
More important than:• Health and wellness benefits• Community volunteer initiatives• Tuition assistance• Culture change initiatives
However, only about one-third (32%) of the organizations surveyed with 500+ employees offered outplacement assistance.
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CONCLUSIONS
As the war for talent continues to heat up, companies are staying competitive by enhancing the entire employment offering.
Have the Talk:CareerArc CEO Robin Richards suggests open and welcome communication between HR and managers, and managers with their employees. “I think it starts with a dialogue,” said Richards. “The CEO or head of HR must bring employees together and say, ‘We want to create a culture that makes you want to work here for a long time. Let’s get that conversation started.’”
Analyze Potential Investment Costs & Returns:Experts say the average cost of employee turnover is about 150% of an employee’s current salary2. Learning which programs and benefits your employees value, and assessing the monetary risk of losing great employees, will give organizations a better idea of the investment required to retain and attract the best people.
Measure Program Effectiveness:It’s often difficult to prove the absence of an event or loss like employee turnover, or link a great hire as a result of added employee benefits. However, the ROI of these programs can be qualitatively assessed by surveying employees on workplace satisfaction before and after a program has been launched. Knowing if these perks are making a difference in some of the costliest touch points of the employee lifecycle can help boost program effectiveness and employee engagement.
2 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140701121556-17497251-the-cost-of-employee-turnover
© 2015 CareerArc. All Rights Reserved.
CareerArc is the leading HR technology company helping business leaders recruit and transition the modern workforce. Our social recruiting solution—TweetMyJobs—and our modern outplacement solution—CareerBeam—help thousands of organizations, including many of the Fortune 500, solve critical business issues with 21st century tools and technology. By leveraging the cloud, running on world-class infrastructure, and combining web, mobile and social media applications, we help companies gain a competitive edge in recruitment, employment branding, and benefits. Learn more about CareerArc’s enterprise solutions at www.careerarc.com