How employee satisfaction can unlock a company’s potential
When it comes to employee compensation, renowned business leader and former CEO of Campbell Soup, Doug Conant, has hit the nail on the head – "To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace."
Understanding what’s important to employees and implementing a strong compensation strategy can drive success in business. When we talk about compensation, of course we mean salary, but it’s so much more than that. Compensation includes all staff benefits that when combined, create a healthier, happier and productive workplace. Wellness, workplace flexibility, medical care, company benefits, time-off and employer transparency all have a significant impact in employee satisfaction and in turn, employer success.
What matters to them should matter to you
To keep the best talent in the building, employers must understand what employees need to be successful in their professional and personal lives. What keeps them inspired? What makes them feel valued? What motivates them to work to their highest potential and keep coming back each day? Understanding the desires of staff can increase the success of both employees and employers alike.
Employee and employer performance go hand in hand
Good compensation generates the best work from talent. When employees feel like a valued part of the company, they become invested in its success. And invested employees become loyal ones. Which means less time and money spent onboarding new staff in the future.
Loyal employees aren’t the only benefit for the company. The work environment, learning programmes and evaluation systems are great examples of compensation influencing both employee and company performance. Strong evaluation systems and learning programmes improve staff ability and productivity – which funnels down to the performance of the company.
Your greatest weapon in the talent war
A strong compensation strategy can make all the difference when it comes to a company’s competitive edge. In a world where word-of-mouth can reach the masses on platforms like Glassdoor, compensation can positively lift brand image and attract the best new talent to the organisation. Equally as important as acquiring new talent, it stops existing talent from looking elsewhere and keeps their invaluable knowledge within the business.
What do employees value in the workplace?
What employees are looking for in a workplace continues to evolve over the years. The 2019 Global Talent Trends report identified three factors that employees and job seekers look for in a workplace[1]. This includes workplace flexibility, anti-harassment practices and pay transparency.
No matter the industry, flexibility continues to grow as a valuable factor in workplace compensation. Equally as important is anti-harassment practices. The study found that companies are feeling the pressure when it comes to assessing workplace dynamics and culture, and employees are noticing whether prevention practices are being put in place. It’s more important than ever for employers to prove they’re invested in employee health and wellbeing – making them feel valued, respected and treated like a human-being, not a number.
These days, job seekers can discover a lot about a company through a simple search on online. Transparency is influencing positive change by keeping companies accountable when it comes to salary as well as other compensation factors.
When building a compensation strategy, it’s important to remember that one person’s values are completely different to the next. So the strategy must be broad to cater to the needs of the company as a whole.
A compensation strategy isn’t a set and forget task. It should evolve as the needs of employees do. Is your workplace strategy helping you win in the marketplace?
1-https://news.linkedin.com/2019/January/linkedin-releases-2019-global-talent-trends-report
