Nearly two-thirds of the Irish workforce are disengaged with their jobs with one in three respondents say that they are likely to seek new employment within the next year. This is according to a ‘Employee Mindset Study’ from Aon.
The ‘Employee Mindset Study’ was conducted through an independent market research process based on interviews with 550 employees from across Ireland. The field research (questionnaire) was conducted on behalf of Aon by award winning Irish research house, Coyne Research.
The research highlights that employers are currently falling short in several key areas in terms of seeking to keep employees happy. Only 34% feel their total rewards package i.e. the benefits they receive from their employer which can include compensation, pension, training, career development and so on, adequately meet their own and their families’ needs.
Aon say this is an important finding as the same study highlights that employees who claim they are satisfied with their total rewards package are twice as engaged as those who are not.
Ireland lags significantly behind the European average of 60% on the issue of employee engagement. In an economy operating at full employment, the risk of losing key employees is high, something that is a significant cost to business and a factor that is identified consistently every year as one of the top risks to business by senior executives in Aon’s Global Risk Management Survey.
The report finds that 51% of boomers, those aged 54 and over, within the workforce report the highest levels of engagement. According to the survey, those in their mid-career have the lowest levels of engagement and are most likely to seek a new job within the next 12 months.
A mismatch between employee expectations and perceptions of their current employment is also evident. Almost 50% of employees consider above average benefits and being in a fun place to work as critical to retaining staff. However, only 28% feel these qualities set their current employer apart from their competitors.
Commenting on the research, Managing Director (Health and Wellbeing) Aon in Ireland, Ian Thornton said, "The survey confirms that employees value choice, and in particular they are willing to exchange part of their pay for a better range of benefits. We are seeing a significant increase in clients taking up flexible or voluntary benefit programmes to facilitate this trend in personalisation of packages. The research demonstrates the impact this has on retention and engagement as it shows us that those with health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits are more satisfied than those that have no benefits."
He added, "Today we’re encouraging businesses to take these findings into consideration and to offer packages that meet their employees needs and importantly help them to keep their staff. This research shows that it’s not all about salary levels, there are a lot of other elements within a well-structured benefits package that can be valued by employees, so it is important that these are taken into account."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
