Over the years, our team of consultants at OrgVitality has seen recurring patterns and themes in employee survey data and focus group discussions. Some are readily apparent; others are more nuanced and emerge only through careful analysis. All are useful to anyone working in the field of talent management. In the spirit of cooperation, we are sharing some of the most consistent themes we've seen over decades of survey work, with a new series, "People at Work." In this series, CEO Jeffrey Saltzman aims to organize these observations, although many insights cut across multiple categories.
What we know about people at work
While the findings span a broad range of topics, they are not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, they represent key themes we have consistently observed across organizations. We hope these insights contribute meaningfully to your understanding of your workforce and support you in your role. If you would like to explore any of these areas in greater depth, we would welcome the opportunity to engage in further discussion.
For the first part of this series, we focus on attracting and retaining top talent:
- People join new organizations with enthusiasm; they are very often the most positive people in the organization. This also applies, but perhaps to a lesser extent, to those who get promoted into new positions.
- Most commonly, attitudes towards organizations often follow a “U” curve over time, with the most positive being the newly hired, the most negative being those in the 3–7-year tenure range, followed by a slow recovery, but not necessarily achieving the original levels. This recovery is due to both self-selection and cognitive dissonance.
[Read More: Exploring Beyond Engagement]
- Understanding your tenure cohorts can suggest interventions aimed at reducing turnover.
- People are willing to make trade-offs with respect to their employment situation. Taking lower pay, with job security, for instance, if there is a benefit of early retirement, with an income. For those with small children, flexibility can be the key to attracting talent. There are many other tradeoffs people are willing to make with respect to location, advancement, work hours, travel, etc.
[Read more: The Push-Me Pull-You of Turnover]
- While there are those who chart out a career path and have in mind expected promotions, not everyone is looking to scale the organizational ladder. However, everyone wants to feel that their work is meaningful and that they are valued.
- Many people are attracted to organizations that serve a “higher purpose”. Hence, non-profits, often with lower salaries, can attract very talented young people, but then life occurs. Over time, kids, mortgages, college costs, etc., make those who joined to serve a higher purpose realize that their financial needs also need to be met.
If you have any questions or additional thoughts on any of these observations, you can reach out to Jeffrey Saltzman directly.
