The aim of the study, which was completed by 1,059 candidates from the Aspire Global Network, is to reveal what drives staff retention, what concerns staff have, and how to meet the challenges of keeping and rewarding the best people in the marcomms sector.
It looks at the differences in what the key staff motivators are in 2012 in comparison to last year.
Interestingly, it reveals that 28% of the respondents are actively looking for new employment, which is up from 25% in 2011; 71% of those interviewed who intend to stay in their roles say they find their work interesting, which is the most important factor in staff retention, while 31% of respondents plan to leave their jobs in the next year, and 35% are open to job offers.
Thinking about your career options over the next year, which of the following apply to you most?
Staff retention is a hot topic and replacing good people is costly, time-consuming and can be bad for morale. Those people not intending to stay are seeing a higher level of staff turnover in their companies than this time a year ago
NABS recently launched a partner-card initiative, which gives access to events and one-to-one mentoring from industry heavyweights.
Phil Georgiadis, president of NABS said: "All companies recognise the importance of offering fulfilling careers to their staff. We are all working hard to identify the 'secret sauce' for maximising retention. Paying a competitive salary and offering benefits on top of the base salary, annual bonus, pension and so on, is obviously an essential foundation, but often the reasons people move on are not directly 'package-related'."
One result that can be explained in the current economic situation is that 44% of the respondents reveal they are working harder than the previous year, while only half of them have received a pay rise in the last 12 months, and 7% have actually seen their salaries decrease.
Those who think they will be working somewhere else in two years are, unsurprisingly, more negative about job security. Slightly fewer people intend to leave, down to 46% from 50% last year.
Job security
Staff turnover
Average pay
The significant proportion who do intend to leave, think morale is worsening, are less positive about their companies’ performance and do not think their organisations are sought after places to work.
Other issues revealed by the survey show that those who have received training in the last year are much more inclined to stay with their organisation than those are who haven't, while company provided training is prized highly and seen positively by employees.
Retention: Top five drivers of 'Intention to Stay'
In terms of factors for keeping staff at firms, one of the newest drivers for the first time was pay. This can be related to the higher cost of living that the economic problems have brought about, pay freezes, and the lack of pay rises.
Also, for the first time, staff have also indicated that strong mutual respect is an important consideration, with a supportive working environment taking on greater significance.
Other results revealed that fears over job security have remained high, but stable at 64%, while the main reasons for leaving remain a lack of career opportunities and base salary.
Finally, pay must be seen to be fair and in line with competitors, training and investment in employees has to be a priority, and a defined career path is essential in reassuring and motivating staff.
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