Happy in your job? This could be the reason

This year’s Great Place to Work survey identifies a number of trends emerging among its member network – most are positive but some will cause concern for HR professionals, says Conal Kavanagh, assessments services specialist at Great Place to Work.

Job security is up

“In response to the statement, ‘I believe management would lay people off only as a last resort’, the survey score of 81per cent represents a four-year high,” says Kavanagh.

While this is obviously a positive outcome, it does mean that employees’ expectations will change with it, he cautions. “As we have seen in many other sectors, this will have implications for the best organisations, which they will have to address. It may also be the case that this outcome is as much about external factors, outside of the organisation’s control, but which they will still have to respond to.”

Career development moves centre stage

Employees who feel secure are likely to place an even greater focus on their future career, he says. “They will be looking to their employer to put a structure in place to meet their needs. This is especially the case for those who feel that they perform ahead of the pack.”

In response to the statement: “I am offered training and development to further myself professionally”, the score of 76 per cent is at four-year low.

“Ironically, the response to this statement is moving in the opposite direction to that of job security. This must be a concern and if organisations haven’t taken this into account, they will need to do so,” says Kavanagh.

“Our clients talks to us about what they do in this area and the very best do not focus on what they did for the past year, or what they intend to do next year, they talk about how they cater for career development for the next three to five years. They present a clear set of options for employees. Invariably, they look for talented people who have the capability to lead and set out a path for them to follow.”

But the best employers also set out a path for those whose talents lie elsewhere, he points out. “They provide options for them too. They make sure that their people managers at all levels can support their employees and do not leave it to individuals on their own to make their journey.”

Some 69 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement: “I can fulfil my career aspirations working here” while more, at 77per cent, felt “I am developing professionally working here”.

“The trend here is also negative but not yet as deep seated,” said Kavanagh.

Performance management proves its power

Performance management is becoming an area of strength for Ireland’s best workplaces. GPTW’s survey finds 78 per cent of respondents believe “excellent performance is recognised in this organisation”. A similar number, 77 per cent, believe “my performance is fairly evaluated”, and 66 per cent believe “appropriate action is taken when dealing with poor performers”.

“In each case here, the score is at a three-year high. This is a key area for employees because it forms the basis of recognition, especially with their direct manager, and it links into their medium-to-long term development opportunities, and invariably, it also impacts their reward,” says Kavanagh.

“This is an area where last year we were seeing the start of a trend towards greater frequency of one-to-one meetings, less bureaucracy and more informality. This year that trend has become widespread.”

It’s a trend that may be “feeding into this sense of heightened satisfaction”, he says.

“More importantly, the 76 per cent response to the statement ‘My line manager gives me regular feedback on my performance’ is a three-year high. It looks clear that people-managers are contributing to this new structure of assessing performance. They are also doing better at separating poor, satisfactory and great performance.”

Recognition brings challenges

“Recognition is typically a challenging area for organisations. When our clients talk to us about their practices, we see some common themes emerging among those who do well in this area,” says Kavanagh.

“Invariably there is significant transparency about the totality of the benefits within an organisation. For instance, the best employers provide education and support to employees about the total range of benefits available to staff, about how these are computed and how they are benchmarked. This can include holding annual benefits clinics, putting more benefits resources into in-house intranet systems and, in some cases, offering the ability to fine-tune benefits to meet specific needs. Employees also like to be recognised in a public way and formal awards programmes are frequently the best way of achieving this.”

Retention of good people is key

Great Place to Work’s survey of more than 100 HR professionals also established what their percentage of “regretted losses” is. These refer to good people that the organisation did not want to lose. The average “regretted losses” figure was 7 per cent.

“This means that in a workforce of 500 people, there were 35 regretted losses annually. Each of those represents money lost and a set-back to the business,” says Kavanagh.

“That is a high figure. With people feeling more secure, they may also be feeling that it is a good time to move jobs. Just keeping the regretted losses figure at 7 per cent could be the challenge for 2017.”

Winners and losers by sector:

Tech continues to be the best performing sector, especially in the medium and large organisation categories. Of the top five companies in both categories, seven are technology focussed.

Public sector organisations are embarking on the Great Place to Work journey but have yet to impact the Best Workplaces Lists.

Among caring-focussed organisations, just one has made it onto the best workplace lists.

Innovation, performance and balance:

Lack of evidence that organisations are making progress in relation to innovation is a cause for concern at GPTW. Are organisations failing to encourage a clash of ideas?

Front line and middle managers have raised their game in relation to performance management, but senior leaders are not performing quite so well in the eyes of their employees.

Organisations are increasingly helping employees balance their home and working lives.