Suggestions are being made that the workplace is about to witness a new era of traditional working values.
Donna Miller, HR director, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, whose company has 3,000 staff in the UK, claims current employment trends point to a rise in employees putting job security first as they begin their careers in a fragile economy and this change in office attitudes needs to be addressed by employers. Failure to do so could result in disaffected employees and a lack of productivity.
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Miller said: “Having employees join your company with every intention of staying put for their entire working life is a wonderful opportunity for businesses.
But this may cause sticking points as a lot of organisations have a short/medium-term approach to job development. Few employers, think about encouraging modern staff to spend their working life with the firm. If they do, and adapt their recruitment and development policy accordingly, they can reap the rewards.
She added that because improving staff retention brings down recruitment costs – embracing static workers can have a big impact on a business’s bottom line. Figures from the Association of Graduate Recruiters, for example, show if a business recruits 1,000 employees each year, increasing retention from 50% to 70% would save it £160,000 – 15% of its total recruitment spend.
Ms Miller adds: “This is a trend which has the potential to create big savings in recruitment costs for businesses.
The trend in static workers was evidenced recently in the Global Workforce Study, which found eight in 10 workers wanted to stay put for career advancement and half wanted a ‘job for life”.
