The return of the ‘boomerang employee’ in 2022 has brought back into focus “Leave for the pay, stay for the culture”. Read more about how HR leaders can use these insights to boost their retention strategies.
Apple’s Steve Jobs and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey are two high-profile examples of 'boomerang' employees – people who leave and then decide to come back to an organisation. In a ‘hot’ job market your employees might decide it’s time to try something new, particularly if there is the potential for a higher salary. But starting a new job in a pandemic can be a challenging experience. Taking a closer look at why former employees are coming back can provide useful insights for your 2022 talent retention strategies.
Research shows boomerangs accounted for 4.5% of all new hires among companies on LinkedIn in 2021, up from 3.9% over the same period in 2019. In fact, LinkedIn itself jumped on the boomerang bandwagon this year, hiring twice as many former employees compared to 2019.1
Employees are on the move this year
After two years of sitting tight, Australian employees are showing signs of moving on from their current job. ABS data shows that more than 600,000 Australians (or 5% of the total workforce) expect to be with a new employer in 2022.2 A survey by PwC Australia found that a staggering 38% of respondents want to find a new job in the next 12 months.3
What the boomerang trend tells us about effective retention strategies
The pandemic presents genuine challenges for onboarding new employees, some of whom may not meet their own team members face to face for several months. While working from home has its benefits, so does the office. Research by Microsoft tells us that the key reasons for wanting to return to the office are overwhelmingly collaboration with co-workers and social interaction.4
PwC’s “What workers want” research tells us that employees’ number one priority is remuneration, however lived experience implies that other factors may actually be stronger drivers in employee retention. The same survey showed that working with good co-workers was a top priority for employees.5
“Academic studies have long concluded that pay is a ‘hygiene’ factor that does not necessarily lead to greater job satisfaction, engagement, or motivation, but could cause dissatisfaction and disengagement if it isn’t ‘right’ or ‘fair’.” 6
Giving employees the complete picture
Ensuring your employees understand all the benefits they have access to as part of their remuneration package is a simple but critical step in an effective retention strategy. It could form part of an employee’s decision making process around what other things are important.
There are a few ways to do this:
- Assigning a financial value to benefits - At Maxxia, one of the ways we help clients achieve this, is through a calculator. Using calculators is a great way for employees to assign a dollar value to the benefits you offer. When totting up a potential salary offer from another employer, it’s key to make sure your employees understand the complete monetary value you are offering them.
- Keeping benefits top of mind - Just as important, is to keep reminding employees of the full employee benefits offering. While onboarding is prime time for engaging employees with benefits, ongoing communication and campaigns can demonstrate value to existing employees – and provide another reason to stay.
- Let employees share their experiences - In the era of influencer culture, what an employee’s co-workers say and do can have a big impact. Providing opportunities for employees to share their benefits experience can be a powerful way to communicate the benefits.
Employee benefits are an effective way to boost your retention strategies
Benefits such as salary packaging or a novated lease can be beneficial for all employees. Regardless of how much an employee earns or whether they are blue collar or white-collar workers, if they pay income tax, they have an opportunity to boost their disposable income through salary packaging.
With regular reminders of the benefits on offer - particularly as employees transition through different roles, work locations and life stages - organisations have a golden opportunity to show how they’re investing in workforce culture by offering a range of benefits to suit their employees’ individual circumstances.
For more about how employee benefits can help enhance your talent acquisition and retention initiatives, download our Five strategies to unlock your talent advantage guide.
As a premium provider of employees benefits to many organisations across Australia, Maxxia have seen the difference salary packaging can make to the overall financial position of employees. Not only can take up of salary packaging boost net household income for employees, a best-practice program supported by effective communication can also strengthen your employee value proposition as a whole.
Maxxia can offer your organisation a full complimentary benefits assessment to measure the effectiveness of your current employee benefits offer. We can also put a dollar figure to the potential savings and efficiencies from running the program and compare overall performance with best practice for your industry.
2. https://spectator.com.au/2022/01/the-great-resignation-is-coming-to-australia/
3. https://www.pwc.com.au/important-problems/future-of-work/what-workers-want-report.pdf
4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/support-flexibility-in-work-styles
