The professional priorities of Canadians are no longer the same, a recent survey has revealed. Career development, training and company reputation are now superseding the balance between work and private life. Some explanations.
Sponsored by Hays Canada, the survey titled What people want in 2013 was conducted among 5,000 Canadian employees and unemployed people from sixteen sectors of activity and twenty management departments.
Lower salaries and employee benefits
A key conclusion of this report is that the financial aspect is no longer the only element against which Canadians assess a job opportunity. 71% would be prepared to accept a lower salary if the job offered met their needs in terms of benefits, career development and company reputation. In addition, 34% would agree to a reduction in pay by as much as 10% if the ideal job was offered to them and 25% would accept a reduction of as much as 10 to 20% for the same reasons.
Still on the question of pay, 43% of Canadians surveyed would accept a reduction of 20% if they had the chance of earning more through bonuses linked to their results. The performance premium is also the most popular benefit among Canadians who would like to see it included in the employee benefits that a company grants.
Rowan O’Grady, director of Hays Canada, notes that while the balance between work and private life is at the centre of Canadian employees’ concerns, companies that consider only this in planning their employee benefits would be making a mistake. Similarly, he notes that what employees have considered as success, such as the title of a position or the level of pay, has been replaced by a set of measures relating to the company's identity.
But employees are not ready to sacrifice everything for the dream job. Holidays raise an outcry, since 75% of respondents would refuse to take fewer vacations as part of an offer of a new job. However, 55% would give up flexibility in their working conditions for a professional opportunity that presents a career development, pay and an ideal company culture.
Career development and skills shortage
Career development remains the central concern of respondents, according to the survey. It appears that after pay it’s the second most important factor when assessing a new job offer. Regarding “new challenges”, these surpass internal training and coaching, in terms of professional development.
In addition, 88% of Canadians would consider or plan to acquire new skills to take advantage of the skills shortage in sectors other than their own and in areas that they could then explore. 75% of those interviewed also believe that there is a moderate to extremely high skills shortage and consequently 78% of them feel moderate to extremely high pressure in their workplace.
However, Rowan O'Grady says that Canadian companies have a plethora of options when having to face a skills shortage. When they are unable to get hold of someone with the right profile they can always invest in training people who are capable, educated and experienced professionally, so that they can take on the job. This is particularly true, the director of Hays Canada believes, not only because this investment pays off by allowing the employee to advance in his career but it can also be profitable in terms of loyalty and employee retention.
The study also shows that 56% of those surveyed were not aware of the Canadian employment grant program established by the Canadian government and that while 44% of them had heard of it they did not think it is the right solution to the skills shortage.
Finally, the survey addresses the question of professional mobility. Thus, 38% of those interviewed would be likely or highly likely to move if a professional opportunity were to arise, while 70% say their level of mobility in the country is moderate to significant.