Professionals who endured the recession with the same company, perhaps grateful for their paychecks, have awakened in the last year to their new status as sought-after talent.
“Without any hesitation I would say the employee is in a stronger position,” said Adam Samples, president of Robert Half for New York and Connecticut in its Stamford office. Of his 11 years with California-based Robert Half, eight have been in the two-state market. “In the last 12 to 18 months the tables have turned unequivocally to an employee-driven market.”
- Adam Samples, president of Robert Half for New York and Connecticut.
The most recent national unemployment rate was 5.4 percent. But across the industries Robert Half”™s seven divisions serve, it is even lower and, therefore, more competitive for talent. Those divisions are Accountemps, Robert Half Finance & Accounting and Robert Half Management Resources for accounting and finance professionals; OfficeTeam, for office and administrative support professionals; Robert Half Technology, for information technology professionals; Robert Half Legal, for staffing of attorneys, paralegals and legal support; and The Creative Group, for interactive, design, marketing, advertising and public relations professionals.
“We staff professionals,” Samples said. “The unemployment rate for our disciplines is in the 1 to 5 percent range.”
Samples addressed the industry”™s big picture on the heels of a just-released Accountemps survey that said “it may be a good time to ask for that raise or promotion.”
The survey found that to keep workers from leaving, 63 percent of chief financial officers said they are promoting top performers and 52 percent are raising salaries. A total 79 percent of the CFOs polled said they are taking steps to improve employee retention as the economy recovers.
Accountemps gathered data from 2,200 CFOs for the survey in 20 of the largest U.S. municipalities and titled the report, “Top Tactics for Turning the Turnover Tide.”
Samples said the data ”” 52 percent planning to raise salaries, half upping their in-house training, 48 percent upping benefits and 32 percent reinstating or increasing bonuses ”” are playing out locally.
Bill Driscoll, another Robert Half division regional president, said in a statement accompanying the survey, “Businesses can lose their competitive edge if they don”™t have key players in place as new growth opportunities arise. Employers who aren”™t actively engaging with their best people and providing competitive salaries risk losing them to other offers.
“To attract and retain employees, regularly evaluate compensation levels to ensure they”™re in line with other firms in your industry and region, and, when possible, pay slightly more than your competitors,” he said.
Samples agreed and said regionalization of local data was critical to his mission. “We are specific to geography and to discipline,” he said. Locally, that means higher pay for IT, and real estate and professional services than for health care and nonprofit work. “Certain industries pay more competitively than others,” he said.
“There are more jobs than we even know what to do with,” Samples said. “Our focus is to be very, very good recruiters and to align ourselves with the talent that is the driving force in this market ”” no question.
“It”™s a very active job market. The companies that understand critical roles of their people ”” those are the companies that ”˜get it.”™ They will stay relevant and stay competitive. Those that don”™t invest will see turnover and they will find going forward very challenging.”
