Benefits 101: What Do Today's Recruits Want?

When contemplating hiring and retention of employees, "people issues" are more important than they were in 1998, according to [1] 80 percent of business leaders interviewed in a study performed by Accenture.

Companies that struggle with retention tend to be those that ignore issues such as flexible work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, short-term assignments, and mentoring programs. Traditional incentives such as bonuses, salary increases, and stock options still prevail in the workplace, but the newer people issues are beginning to take hold as "click-and-mortar" and "clicks" (Internet-only companies) are competing for employees and offering more innovative benefits.

Accenture polled 483 senior executives from eight countries about what they need to recruit and retain workers.

Nearly 70 percent of executives who participated in the study said that retaining existing workers is "far more important than acquiring new blood." Studies performed by the human resources Internet portal, HR.com [2] have shown that the cost of a replacement worker is two to three times the cost of a retained worker.