How are you Differentiating Yourself in a More Competitive Job Market?
Last week, it was announced that the U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs during the month of January, significantly higher than the 157,000 jobs added during December. This also exceeds the consensus estimate of 174,000 job additions. Interestingly, these are the highest monthly job gains since September.
At the same time, we learned that average hourly wages rose only 0.1% in January. This compares to December’s gain of 0.2%. This lack of wage growth suggests further room for tightening in the labor market.
So what does that mean for you and your employees?
The job market is clearly tightening and it should be expected that it will become harder to find qualified candidates. In addition, in a flat wage environment, as an employer, it’s becoming more and more challenging to differentiate among a sea of other employers. Add to that the natural desire of younger millennials to switch jobs and maintain flexible lifestyles and you have a very difficult recruiting and retention environment.
Offering the most cutting edge benefits is one way to stand out, especially in a flat wage environment. Benefits are so important that a 2014 Aflac Workforces Report found that 59% of employees are likely to accept a lower salary in exchange for better benefits.
As you already know, one innovative benefit is offering your employees the ability to get money before payday. DailyPay has seen up to a 38% reduction in turnover following implementation. This makes sense. With this benefit, your employees are now empowered and more motivated to perform better. They can pay bills on time which reminds them they can be financially secure while working at your company. All of this results in meaningful turnover reduction, which saves the company money and boosts profits.