Given the economic events of the past 18 months, employers have been pressured to find the balance between offering competitive salaries to star performers and watching these people walk out the door.
But the good news for employers is that three in four employees (77 percent) could now be influenced to accept a slightly lower salary from their current boss, according to a new salary survey conducted by recruitment firm OfficeTeam, a division of Robert Half International.
OfficeTeam’s survey of 437 Australian administration professionals found that staff would be willing to accept a lesser pay if they could work from an office that was close to home (33 percent), receive extra holidays (33 percent), have the ability to work from home (30 percent) or take on flexible working hours (29 percent).
“This is relieving news for many employers who were forced to tighten their spending at the onset of the financial crisis,” said Stephen Langhammer, Senior Manager of OfficeTeam. “Even now that things have improved, many companies are still not in a position to offer financial rewards or large pay packets to their staff,” he said.
Langhammer attributes the findings to a deteriorating work-life balance.
“The old ideal of 8 hours work, rest and play has long gone with more and more workers letting their professional work infiltrate their home life. The survey now suggests that employees desire a life of less pressure and are willing to sacrifice their salary in return for that,” said Langhammer.
While employers cannot immediately change or control external factors such as the location of the company office, they can allow employees to work from home and take on flexible working hours.
According to Langhammer, these sorts of workplace benefits are a win-win because happy employees are more productive employees.
“Employers need to accept that the traditional workplace is changing. Those that provide alternative workplace models that allow for the dual demands of work and family will succeed in the long run – particularly as the economy picks up and the onus once again falls on the employer to retain key staff and attract top talent.” he said.
