Employees and potential employees value $$ MONEY $$ – oh, and Leadership!

The pressure is on to recruit and retain talent that will scale with your business. The unemployment rate for 2015 for those age 25 or older with a Bachelor’s degree was reported at 2.8% by the U.S. Department of Labor. It is imperative to know what employees value.

Employers surveyed by Towers and Watson say Career Advancement is #1, ahead of Compensation. Wrong, employees rate Compensation #1! They expect you will be competitive and until you are hearing about Career Advancement means very little. Career Advancement is #3 on the Employee list.

What is really telling is Employers rated Job Security (defined as trust and confidence in senior leadership) at #7. Employees on the other hand rated it #2 – second only to Compensation. Employees don’t expect lifetime employment but they do expect their company leadership to be strong. If you don’t (or worse yet can’t) emphasize the caliber of your leadership team then be prepared to have difficulty recruiting and retaining talent that can truly impact your business.