Mercer reports shift in business focus to building talent internally rather than buying it
Mercer ’s 2007 Market Issues Survey of over 300 organisations revealed that attraction and retention of key talent remains the top priority for Australian employers and that simply rewarding people across the board as not the ideal solution.
The Mercer survey found that 99% of the employers considered the talent attraction and retention as their top priority. Also only about 52% of employers believe that they gain value for money on the reward spend.
The Mercer survey also points out that business have started focusing on increasing rewards for roles that will have the greatest impact on the organisation and not simply across the board.
The average salary movement for overall market reported an increase of 4.2%, while it was 4.1% a year ago. But for the employees who stayed in the same role year on year, the increase was 4.2%, while it was 4.5% in March 2007. This shows the shift in business focus to build talent internally rather than look outside.
The survey indicates that there will be a minimum of 20% decline in the number of businesses that will go for simply buying talent as a solution to the problem of talent attraction and retention. About 64% of the businesses are expected to adopt a balanced approach and over 25% are likely to build talent internally.
Hence Mercer feels that businesses should focus on areas of workforce that are critical to deliver success and align rewards strategy with these areas.
Also 39% of the respondents reported an increase in voluntary staff turnover, up from 28% respondents in 2006. This trend indicates the increased mobility of today’s workforce.
Mercer survey also reported salary movement significantly higher than the average in specific sectors. Engineering industry reported 11.3% increase, while construction industry had an 8.8% increase, and marketing industry reported 8.7%.
16-Oct-2007