The 2009 Emerging Workforce Study

Portrait of the American Workforce

Different Breeds of Workers

• — In 2009, the workforce is 22% emergent, 50% migrating and 28% traditional.
• — Emergent workers are highly educated - 45% have graduate degree, 27% college degree.
• — The mean age of emergent workers is 42 years old and male to female ratio is 57%:43%.
• — The average emergent employee works 44.3 hours per week.
• — Emergent and traditional workers have varying definitions, values about workplace:
  

Workers Have Inherent Desire for Efficiency and Innovation

• — 95% of workers today prefer a job that allows them to think creatively
• — 88% of workers prefer a job that allows them to think of new & better ways to do things
• — 94% of workers strongly agree that employees should seek their own career development opportunities, wherever they might be

Work/Life Balance

• — The overwhelming majority (86%) of workers say their most important priority in their career is maintaining work/life balance, yet 36% of workers aren’t satisfied with balance.
• — Time and flexibility are extremely/very important to 61% of all workers, but only 36% say they are satisfied with their time and flexibility.

Retention

• — Compensation is the second most important retention factor for workers, but only 27% are satisfied with their current level of compensation.
• — Growth and earnings potential is ranked as the top retention driver after compensation and benefits, but only 24% of workers are satisfied.

 

 

Trends of the American Employer

Few Companies are Emergent

• In 2009, 14% emergent, 48% migrating and 38% traditional.
• Emergent and Traditional employers have varying definitions, values about workplace:

Employer Report Card – Attracting Talent, Workforce Planning

• — 69% of employers say they consider recruiting a core competency of their organization.
• — Only 17% of companies say their workforce makeup is a major initiative (33% in 2007)
• — 48% of employers have not considered or have appropriate mix of contingent, full-time workers.
• — Only 50% of employers utilize tailored recruitment strategies.

Employer Report Card – Cultivating Talent

• — Only 24% of workers are satisfied with growth and earnings potential.
• — Growth and earnings potential/training ranked low importance for employers.
• — Employees happy with work/life balance have high job satisfaction (96% vs. 54%).
• — 74% have seen positive impact on retention of workers
• — 73% of companies say work/life balance programs increase worker productivity
• — 55% indicated positive impact on recruitment of new workers

Employer Report Card – Retaining Talent

• — One third of today’s workers say their employer is doing less to retain them now vs. past years.
• — Only 23% of companies concerned about retention, compared to 34% in 2005.
• — Employers believe only 14% of their workforce will leave.

Social Media

• — Only 24% of companies have social media strategy, only 1/3 say they’ve been successful.
• — 49% use social networking to get name out, 44% recruit new talent, 33% to increase sales.
• — Nearly half of companies (44%) today are using social networking outlets - LinkedIn (23%), 16% Corporate Blog, 14% Facebook.

Company Mission

• — Companies with clear mission and follow through have much more satisfied workers (92%) than those employers with a clear mission but no follow-through (51%).
• — 78% workers at companies with clear, followed-through mission say growth potential is excellent/good vs. 33% at companies with clear mission, but no follow-through.

 

As companies look toward the future, Spherion^© is equipped with the industry-leading workforce knowledge they need to attract, cultivate and retain high-performing talent!