“Give me a job, give me security, give me a chance to survive. I’m just a poor soul in the unemployment line. My God I’m hardly alive.”
When Styx first sang that 32 years ago, the Netherlands went to the World Cup finals, Iran was killing 122 protesters, Afghanistan was in turmoil, unemployment was spiking in Cleveland, and a fleeing filmmaker was in the news — by the name of Roman Polanski.
Sound familiar? After decades of sophisticated, expensive corporate campaigns to tell employees about their missions and brands and purposes, old standbys like money and security still top employees’ wish lists.
Here’s what employees value most, according to a new Robert Half study of 1,453 working adults:
(1 is less important, 10 is most important)
Working for a stable company: 8.8
Having a strong sense of job security: 8.8
Work/life balance: 8.7
Working with people I enjoy: 8.6
Working with a manager I can respect and learn from: 8.6
Having a short commute: 7.5
Working with state-of-the-art technology: 7.1
Working for a socially responsible company: 7.1
Having a nice office space: 6.7
Employees were also asked what’s most important when evaluating a job offer (1 less important, 10 more)
Salary: 9.0
Benefits: 8.9
Company stability: 8.9
Opportunities for professional growth/advancement: 8.6
Company location: 8.4
Company leadership: 8.0
Company reputation/brand recognition: 7.8
In-house training programs: 7.2
Job title: 6.7
Diversity of company’s staff: 6.1
Tuition reimbursement: 6.1
Company’s charity/philanthropic efforts: 5.8