Number One Factor in Retaining Staff
September 22, 2008 by Cherie Burbach
Filed under Parenting
What’s the one thing that will keep you at your job?
Pay? Easy commute? Advancement?
How about that popular work-life balance? One recent study found that work-life balance was the number one factor in retaining employees. That study, for some reason, blew me away. Any time I’ve left a job it’s because of something like a lousy boss or more pay or increased opportunities. It wasn’t work-life balance, despite the fact that I was desperately worn out and worked too much.
Does that make me abnormal? Hey – anything’s possible!
To be fair, once I hit my 40s, I changed the way I worked. So perhaps there comes a time when workers trade out pay and advancement for more flexibility. In the study referenced above, five “key aspects of work-life balance” were mentioned. See if you agree with these:
1) wellbeing
2) satisfaction
3) workload
4) security
5) relationships
When I saw this list, the one that stood out for me was #3: workload. I thought that should have been first. I also believe that if you take someone with a strong well being (#1 on the list) and put them in a toxic environment, you’ll create an unhappy worker.
What do you think? What’s your idea of the top factors in creating a sane work-life balance for you?
