Employing Generation Y Part 2

In Part 1 of this post I mentioned that McCrindle Research had found that if a business didn’t offer them the top 5 retention factors for Gen Y, they would expect to be paid 40% more than what they thought they were worth. Basing that on what I am currently paid, for me that would be an extra $20,929.70 per annum. *low whistle* That’s mighty tempting! Nearly $21k more to sacrifice things that a) I rarely take advantage of and b) I often don’t really even care about. But DO I care about them and I just don’t know it? What would a workplace be like if there were no birthday cakes in the afternoon, or no Casual Friday drinks every month? I have worked for some very relaxed and laid back companies, as well as companies with big sticks up their a** who are surprisingly good at partying, and I do think it makes a huge difference to the culture of the organisation and the happiness of the employees. Most people hate working, and lots hate their jobs, so if there are at least some social benefits it seems a lot less bad.

The benefits of my job are that we get 7 extra sick days a year (that IS pretty awesome, because I am a chronic migraine sufferer so really need these), 1 moving day per year, a guaranteed pay rise for 3 years, we get to pick our own birthday cake, we have casual friday drinks once a month, lots of free food from leftovers from catered meetings, drinks for pretty much any occasion we can think of, access to all sorts of paid training courses, networking and development groups, job security (you have to do something pretty bad here to get fired) and an excellent manager. There are some negatives which do detract from these benefits, but I’ve worked out a rough estimate of how much it costs the company to provide these benefits to me, either by pure monetary cost or by how much I think the benefit is worth per year (i.e. what I would be willing to sacrifice in salary to enjoy this benefit).

ACTUAL COST
7 extra sick days per year	$1381.86
Training courses and conference attendance	$1000.00
SUB TOTAL	$2381.86
VALUE COST (my estimate only)
Work/life balance	$1000.00
Culture and community	$1500.00
Job content/variety	$1500.00
SUB TOTAL	$4000.00
TOTAL	$6381.86

So this table shows that it costs my company $6381.86 to provide me with a working environment that includes work/life balance, extra sick days, job training options, and variety in my job. If they couldn’t offer any of this and I wanted 40% more, that would cost them an extra $20,929.20 per year.

In conclusion, benefits are cheaper! It has always been my intention that when I own my own business, all staff will get a day off on their birthday. Perhaps start there?