How can employers keep up with employee expectations in the new decade?
Monster’s 2020 State of the Candidate Report is out--here's what you need to know to satisfy today's workers.
It’s an employee market—and so quite naturally, workers want more than what employers are currently offering them, according to Monster’s 2020 State of the Candidate Report.
“It’s the start of a new decade and employers in the United States are still missing the mark,” the authors write. “From salary to mental health to workplace equality and inclusiveness, employers are failing to meet workers’ expectations and needs.”
Related: Employees set the bar high–employers must rise to the challenge
Monster surveyed 1,000 full-time and part-time U.S. employees and found that nearly a third (32 percent) of the respondents feel their pay is unfair.
“Those who say they are likely to search for a new job in 2020 are more likely to say they are not paid fairly,” the authors write. “Not surprisingly, employees who are planning to stay at their company in 2020 are more likely to say they are being paid fairly.”
Four out of five (80 percent) respondents say there should be greater transparency around salaries in the workplace. Nearly a third (31 percent) believe there is a gender pay gap in favor of men at their company, with females expressing stronger feelings about a gender pay compared to men (38 percent vs. 23 percent). Millennials (37 percent) are more likely to believe there is a gender pay gap, compared to Gen X or baby boomers (27 percent and 28 percent, respectively).
“Respondents who believe there is a gender pay gap in favor of men say they’ve seen more promotions/upwards movements of men compared to women and there aren’t as many women in senior level positions,” the authors write. “The gender pay gap has tangible implications: Females were more likely to say not making enough money to cover bills contributes to their sense of emotional distress at work, compared to males.”
Two in three (66 percent) respondents say their job positively impacts their mental health, but more than a third (34 percent) say the opposite.
Among the job stressors, respondents are most likely to feel emotional distress at work as a result of heavy workload (32 percent), not making enough money to cover bills, including debts (28 percent), and toxic bosses and/or coworkers (24 percent). Females (36 percent) and millennials (34 percent) are more likely to feel stressed by not making enough money to cover their bills.
Two in five respondents have experienced anxiety (41 percent), one in four have experienced depression (24 percent), and one in ten have experienced physical illness (12 percent) as a result of their job. Millennials (54 percent) and females (47 percent) are more likely to say they feel anxious as a result of their job.
These feelings have an impact on the respondents’ careers most often by decreasing the quality of their work (17 percent) and leading them to switch to a less stressful job (11 percent).
“While most respondents feel these are temporary feelings and don’t seek help, many fear being judged or simply don’t know where to turn for help,” the authors write. “Half of the survey respondents who experience issues as a result of work have not sought help, mostly because they knew it was a temporary feeling. But nearly a quarter haven’t sought help out of fear of being judged or simply not knowing where to turn for help.”
According to respondents who have sought help, they do so through therapy (55 percent), talking to a family member (46 percent) and talking to a friend or mentor (44 percent). Millennials (57 percent) are more likely to say diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace is very important compared to Gen Xers (47 percent) and boomers (49 percent). While most of the respondents believe their company fosters an inclusive work environment, one in five (22 percent) don’t agree and 21 percent aren’t sure.
“Despite positive feelings about their company being inclusive, a fourth of the respondents have felt discriminated against and a fourth have witnessed discrimination,” the authors write. Of those respondents, they believe discrimination was because of their race (40 percent) and age (35 percent).
While most respondents are planning to stay put in 2020–58 percent say they are not likely to look for a new job–millennials appear to be on the move and are more likely to seek new employment (52 percent vs. 42 percent). Of those likely to look for a new job in 2020, 24 percent are planning on starting their job hunt in the first three months of the year.
For those who are planning to stay put, the top two things they hope to achieve at their current job in 2020 include getting a raise (69 percent) and learned new skills (42 percent).
Most of the respondents (89 percent) feel secure in their current job, but a looming recession could threaten that security. Three in five (60 percent) respondents are worried about the current state of the economy and more than one in three (35 percent) believe their job would be at stake if the U.S. were to experience a recession.
Millennials (65 percent) are more likely than Gen Xers (55 percent) and boomers (55 percent) to be worried about the current state of the economy and more likely to believe their job would be at stake if the country were to experience a recession (39 percent vs. 37 percent vs. 27 percent). According to the respondents, the top three reasons they started their last job search was due to higher salary (40 percent), benefits (21 percent), job dissatisfaction (20 percent) and flexibility/lifestyle (20 percent).
When considering a job offer, respondents say salary (73 percent) is their number one consideration, followed by time off/vacation days (39 percent), flexible work hours (34 percent), retirement benefits (33 percent) and company perks/benefits (33 percent). Half (54 percent) say they’ve changed jobs solely because the one they had wasn’t paying enough.
One in five (22 percent) respondents say they have stretched the truth on their resume/cover letter and more than one in 10 (11 percent) say they have provided false references to a recruiter. Millennials are more likely to say they have stretched the truth on their resume/cover letter (30 percent).
Two in five (43 percent) respondents say they have taken a second job to fill the gap in salary. Millennials (52 percent) are more likely to have a second job in order to fill the gap compared to Gen Xers (41 percent) or boomers (31 percent). Minorities (47 percent) are more likely to say they have taken a second job to fill the gap compared to non-minorities (40 percent).
More than half (60 percent) of the respondents think employers have the upper hand when it comes to salary negotiation, but this doesn’t seem to affect the respondents’ levels of comfort to negotiate. Nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of respondents feel comfortable negotiating their salary when accepting a new job.
However, they feel slightly less comfortable negotiating their salary at their current jobs. with two-thirds (67 percent) saying they feel comfortable.
Two in five respondents (43 percent) say they have taken a job for less money than they asked for, but it’s usually out of desperation, saying they took the offer because they were unemployed and needed a job (46 percent). Millennials (63 percent) and Gen Xers (60 percent) are more likely than boomers (52 percent) to have turned down a job offer because the salary was too low. Millennials (64 percent) and Gen Xers (52 percent) are more likely to say they have changed jobs because their current one wasn’t paying enough, compared to boomers (43 percent).
Females are more likely than males to hope to get a raise at their current job in 2020 (72 percent vs. 65 percent), likely because they feel they aren’t being paid fairly — likely because only 58 percent of female respondents say they are being paid fairly compared to males (70 percent).
Only 58 percent of female respondents say they are being paid fairly compared to 70 percent of male respondents, which may relate to levels of expressed comfort negotiating salary. Males (76 percent) are more likely than females (69 percent) to feel comfortable negotiating their salary, when accepting a new job, as well as at their current jobs (72 percent, males and 63 percent females).
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