Research conducted by the Kenexa® Research Institute o(KRI) asked workers what their reasons were for joining their current organization. The report analyzes data drawn from a representative sample of workers surveyed through WorkTrends™.

For years, there have been many speculations as to why people accept a job with a new organization. While KRI’s research confirms that there are a variety of reasons people join organizations, for all workers surveyed, two top items emerged as critical decision points. After the most obvious—compensation—an organization’s reputation was the most important reason why employees accepted their current job offer.

An organization’s reputation consists of a variety of characteristics, including its involvement in corporate responsibility initiatives, product quality or profitability. The survey results revealed that senior managers and sales people placed the most value on the organization’s reputation in weighing an employment offer as did employees in India, Italy, Russia and Brazil.

“The correlation between the organization’s reputation and successful recruiting efforts strongly supports the importance of employment branding,” said Jack W. Wiley, Ph.D., executive director of the Kenexa Research Institute. “It’s not about each individual job offer—this research highlights the value of presenting and maintaining positive brand messaging to the potential employee talent pool.” He continued, “Investing in living organizational values, whether it’s profitability, longevity or social good, and then communicating the fulfillment of these goals is an impactful way to attract and align engaged employees.”

Database Overview
The Kenexa WorkTrends database is a comprehensive normative database of employee results with comparisons on topics including leadership, employee engagement and customer orientation.

Study Details
The 2008 WorkTrends survey asked participants to assign 100 points to 26 categories that cover the gamut of reasons why an applicant would join an organization. This study looked at all of the WorkTrends study countries in 2008, which include the Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The question is as follows: “Why did you join your current organization?”

Compensation, Benefits and Recognition

• Salary or hourly wage
• Health benefits
• Tuition reimbursement
• Opportunities for recognition of my contribution

Development and Growth

• Development and growth opportunities for me
• Future promotion opportunities for me
• My job security and confidence in organizations future

Job Characteristics

• Assigned work tasks, such as task variety, opportunity to be creative or focus on what I like to do
• My work goals
• Autonomy and independence in my work
• Leadership position
• Lower job status/less responsibility
• Meaningfulness of my work
• Work/life balance

Organizational Values and Reputation

• Quality of products or services
• Meaningfulness of organizations societal contribution
• The organization’s reputation
• Diversity policies and practices

Co-workers, Bosses and Leaders

• Corporate leadership skills
• My boss/supervisor
• My team

Travel and Commute

• Less work travel
• More work travel
• Commute time and/or work location

Other Personal and Work-Related issues

• Other work-related issues
• Other personal reasons unrelated to work, such as family commitments, relocation, or to pursue an education

Survey Results
Across Countries

• Pay matters—people pay attention to compensation, but more so in the United States, Canada and Russia, and less so in most European countries
• Organizational reputation matters most in India when compared to other countries
• Employees in Germany care more about job security
• Health Benefits are most important, relatively speaking across countries, in the United States, Canada and China
• Work/life balance is more important in Japan than to employees in other countries
• An opportunity to develop is important in China, Brazil, Mexico and Russia—countries in our sample that have more developing economies—as well as in The Netherlands