According to Employee Benefit News and a new survey “Caring trumps compensation”, and employees say they will take a promotion without a pay raise. It appears in this survey that job seekers are looking for a caring company over a high base salary.

The poll, conducted by Monster.com and Unum, finds that the top-rated item on would-be employees’ wish lists was a company “that truly cares about the well-being of its employees.”

Some 87% rated caring as a top quality, much higher than compensation, which was tops for 66%.

These same folks also found that employees prioritized:

- Challenging and fulfilling work (84%).
- Job security (82%).
- An attractive benefits package (74%).

“Employees, job-seekers and HR leaders understand the importance of a caring corporate culture in recruiting and keeping a talented workforce,” says Mike Simonds, SVP for Unum. “Benefits play an important role in supporting that culture.” Much more important, it seems, than money.

Now there’s something to show your CFO.

But on the other side of the spectrum, we continue to hear that companies are cutting benefits in an article that states that30 percent of employers will “definitely” or “probably” stop offering coverage in the years after 2014, when new medical insurance exchanges are supposed to be up and running.

But surprisingly, this same study found that more than 85 percent of employees would remain at their jobs even if their employer stopped offering insurance, although about 60 percent would expect increased compensation.

In the end, maybe it’s just like all the healthcare information we continue to receive throughout the media and internet where “they” (whoever they are) tell us a certain thing causes cancer and then we find out a year or so later, that it’s actually good for us. Who and what are we to believe?

We’ll always have surveys, stats, reports, and others telling us best practices, what’s trending, and how the world is evolving  especially now in our current economic state  -  but only time will tell.

What’s working for you in your retention strategy? I’d love to hear and share!