It became clear why Lithuanians usually change jobs | Business

Such trends in the labor market are shown by a study conducted by the personnel selection and consulting company “People Link”, which reviewed both the general candidate market and separately analyzed data from four separate areas – IT, engineering, business development and finance and management.

Career and growth is the TOP1 choice for candidates who achieve results in all areas – meeting or exceeding the expectations of the job position. Tasks and processes, in other words, engaging work content, is the second most frequently chosen criterion across all fields. Except for the field of business development, where more often candidates choose based on growth opportunities, the field and the company’s viability.

And here the remuneration is among the TOP3 most frequent criteria when choosing an employer only in the field of finance and management. At that time, IT positions were ranked 9th in compensation, engineering positions were ranked 6th, and business development positions were ranked 5th.

Neither horizontal nor vertical growth will be of interest without finance

Global research shows that remuneration has been playing a decreasing role in attracting the most sought-after employees in the market for some time now. This is confirmed by the latest McKinsey (2023) data and a survey conducted by the People Link selection agency in Lithuania. In it, the criteria for choosing an employer are divided by popularity as follows:

• 74% career and growth;
• 50% work tasks and processes;
• 38% viability/stability of the company;
• 37% company area/product;
• 26% remuneration and bonuses;
• 22% organizational culture;
• 18% team/colleagues;
• 18% of the company’s value;
• 8% managers;
• 7% work-life balance/flexibility.

For the last two years, career and growth have been the most important criteria for change for the most productive employees on the labor market. However, according to People Link partner and one of the initiators of the study, Mats Martinkėnas, this criterion should not be misunderstood, assuming that a productive employee will change his position only if he is offered a higher position.

“Growth can also come through greater breadth and depth of tasks, strengthening your knowledge as a professional in a specific field. Communication of this kind of growth can be a solution for those employers who cannot offer an exponential vertical career to a new employee”, says M. Martinkėnas.

However, no growth – neither vertical nor horizontal – will interest the most productive workers in the labor market without providing them with hygienic factors. Here we are talking about the financial side of the offer – according to research, as many as 55% of the most successful candidates turn down a job offer citing finances as the main reason.

Comfort in the current position wins over change

An employee negotiating with a potential new employer is affected by different internal and external factors. Among the latter is the reluctance of the current employer to let go of a good employee, so in order to keep him, the employer uses the counter-offer card. Sometimes this card is really impressive and wins against growth/career prospects right away. As for internal factors, one of the most important here is comfort, which often wins over change if conditions are created to earn more.

Therefore, according to M. Martinkėnas, in order to attract the most efficient employees of the market, it is first necessary to make sure that the remuneration offered for the position reaches at least the market average in a specific position. It is also appropriate to communicate about the growth in the company, including the financial aspect. Ensuring the first factor will allow you to have specialists of the desired level in the job interview process. With the help of the second factor, it will be possible to tell the already attracted employees about career/growth opportunities in the new company, not forgetting to mention possible changes in remuneration.

“Already during the first meetings with potential employees, it is worth talking about such things as the average change in compensation in our company in the annual perspective, the possibility of salary growth through the acquisition of new competences or knowledge, etc. In this way, we will be able to anticipate the discussed external and internal factors, already offering a very specific, future-oriented perspective of financial well-being”, says M. Martinkėnas.

We are willing to overpay to attract a more experienced employee

According to M. Martinkėnas, when hiring a productive employee with very specific experience, there is no other option than to open the gates of financial opportunities more widely and in most cases to offer much higher amounts than the market average. “If we want to hire a person with targeted experience from 2 to 5 years of experience and above, it is almost guaranteed to buy him.

Employees with targeted experience are expensive in all sectors: whether we are talking about a certified construction manager or an experienced financial director – in order to attract an employee with very targeted, sectoral experience and specific technical competences to the company, we will almost always overpay,” says M. Martinkėn

However, if you do not want to buy competence, you can offer to develop competence within the company. “Younger market specialists, who are just starting their professional journey, are often not only “cheaper”, but also much more motivated, have ambitions, goals, and bring a different approach to the company.

Of course, it will be necessary to devote time to their training. But as practice shows, employees whose education and training companies invest in are much longer-term, more engaged and less likely to quickly change their current workplace. Here we can return to the already discussed growth factor – by offering it, we will definitely strengthen our ability to attract an employee and successfully close the available open position”, says M. Martinkėnas.