Employee Retention Strategies 2023: April 2023 LinkedIn Poll Results

Stay up to date on employee retention strategies in 2023. Every Friday, we post a LinkedIn poll to gain valuable insights from you and your peers. We appreciate your feedback, as it helps us better understand how we can place highly qualified candidates in the right positions.

This monthly blog series will recap the poll results and share our thoughts. Did you miss March’s results recap? Check it out here.

Explore our employer poll and candidate poll pages to learn even more about employee retention strategies in 2023.

Re-Evaluate Benefits and Compensation to Keep Your Best People

In one of our latest employer polls, we asked you what you’re doing to keep your best people. More than 60% of you voted for re-evaluating your employees’ benefits package and compensation to boost retention. The next most common strategy to retain top talent is to host employee engagement events, followed by introducing mentorship programs.

According to SHRM’s 2022 Employee Benefits report, health-related benefits are one of the most important, with almost 90% of HR professionals surveyed voting for this benefit as very or extremely important.¹ Retirement savings and planning benefits received the second highest ranking, followed by leave, family care, and flexible work.

By taking into account what benefits matter the most to employees, companies can re-evaluate their benefits packages, as well as compensation, to keep their employees happy. Along with reviewing reputable third-party reports like the one above, employers should also survey their own team to determine what benefits they would benefit from the most.

Many Companies Are Hiring More IT Staff

According to the results of our recent poll, 37% of respondents said IT is the department they find themselves hiring for the most. You voted for office support as the second most popular department to hire for, followed by your marketing or creative department.

Since many companies find themselves hiring IT staff, it’s important for organizations to know what IT skills they desire the most to reduce turnover. Based on the research we gathered from Coursera², ITCareerFinder³, and LinkedIn⁴, we determined these IT skills as the top five most desired skills:

1. Programming
2. Networking
3. Data Analysis
4. Cyber Security 
5. IT Support

By hiring candidates who possess your desired industry-specific skills and implementing retention strategies like the ones above, companies can attract and retain more highly skilled IT talent. Here at Sparks Group, we specialize in finding and placing IT candidates with these skills and more to help fulfill companies’ full-term, long-term, or short-term IT needs.

Inflation Causing Employees to Search for New Jobs

For part one of our candidate poll series, we asked employees how inflation will impact their employment plans this year. Forty-seven percent of candidates voted for searching for a new job to combat the rising costs of goods and services, followed by 32% percent of employees who plan to ask for a raise to cover their higher living expenses. While 14% percent of respondents don’t think inflation will have any impact on their employment plans this year.

Since employees who are concerned about inflation are turning to job hunting as their top solution, employers should reconsider their employee retention strategy to keep their top talent. By regularly reviewing the job market and reassessing their budget, employers can work to give their team the raises they need to live comfortably.

Candidates aren’t the only ones who are concerned about inflation. These results align with a similar poll geared toward employers. When asked if inflation will change companies hiring priorities this year, more than 70% of you voted yes, with 13% of those who chose “yes” voting for hiring contractors over full-time positions.

Almost 80% of Companies Plan to Hire Candidates Based on Skills Rather Than Degrees

Based on the responses from one of our latest polls, almost 80% percent of you either currently or plan to hire candidates based on their skills rather than degrees. While about 20% of you either don’t plan to adopt this hiring strategy or haven’t decided yet if they want to take this hiring approach.

Pearson’s 2022 Skills Outlook found that communication, customer service, leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving are the most desired skills across all industries.⁵ With these being a combination of soft and technical skills, employers need to keep both types of skill sets in mind to find candidates who are the right fit for their organization.

Companies can get access to more highly qualified talent by evaluating candidates based on their skills rather than degrees and education level. They can determine the top skills for their industry and reach out to applicants who are the best fit for their organization and desired skills.

Recap of Employee Retention Strategies in 2023 from April Polls

To recap, based on the data from our April polls, these are the most common hiring approaches, impacts of inflation, and employee retention strategies in 2023.

1. Re-evaluate your benefits packages and compensation to help boost employee retention.
2. Many companies find themselves hiring IT talent the most. By determining a few top-desired IT skills, employers can find more highly qualified talent and reduce turnover.
3. Employees who are concerned about inflation are turning to job hunting as their top solution. To keep top talent, employers should reconsider their employee retention strategy.
4. Evaluate candidates based on their skills rather than degrees to get access to more top talent.

Sources:

¹SHRM, 2022 Employee Benefits.

²Coursera, 7 In-Demand IT Skills to Boost Your Resume in 2023, February 28, 2023.

³ITCareerFinder, Top 10 IT Skills In-Demand for 2023, December 6, 2022.

⁴LinkedIn, The Top 5 In-Demand Tech Skills For Jobs in 2023 by Bernard Marr, December 18, 2022.

⁵Pearson, Pearson Skills Outlook 2022 - Power Skills.