Salary is the top attraction for candidates

A new survey has revealed the biggest attraction for more than three-quarters of candidates looking for work is the salary. The OnePoll survey, conducted by Laudale, asked 1,000 employees what would attract them to work for a company. A massive 77.5% of respondents said they would be swayed by a good wage.

Although this should come as no surprise to employers, the salary alone isn’t the most important consideration from the company’s point of view. Managers are looking to recruit staff whose priority is the effective running of the business, rather than those who are there only for the money.

However, when put into perspective, a competitive salary will help recruit and retain the highest-quality candidates, so the fact it was the most popular factor among job seekers shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Setting an effective pay-scale

A competitive salary is a tool to help companies achieve their goals. For example, a company that offers every employee an annual flat-rate industry increase, rather than one in line with their individual achievements, can find this counter-productive, as no-one is encouraged to be a high achiever.

The system of pay must align with the company’s human resources goals, so if the target is to develop a highly-skilled workforce, the salary needs to be higher than average to attract the top applicants. If the business’s culture is teamwork, the highest salary increase should be given to employees who contribute to the team ethic.

Calculating the correct pay level is crucial, since business managers must set a pay-scale that’s high enough to attract talent, but not so high that it affects the company’s profitability.

Carry out research

When setting salary levels, it’s worth researching the pay range for similar positions that have corresponding job descriptions. Businesses must determine whether their salaries are competitive in the market with organisations of a similar size.

An excellent comparison source is checking how your pay-scale fares against those of businesses in the same industry in your region.

Should the salary be publicised in recruitment adverts?

There’s no right or wrong answer to the question of whether salary levels should be displayed in job adverts. One view is that it’s advantageous for applicants and employers to advertise the salary, as it saves both parties from wasting time if the recruitment procedure commences, but subsequently an interviewee isn’t happy with the pay.

Similarly, if the wage is higher than the industry average, publicising it will attract a high calibre of applicants. However, the flip side is that if the salary is posted in recruitment adverts, suitable well-qualified candidates may not apply if they think it’s too low, yet one of them could be the perfect applicant.

Even though a set salary is quoted in a recruitment advert, if an employer meets the ideal applicant at an interview, it may be worth negotiating personal terms to take them on.

Salary’s role in recruitment and retention

An employer’s ability to recruit and retain employees is dependent on how the subject of salary is handled, whether it’s in job adverts, or in the general running of the company. Recruitment adverts that publish the wage receive an average of 7.8% more applicants than those that don’t.

This may mean a greater possibility of finding the ideal applicant for the job, or it may mean wasting a lot of time sifting through more resumes that aren’t suitable.

The choice of how transparent to make the pay structure is down to the individual business, as there’s no magic “one size fits all” formula when it comes to making the decision.