Last week, President Biden announced a new federal vaccine mandate, which for businesses establishes an OSHA standard for businesses with more than 100 employees to require immunization or testing. For those interested in the reactions, I’m highlighting two Reuters pieces. One focuses on the muted response from the business community, and the other specifically on small businesses. That’s the environment of business, although the majority of IT service providers will be smaller than the requirements.
Which leads to some developments in the world of benefits too. Amazon announced last week that it will pay 100% of college tuition for its 750,000 hourly employees. Eligible after 90 days of employment, employees can get tuition fees, and textbooks covered, and it will also begin covering high school diplomas, GEDs and English as a second language certifications for employees.
Ever considered changes to the way people are paid? Per a survey of just over 1000 US workers, 80% of workers want their wages “streamed” to their accounts. 81% are likely to take a job with an employer that provides access to earned wages on-demand at no cost over an employer that does not. What’s streaming? The idea of being paid as a worker earns their salary instead of once or twice a month.
Business Insider is reporting on the push of cities and states moving to require disclosures on salaries. California passed the first “right to know” law in 2018 (but requires applicants to request it), and similar laws are in Maryland, Washington, Toledo, and Cincinnati. This summer, Connecticut, Nevada, and Rhode Island passed laws requiring disclosure of their pay scales to every jobseeker, and Colorado’s law must include minimum and maximum pay levels on every job posting. More laws are expected to come.
The competition for talent is going to be hard. Gartner’s new data says the talent shortage is the most significant barrier to holding back the majority of emerging tech.
And if you’re wondering why people aren’t coming back to the office… a new poll from Pollfish says 75% want to hang out with their pets, 73% want to watch TV while they work, 72% want to nap or exercise during the day and 62% are self-conscious about how they look. And, 4% of survey respondents said that “working remotely was so important to them they would not go back to work in-person even if their employers required it, instead giving up their positions to presumably find other remote opportunities.”
I’m not wading in on the politics of the mandates, simply observing that this is the landscape.
With people remaining the number one expense line item in an IT Services businesses, recruiting and retention should be top of mind. The return to office data is recurring theme – today instead I want to focus on those benefits.
Amazon’s hiring power is setting a bar. Their hourly employees now have a package of benefits that is essentially the baseline to compete against. No wonder employers are getting creative, considering things like streaming salaries. I’d never heard of this, and it perked my attention just for the creative thinking.
Those that get creative here are the ones I think have opportunity. That baseline is rising really fast.