Why You Need Competitive Salaries for Top Science Talent
Posted March 27th, 2015
For years we have been talking about the widening skills gap in the sciences at the same time that the country is producing an inadequate number of graduates with STEM degrees. It’s a complicated subject, but what’s clear is that it has produced a highly competitive marketplace for the top science talent. And while it’s tempting to argue that flexible scheduling, unusual perks, and a great company culture are enough to lure in the best prospects, in practice the most effective staffing strategies come down to compensation. These are a few reasons you need to keep compensation offers competitive if you want to bring top talent onto your workforce.
Candidates Look at Compensation First and Last
There are lots of factors that affect whether a person accepts a job – location, company reputation, responsibilities. But realistically the first detail they consider is compensation, and it’s also the last detail. With the market for top talent being so heated, companies are not shying away from offering significant salaries. If yours don’t keep pace, you can’t expect to keep the attention of promising candidates.
You can give yourself an advantage, however, by structuring your compensation offer to the candidate. For instance, a young recruit might be more interested in high base pay or tuition reimbursement and less interested in expansive medical benefits. For an older recruit, that might be just the opposite. You compensation needs to be competitive, but it also needs to be the right kind of compensation.
Top Talent Needs to Be Motivated
You want to bring top talent onto you workforce, but you might not have a job for them that takes full advantage of all their skills and abilities. That can quickly lead to boredom, burnout, and ultimately turnover.
Compensation has been shown to be a powerful motivator because it indicates that the company values the employee and their contribution. It also helps to further invest the employee in the company’s success. If you are hoping to keep top talent engaged and nurture them into your next generation of managers and executives, their compensation needs to reflect your commitment.
Retention is Your Paramount Concern
If you think recruiting top talent is hard, just try replacing them. Losing one of your top performers can have a major impact on your company that lingers into the long term. Worse still, you can count on your competitors doing everything possible to lure away your best and brightest.
That is why compensation needs to start out competitive and keep rising steadily. Take into account not only the industry standards, but the growing impact that these employees are having at your company. Ultimately, you know better than anyone how much they are worth.
If you are ready to pay top talent competitive salaries but are having trouble connecting with the professionals you need, a specialized staffing firm might be the solution. Access a prestigious pool of candidates by working with Bayside Solutions.
