EMCer Steve Kimball in recent Triathlon
Steve Kimball, Iron Man Triathlete and EMC Recruiting Manager, and I met this week. We looked at some charts reflecting research that the Corporate Leadership Council conducted on the subject of the value of a strong employment brand and related factors such as compensation and career growth. Steve was smitten and repeated one line a few times, “Good companies don’t buy talent.”
Good Companies Don’t Buy Talent
He then shared that to join EMC, he left a bigger title and a bigger paycheck. When approached about other jobs now with seemingly juicier offers, he replies that he’s more than happy at EMC. [huh?]
What the 3 charts said that inspired this story and an ‘Aha’ moment
1. The first chart showed that the average pay bump a candidate receives when changing companies is 16%. It shows that a company with a weaker than average employment brand can expect to pay more – a 21% increase. Companies with strong employment brands can expect to pay an 11% increase.
2. A second chart outlined the type of talent a company with a strong employment brand can expect to attract (passive candidates – the likely high performing, engaged, non-job seeking talent) and the type of talent a company with a weaker employment brand can expect to attract (active candidates – the type that job jump often – and who will likely job jump again soon enough.)
3. The third chart outlined what makes a company attractive to the talent market. “Future Career Opportunities, Development Opportunities, Respect and Organizational Stability” are leading factors along side “Compensation.”
The “Aha” Moment
Steve smiled at these charts and said, “You know why EMC was so appealing to me? It offered me career growth and future job opportunities. I could have stayed a VP at that 70 person company and not learn as much as I learn here and not have the future job opportunities. I’m still young. I have a lot to learn. At EMC I’ve been given more new assignments and several opportunities to further my career. I have variety and I’m learning so much.”
He continued, “What people often don’t factor when they get offered a bigger paycheck at another company is the cost and burden of their next job search. So if xyz company offers $165k and a real quality company offers $135k – people dwell on the money delta. That isn’t the full picture”
The Delta
“Ah, the ‘cost of down time,’” I replied. The full picture would include the value of the company's employment brand. At a company with a stronger employment brand, part of the package would be the career growth opportunities, the professional development, interesting work, and the stimulation from working alongside accomplished people along with fair compensation and respect. So which is the better deal?
The Corporate Executive Board’s research actually states that an employment value proposition featuring career opportunities and respect is “even more attractive to the labor market” than “high-compensation and strong product brands.”
At EMC you get the Full Package
What is pretty cool about EMC is that here you get, as many of my EMC colleagues often say, “The full package.” EMC’s products are the brand leaders in our industry. On compensation, we pride ourselves on pay for performance and provide motivation for that performance. In the most recent major Best Places to Work survey, EMC employees rated EMC better than the “100 Best Places” composite to the question, “People here are paid fairly for the work they do.”
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