Interesting that our workplace priorities seem to have returned to those espoused by older generations. Job security moved from mid-level of importance to #1.

What’s Important to Employees
The Society for Human Resource Management (see www.shrm.org ) had employees use a 4-point scale to indicate what’s “very unimportant” (that’s a 1) or “very important” (that’s a 4).
The percentages below indicate how many people gave the item a 4, meaning “very important.”
The 601 full- or part-time employees were randomly selected from the U.S. telephone population.

• Job security 63%
• Benefits 60%
• Compensation/Pay 57%
• Opportunity to use skills/abilities 55%
• Feeling safe in the work environment 54%
• Relationship with the immediate supervisor 52%
• Management recognition of employee job performance 52%
• Communication between employees and senior management 51%
• The work itself 50%
• Autonomy and independence 47%
• Flexibility to balance life and work issues 46%
• Meaningfulness of job 45%
• Overall corporate culture 45%
• Relationships with co-workers 42%
• Contribution of work to organization’s business goals 39%
• Job-specific training 35%
• Variety of work 34%
• Career advancement opportunities 32%
• Organization’s commitment to corporate social responsibility 31%
• Organization’s commitment to professional development 30%
• Paid training and tuition reimbursement programs 29%
• Career development opportunities 22%
• Organization’s commitment to a “green” workplace 17%
   
  Article by Todd Raphael reprinted from ERE.net