Who would have guessed that salary and benefits are most important to job hunters?

Not employers, according to the New World at Work annual survey.

In fact, the Adecco Employment Services Limited’s survey found significant differences in the way employers and employees think in a number of areas.

According to employees, the most important thing when considering their next job move is salary and benefits (27 per cent), with work environment/job satisfaction coming second (17 per cent).

However, when asked what was the most important reason someone would join their company, those responsible for hiring and firing put the company’s reputation in first place at 16 per cent, advancement opportunities second (14 per cent) and work environment third (12 per cent).

Salaries came in fifth at six per cent and benefits even lower at two per cent. Another area where employers and employees disagreed was in the ease of finding employment. While 53 per cent of employees say it’s harder to find a job now compared to five years ago, 58 per cent of employers say they in fact have more highly sought jobs to offer today.

Employees say the difficulties are caused by fewer job openings overall, an economic downturn and competition from other job seekers.

Employers say their companies are growing and they are doing more business than ever, but there is a demand for skilled workers that is not being filled.

When asked what they believe will be the biggest hardship to finding qualified employees in the next five years, employers said lack of training in their industry (21 per cent).

“The trend toward having several careers in a lifetime is affecting the number of highly skilled workers out there,” said Terry Lord, senior VP, Adecco. “People simply aren’t in the industries long enough, and the number of employees who are with a company for life and therefore gain that level of experience is dropping.”

Employers will be happy to know, then, that when their employees were asked if they are planning any major changes to the way they work in the next five years, 38 per cent of them said they are planning to retrain.

However, the Adecco survey found a number of other reasons employers may have difficulty in finding staff in that five-year period:

* 27 per cent of employees said they were going to start their own business.
* 29 per cent will work from home.
* 23 per cent plan to retire.
* 22 per cent will relocate from their city to find work.

Omnitel, a division of Thompson Lightstone & Company, administered Adecco’s New World at Work survey between Sept. 28 and Oct. 8 to 1,000 randomly selected Canadians. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Other findings:

* 39 per cent of 18-29-year-olds have used the Internet to find work in the past vs. just eight per cent of those 50+.
* More Edmontonians plan to leave their jobs in the coming year than any other city in the country – 15 per cent vs. seven per cent nationally. However, they are also more likely to stay for more than 20 years – 18 per cent vs. 14 per cent nationally.
* More 30-49-year-olds think that they need to upgrade their computer skills in order to maximize their employability in the next five years than any other age group (37 per cent vs. 30 per cent for those 18-29 and only 22 per cent for those 50+).
* In the next five years, 57 per cent of those 18-29 plan to retrain compared to 38 per cent nationally.