The Bankrate Money Pulse survey of 1,000 adult Americans reveals only one in four employees expects either an end-of-year increase in pay or a holiday bonus. What do these eternal optimists plan to do with the extra money?
They will stuff it in a old Folgers coffee can just like great-grandpa used to do, of course. Okay, they don't plan to go that far, but they do plan to be incredibly practical by placing the additional money in savings, paying down bills, and/or paying off debt.
But unemployment is at a seven-year-low! Shouldn't employees be job-hopping by now, and basking in the glow of an employees' job market? What's going on out there?
It turns out many employees are still in a Great Recession state of mind. As this excerpt from a Bankrate.com survey article reveals:
"Usually, when the unemployment rate gets quite low, you see a big uptick in the quit rate; workers are usually pretty confident they can leave the job they have and find an equivalent or better job. That's one sign of a really tight labor market where workers have some bargaining power to where they're actually willing to quit," [Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.] says. "But the quit rate is still out of sync with the unemployment rate. We still have some pretty spooked workers out there about the state of the economy."The good news? When asked what they want most from their jobs in 2016, only 10% surveyed responded "I want a new employer." For nearly 40% surveyed, a little more money at their current job would make for a happy, and productive, new year.
There you go, small employers. Don't get swept up in this week's corporate gift-giving hype of Google reportedly giving its employees Nexus 5Xs, Apple reportedly giving its retail employees a free, nine-month Apple Music subscription, or Sprint's CEO reportedly sending gift baskets to T-Mobile stores nationwide.
No, your hard-working employees just want a little more money. Even a small pay raise would be music to their ears, because getting by keeps getting more expensive -- just like the workload keeps getting higher and deeper. You, Mr. or Ms. Manager, will need to pull yourself out of the recessionary mindset before your employees do. Happy New Year!
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