Demographic Differences

Organisations can gain a competitive advantage through accommodating different gender, age, ethnic, educational and occupational differences.

Source:
People Management magazine

Organisations tend to adopt a blanket approach to retaining staff. This research set out to establish whether there are demographic differences between employees in their values, commitment and job satisfaction – and, if they exist, whether an organisation can gain competitive advantage by accommodating them.
Methodology
16,000 employees in UK organisations were asked to rank the relative importance of 12 key factors that underpin employee commitment.
Findings
The research found a number of gender differences. Women express higher organisational commitment and a lower intention to leave than men; women value the quality of their working relationships more than men; men value salary and career progression more than women.

Age differences also exist. Older employees have higher levels of job satisfaction and commitment; the importance of work-life balance and concern for corporate and social responsibility increase with age; younger workers are the most change orientated and career driven; and career progression and personal growth decrease in importance with age.

The research found that Indian, Chinese, Pakistani and black African employees place higher importance on career progression than white British people. Pakistani and Chinese groups report the lowest levels of job satisfaction.

There are also educational differences, as employees with degree-level education place higher importance on challenge and advancement. In contrast, non-graduate employees value more tangible factors such as salary.

The gender, age, ethnic, educational and occupational differences should highlight that organisations can gain a competitive advantage, cut staff turnover levels and promote diversity if they are flexible enough to satisfy demographic needs.

Learning points
- Understanding demographic differences between employees can help organisations to achieve higher levels of motivation, satisfaction and commitment.
- HR should adopt a more flexible approach to retaining staff.
- However, the diversity of the UK labour force does not mean that any one group should be treated any differently.

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