American businesses are working hard at retaining their employees, according to ZipRecruiter, and are prepared to offer incentives to keep them at a time when the labor market appears to favor workers and job openings are in the millions.
One in four workers told ZipRecruiter that employers attempted to counter offers they received from recruiters in an attempt to convince them to remain at their current jobs.
“Despite slower hiring—or perhaps because of it—employers are actively holding onto the workers they’ve got,” the jobs platform noted in a report that surveyed workers in the first quarter of 2024 and shared with Newsweek.
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The survey’s results comes amid labor market indicators suggesting that American workers can find jobs if they want one, with millions of openings available in the economy. Nearly 9 million jobs were available for workers in February, according to data released on Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That number of job openings point to the challenge employers are having in recruiting.
“Where they are hiring, many businesses are proactively seeking out the talent they want, rather than posting jobs and waiting for candidates to apply,” according to ZipRecruiter.
Nearly half of new employees told surveyors from the jobs platform that companies approached them for their new roles rather than them applying for positions, up about 10 percentage points to people who said the same thing a year ago.
The competition for talent is so intense, according to ZipRecruiter, that about half of prospective employees hear back from companies on their applications within three days. More than 90 percent said they get a response from hiring managers within a week of applying.
“When employers proactively recruit talent or respond to applicants quickly, it instills a sense of being valued and sought-after, which can be incredibly affirming and gratifying,” Marissa Morrison, ZipRecruiter’s vice president, said.
Forty-six percent of workers said that it took them a month to find a new role, which was substantially down from the 60 percent who expressed similar sentiments in the fourth quarter of 2023. Additionally, 58 percent had a positive experience searching for a new job, down from 68 percent, the previous quarter. For those who did secure new positions, 43 percent were able to negotiate their offers compared to 40 percent in the past.
“It is taking workers longer to find new jobs, and fewer new hires are receiving signing bonuses,” according to ZipRecruiter. “Nonetheless, the share of workers being actively recruited to their new jobs, and the share receiving counteroffers from their previous employers, are historically high.”
It added: “The high share of new hires negotiating their job offers similarly attests to enduring worker leverage and bargaining power.”
The ZipRecruiter survey has a sample of more than 1,500 adult residents of the U.S. who are currently working and began their current roles within the past six months and is conducted in the second month of every quarter.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.