Which job profile would most frontline employees choose?
Our survey asked low-wage frontline employees and job seekers in the United States to choose among different job profiles and attributes. Can you predict which offer was more attractive to these employees?
Offer 1
• $1-per-hour raise • Flexible hours • Health insurance • Opportunity for promotion
Offer 2
• $2-per-hour raise • Predictable schedule • Health insurance • Tuition reimbursement
INCORRECT
Correct answer: Offer 1
The opportunity for job growth or a promotion is of high priority to frontline employees. This priority is consistently reflected in their stated desires and trade-off decisions. Here, we see more frontline employees opting for a job profile that offers the opportunity for promotion over an immediate incremental increase in pay.
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CORRECT
1/6
• $2-per-hour raise • Not working nights • Parental leave • No additional advancement
• Flexible hours • Life insurance • On-the-job mentoring
For those making $22 per hour or less, a wage increase can materially improve quality of life and is, unsurprisingly, prioritized by such workers. Here, we find that a $2-per-hour raise without advancement opportunities is still preferred to an alternative that offers other benefits but no pay raise.
opportunities
2/6
• $2-per-hour raise • Not working weekends • Health insurance • No additional advancement
• $1-per-hour raise • Not working weekends • Health insurance • Opportunity for a yearly raise
Correct answer: Offer 2
Career advancement opportunities that offer a modest wage increase in the near term and promise additional wage growth over time are preferred over an immediate, larger wage increase with no opportunity for advancement.
3/6
• Not working weekends • Paid time off • Additional responsibilities in the role
• Flexible hours • Parental leave • Childcare
Parental leave and childcare may not be universally prioritized benefits. In fact, we find that even among parents for whom family-support benefits matter, more would opt for opportunities that offer career growth in the form of additional responsibilities, promotions, and paid training.
4/6
• Predictable schedule • Life insurance • Opportunity to manage others
• Predictable schedule • 401(k) or other retirement
Select traditional benefits, such as heath insurance and retirement plans, are of high importance. We find that health and retirement benefits are more important to frontline employees today than in years past.
5/6
• On-the-job mentoring
benefits
• $1-per-hour raise • Not working nights • 401(k) or other retirement
• $1-per-hour raise • Flexible hours • 401(k) or other retirement
In light of the pandemic, workplace flexibility has been an important consideration. Flexible hours are still the preferred work schedule for frontline employees; however, the utility obtained from flexible hours is considerably lower than the utility received from the other levers.
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• Paid training opportunities
6/6
