It's About the People: 80% of Employees Would Choose Jobs Based on Personal Connections Formed During the Interview

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Mar 22, 2016) -  In order to recruit and retain the best talent in an increasingly candidate-driven job market, employers must encourage positive emotional connections between employees, according to a survey of 1,031 U.S. office-based employees conducted by personality-based software pioneer Mattersight Corporation (NASDAQ: MATR).

Key Survey Findings:

• First impressions matter: 80 percent of respondents say they would take one job over another based purely on personal connections formed during the interview process.
• All work and no play hurts: 53 percent of top-performing employees (workers who have received at least two promotions in the past 18 months) say they are frustrated by a lack of personal interactions in the workplace. 50 percent of those top performers would leave a job due to this lack of personal connection with their colleagues.
• Connections breed retention: In that same vein, two-thirds of top-performing employees have stayed at jobs that are otherwise unsatisfying due to the strength and positivity of their emotional relationships with their coworkers.

"The ball is in the candidate's court right now," said Mattersight CEO Kelly Conway. "The current candidate-driven market empowers potential employees to be selective in pursuing the next step in their career. Our data demonstrates that candidates place a high priority on personal connections when making a final decision on where to work. Recruiters who put effort into connecting with prospective employees during the interview stages will be much more likely to win over top talent."

Emotional Connections Drive Employee Retention  

Data from the Mattersight survey shows the priority employees place on emotional connections in the workplace extends beyond hiring and into overall satisfaction with their current job:

• 43 percent of respondents say they have left a company because they couldn't work effectively with those around them.
• 53 percent of top-performing employees are frustrated by a lack of personal interactions in the workplace. 
• One-third of employees have searched for a new job while at work.

Outside of compensation, workers say a strong rapport with supervisors, a cohesive team that works well together and an overall company-wide respect of each employee's unique working style leads to greater workplace satisfaction. Millennials are particularly susceptible to leaving as a result of poor culture; they are significantly more likely than others to say that they would be more productive and satisfied if those around them understood their preferences for communication and collaboration and if their bosses took the time to understand how they work best.

"Personality assessments are not just a feel-good tool that give your employees insight into themselves," said Conway. "If used properly, they give the employees extremely valuable insight into their colleagues, managers into their reports and executives into their companies as a whole. Our data proves this: of the nearly 60 percent who have taken a personality assessment at work, over three-quarters believe the results were used to create a better employee experience. Personality cohesion is playing more of a role than ever in the workplace. If maintained, it will set companies and their employees up for success."

For more on the importance of emotional connection in the workplace, read the full report titled, "Take This Job and Love It: Hiring, Engaging and Retaining Talent in the New Emotional Workplace."

About Mattersight
Mattersight's mission is to help brands have more effective and effortless conversations with their customers. Using a suite of innovative personality-based software applications, Mattersight can analyze and predict customer behavior based on the language exchanged during service and sales interactions. This insight can then facilitate real-time connections between customers and the agents best capable of handling their needs. Mattersight's stack of patented SaaS applications has influenced hundreds of millions of shorter, more satisfying customer interactions. Organizations across the Financial Services, Healthcare, Technology and Telco industries rely on Mattersight to drive customer retention, employee engagement and operating efficiency. An independent research study documents the average return on investment for these organizations is 344%. To learn more about how Mattersight can help your company, please visit www.mattersight.com.