About 25 percent of employers cited finding, motivating and keeping talent as their top priority in the 2013 “Top Five Global Employer Rewards Priorities Survey” from Deloitte, the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. The annual survey of talent and rewards management challenges was conducted globally for the first time this year.

“Given all of the sharply different economic, political and geographic challenges in the regions we surveyed, we found real parallels in terms of what is weighing heavily on employers,” said David Lusk, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and co-author of the report.  “Attracting and retaining top talent is a universal theme.”

Top five priorities are:

• The ability of reward programs to attract, motivate, and retain employees
• Clear alignment of total rewards strategy with business strategy and brand
• Motivating staff when pay increases are flat or non-existent
• The cost of providing benefits to employees
• Demonstrating appropriate return on investment for reward expenditures 

From a personal employee perspective, 66 percent of U.S. respondents ranked their ability to afford retirement as their top concern, with 34 percent planning to delay their retirement. In contrast, 16 percent of employees in the EMEA and 17 percent in Asia-Pacific said they plan to delay retirement. 

“Calibrating talent and rewards strategies to meet generational expectations of extended employment is a step many employers and national governments should consider taking,” said Scott Cole, senior manager, Deloitte Consulting LLP and co-author of the report. “This can also be an astute retention strategy, particularly as employees across all regions indicate they will consider leaving their current employer for another that provides better benefits or more stability.”

The survey included 415 respondents, representing employers in 27 different countries across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. The survey respondents represent a diverse cross-section of the global employer population by industry and size.