Steve Werner On Finding The Right Benefits To Attract The Best Employees

Amanda G. Sebesta/UH Bauer College of Business

With Texas’ unemployment rate at 4.2 percent, it’s getting tougher than ever for employers to find, and keep, the skilled workers they need. It’s a particular problem for the trucking industry, where the needed skills can make the difference between life and death. Steve Werner of the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business studied the trucking industry’s problem. The results will soon appear in the journal Human Resources Management. Werner joins Andrew Schneider on this week’s installment of the “Bauer Business Focus” to discuss his findings.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:

What did you discover in your research on hiring in the trucking industry?

“We discovered that when you provide retirement insurance – either kind, the defined benefit [e.g., traditional pension] or defined contribution [e.g., 401(k)] plan – you would attract people that were more risk averse…One of the things they’re more risk averse in is driving, and so they’re safer drivers.”

What are some other industries where offering retirement insurance might help to attract more-skilled employees and reduce accidents?

“Construction is one. If you look at fatalities, it’s one of the higher level ones. Fishing is another one. So, any industry where safety is a concern, we could tie that to this notion of, ‘Let’s try to attract people that are risk-averse and will perform these safety behaviors.’”

How might less-dangerous industries be able to apply what you’ve learned?

“If you tailor your benefits…you can then tailor it such that these are the people that will help you achieve your long term goals…[If your company is] hiring people to sit in a cubicle all day and you want them to be entrepreneurial and take risks, you don’t want to necessarily attract the risk-averse people. You want people that are risk seeking. And…you’d want to offer things that would attract those types of employees.”