The SPE Talent Council’s survey on factors impacting retention received responses from 1737 people. The link to the survey was primarily distributed through social media and kept open from late January to early July 2013. Participants were asked about 31 reasons for leaving and 31 reasons for staying with an employer. “Opportunity” was the “most important” reason that people stayed with an employer and “lack of opportunity” was the “most important” reason for leaving. However, “opportunity”, while still the biggest driver, was diminished in relative importance for both women and men over the age of 40. Although “opportunity” clearly gathered the largest number of “most important” responses, “opportunity” only accounts for 10 to 12% of the “most important” responses for leaving and 7 to 8% of the responses for staying. To capture 50% of the “most important” responses as to why people left, 7 to 8 factors were needed, and to get to 80%, 15 to about 16 factors were needed. Similarly, with regard to staying, 9 to 11 factors were needed to capture 50% and 17 to 20 to capture 80%. When all women are compared with all men, the two groups agree on the same top five reasons for leaving and share nine of the top ten reasons for staying. However, when we split both genders by age into over and under the age of 40, more differences emerge. A much higher percentage of women than men cite “conflict with supervisor,” “conflict with co-workers,” and “unsatisfactory working conditions” as reasons for leaving. Women also are far more likely than men to leave to follow a relocated partner and to cite work-life balance issues including “inflexible work schedules”, “too much time away from family”, and “pressure not to use work/life benefits” as “most important” reasons for leaving. Women indicate “respect” much more often than men when it comes to picking “most important” factors for staying with an employer. For women under age 40, “flexible work schedules” are about as strong as “respect” in enhancing retention. In their responses to the survey, men consistently place a greater emphasis than women on “pay”. This may be a reason why throughout their careers men tend to earn more than women. Women place a higher importance on other factors. Women are believed to be less likely than men to negotiate pay. The survey results showing the lower priority that women place on money suggests that as a group, women may be less motivated than men to negotiate about money than about other factors of higher priority to them. Of the 1737 survey respondents, 80 people reported that they had left the petroleum industry. The most frequently cited “most important” reason was “to move to a location I like better.” The second most often selected reason was “retirement”. The strongest incentives for both young mothers and retirees to return to the petroleum industry workforce are “access to part time work”, a “chance to make a difference”, and “ability t

1. SPE Paper 168112
Attraction and Retention of Employees
Results of 2013 SPE Talent Council Survey
Eve Sprunt,* Susan Howes, and Michael Pyrcz Chevron
*independent consultant as of 10/31/2103

2. • “Opportunity” or “insufficient opportunity”
• Are the most important drivers, but relative importance of opportunity
declines with age
• Although “opportunity” is the most important driver, it accounts for
only about 10 to 12% of “most important” responses for why people
leave and 7 to 8 % for why they stay
• 15 to 16 factors are needed to capture 80% of the “most
important responses and those factors vary between groups
• “Conflict with supervisor”
• Far higher percentage of women cite “conflict with boss” and “conflict
with co-workers” as “most important” reasons for leaving.
• A higher percentage of men under age 40 in dual career couples cite
“conflict with boss” than men under age 40 who are not part of a dual
career couple
Key Findings
Slide 2
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz

3. Key Findings
Slide 3
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
• Men consistently place a greater emphasis than women on financial
compensation
• A higher percentage of women than men consider “respect” to be a
“most important” reason for staying with their employer
• For women under age 40, “flexible work schedules” are almost as
important as “respect” in enhancing retention
• The strongest incentives for both retirees and young mothers to return
to the petroleum industry workforce are:
• “A chance to make a difference”
• “Access to part time work”
• “Ability to telecommute

4. SPE Talent Council Surveys
SPE Talent Council has conducted three surveys:
• May 2011 of entire SPE membership with 5570
responses, SPE Paper #160928
• December 2011 of SPE members under age 45 with
1392 responses, SPE Paper #151971
• January through July 2013 social media survey on
factors impacting retention with 1737 responses, SPE
Paper #168112
Slide 4
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz

5. Comparison of 2013 Survey with Prior Surveys
Slide 5
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Survey Distribution Total Women Men No Gender
# % # % # %
2013 Retention
Survey
social media 1737 422 24% 875 50% 440 25%
Dec 2011 SPE
under age 45
emailed 1392 428 31% 947 68% 17 1%
May 2011 SPE
members
emailed 5570 774 14% 4078 73% 718 13%
For surveys distributed by social media need to be more persuasive in
getting people to divulge age and gender.

6. Comparison of Demographics Between Emailed 2011 Survey and
Social Media 2013 Survey
Slide 6
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Very similar age
distribution for women in
both surveys
The demographic bulge of
men who started work in
the 1970’s and early
1980’s has shifted.

7. Workforce of the Future -- Dual Career Couples
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Slide 7
• Women until their partners retire tend to be part of a dual career couple
• Except for men under age 25, who are most often single, long term trend for
a higher percentage of men to be part of a dual career couple
• Indications are that in the future the majority of the workforce will be part of a
dual career couple.

8. Demographic Groups Studied
Slide 8
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Total # Dual
Career
% Dual
Career
Women >40 186 99 53%
Men >40 554 122 22%
Women <40 227 148 65%
Men <40 289 119 41%
• all men with all women
• men <40 with women <40
• men >40 with women >40
• men <40 with men >40
• women <40 with women >40
• Men <40: dual career vs other men

9. Retention
Slide 9
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
1 employer % 1 employer More than 1 employer Total
Women 105 26% 302 407
Men 152 37% 255 407
Women <40 77 35% 143 220
Men <40 87 31% 197 284
Women >40 28 15% 158 186
Men >40 65 12% 489 554

10. Multitude of Motivating Factors
Slide 10
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Reasons for leaving
•Top factor captures 10% to 12%
of “most important” responses.
•50% of responses takes 7 or 8
factors
•80% of responses takes 15 to 16
factors
Reasons for staying
•Top factor captures 7%to 8% of
“most important” responses.
•50% of responses takes 9 to 11
factors
•80% of responses takes 17 to 20
factors
Different groups don’t agree on top
factors.

11. Opportunity
Slide 11
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Opportunity or Insufficient Opportunity
are the biggest drivers for people to join
or leave an employer
For older people, Opportunity is still the
most important factor, but not by as big
a margin

12. Why People Leave
Slide 12
Paper # • Paper Title • Presenter Name

13. Gender Difference in Why People Leave
Slide 13
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
• Agreement on top five reasons
• Insufficient opportunity
• Develop new competencies
• Leadership/direction of company
• Better fit to core competencies
• For better pay
• Agree on 9 of top 10 reasons
• Women rank “pressure not to use work/life benefits” as 10th
and
men as 15th
• Agree on 13 of top 15 reasons
• Men rank “to be self-employed” 13th
and women rank it 30th
• Agree on 17 of top 20 reasons
• Not adjusting for “not applicable” responses, women rank “follow
relocated partner” as 16th
and men as 27th
.

14. Different Ways of Making Comparisons
Slide 14
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
• We compared different groups in both by how they ranked the factors and by the
difference in the percentage labeling a factor “most important.”
• “Conflict with boss” was a big percentage difference, but a small ranking
difference
• “Follow relocated partner” was significantly different both ways

15. Intensity of Driving Forces
Slide 15
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
• People cited more reasons
as being “more important”
for staying than for leaving.
• Older men label identify
fewer factors as being
“most important”
• People were much more
likely to say something
was “not applicable” with
regard to leaving than for
staying.

16. Gender Differences in Reasons for Leaving
Slide 16
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
• Women are more likely to
leave because of conflict
with their boss and to follow
their partner
• Men are more likely to
leave to be self employed

17. Gender Differences in Why People Stay
Slide 17
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
•Women are more likely to stay
because they are respected and
have a flexible work schedule
•Men are more motivated by
money

18. Age Differences for Leaving
Slide 18
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz

19. Working for Same Employer
Slide 19
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Advantages
•Coordinate relocation
•Ease in picking home
location
•Easier childcare
•Coordinate travel
•Coordinate daily schedule
Disadvantages
•Employer requires that
one career leads and the
other follows
•Benefits reduced
•Employer coordinates
careers as a couple
•Job security
December 2011 survey
Whose career takes precedence?
•Women more likely to be asked
•Women with children are about 2x as likely to be asked as men with children
•People working for the same employer as their partner

20. Men <40: Dual Career vs Other Men
Slide 20
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
• Dual career men are more
likely to leave because of
working too many hours or a
conflict with their boss
• Other men are more likely to
leave for better pay and
benefits.
• Surprisingly, other men are
more likely to leave because
of an inflexible work schedule.

21. Why People Left Petroleum Industry
Slide 21
Paper # • Paper Title • Presenter Name
• Top 3 reasons for women:
• For more interesting work
• Insufficient opportunity
• To live in a location I like better
• Top 3 reasons for men:
• To live in a location I like better
• Retirement
• Terminated and couldn’t get another
job

22. Incentives to Return to Work
Slide 22
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Top 3 Reasons
•Chance to make a difference
•Part time work
•Telecommuting
Retirees
Mothers

23. Why Joined Petroleum Industry
Slide 23
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
Top 3 reasons
•Opportunity
•Degree best qualifies
•Good pay
But men value “good
pay” more than
women

24. Conclusions
Slide 24
• Attraction and retention programs and policies that were optimized for
the male, single breadwinner workforce will not be as effective for the
emerging mixed gender, dual career couple workforce.
• People differ. Money is not a panacea. Attracting and retaining
employees is complex and attention must be given to multiple factors
• Top incentives to get people to return to the work force are not high
priority for those currently in the workforce
• Many women appear to still be facing a relatively hostile work
environment in which they are more likely to have a conflict with their
supervisor and co-workers.
• Age, gender and domestic partner work status all impact the relative
strength of attraction and retention factors.
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz

25. For Further Study
Slide 25
Paper #168112 • Attraction and Retention of Employees • Sprunt, Howes, & Pyrcz
• Why are women and dual career
couple men more likely to leave
because of conflict with their
supervisor?
• Are women less likely to
negotiate pay than other terms
of employment?

26. Acknowledgements / Thank You / Questions
Paper # • Paper Title • Presenter Name
Slide 26