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How Do Collection Industry Employees Feel About their Employers?
Based on our recent Best Places to Work in Collections program, we've identified the keys to what makes an ARM company an employer of choice.
In the summer of 2009, companies from across the country entered a rigorous survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in Collections. Based on the results, we are able to identify some of the keys to what makes a company an employer of choice. Additionally, this year we were able to compare satisfaction rates within the collections industry to those of a broader, nationwide group of employees. The differences are enlightening, especially in the area of compensation.
CORNERSTONE SUPPORT, INC.
We are the premier STATE LICENSING and COMMERCIAL INSURANCE provider to the ARM industry. We are a valued partner to 1,000+ collection agencies, debt buyers, attorneys.
The Results - Small Companies Continue to Fare Best
Companies selected as Best Places to Work received twice as many “A’s” than the participant group as a whole. The difference is even more pronounced when looking separately at the medium and large company categories.
As they did in 2008, small companies received by far the most “A” ratings of all of the entrants, among both winners and non-winners. There were 23 A’s (versus 35 in 2008) among the best small companies compared to 14 among large companies (15 in 2008) and 13 among medium (10 in 2008).
The areas of greatest difference among all small companies and those that were selected as winners include the number of positive responses to these questions:
- The leaders of this organization are open to input from employees
- This organization treats me like a person, not a number
- I feel I am part of a team working toward a shared goal
- My supervisor handles my work-related issues satisfactorily
- My supervisor is open to hearing my opinion or feedback
- My supervisor helps me to develop to my fullest potential
- I trust that if I do good work, my company may increase my pay
- There is room for me to advance at this organization
At firms of all sizes, employees are least satisfied in the areas of pay and benefits (no “A’s”, average 63% positive rating) and training & development (no “A’s”, average 67% positive rating). Winning companies averaged about ten points higher in both categories.
Overall, there were fewer “A” grades in 2009 than in 2008. This most likely reflects the realities of layoffs and the difficult conditions that plagued the economy -- and as a result, the collections industry -- for all of last year.
Work Environment Receives Highest Marks; Pay and Benefits the Lowest
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Comments
Comment from stacy-tah on February 11, 2010 at 2:14PM EST
Way to go Toby!
Comment from DONALD DALY on February 12, 2010 at 10:15AM EST
JUST ANOTHER INDICATOR THAT BIGGER IS NOT BETTER.
Comment from Rob Schwartz on February 12, 2010 at 12:59PM EST
If I'm reading your graph correctly, I think you've reached the wrong conclusions.
Casting aside the likelihood that your <100 company sample may not be statistically significant, medium and large companies are in fact more likely than smaller ones to get "A"s. They get less "A" votes, but simply because there are less large companies. The percentage of large companies getting "A"s, however, appears to be higher.
No clue why this would be the case, and again, I think your sample size is too small, but that's the way I'm interpreting your graph.
Comment from Stephanie Eidelman on February 16, 2010 at 7:07PM EST
Rob,
I appreciate your comments. Yes, the sample size is not statistically significant, though I do think that the results - especially given a similar pattern 2 years in a row -- are interesting.
As for the conclusions about the small companies getting more A's because there are small companies, I don't think that's accurate. The A's were drawn from the percentage of respondents that answered positively, not absolute votes. I translated %'s to A's for the sake of presentation simplicity. I do think this compares apples-to-apples.