Salary continues to be the biggest factor when it comes to a professional taking up a new job or leaving an employer. And a majority of employees seem dissatisfied with their current salaries shows a recent survey conducted by JobBuzz.

In a survey by JobBuzz, an employer rating platform powered by TimesJobs, nearly 95% of the respondents felt their salaries were not up to market standards. Only 5% said their salaries matched the market standard.

This understanding comes from employees doing research on social platforms and employer rating sites to find out the salary scales in their industry and functional areas. Leading job portals such as TimesJobs.com, aggregate this data from their massive databases and offer this service right on their homepage itself.

At a time when India Inc. is focusing energies on devising non-monetary benefits to engage and retain staff, it is interesting to know that salary still holds a lot of significance for employees. JobBuzz also highlighted the compensation and benefits expectations of all three generations of the workforce – Baby Boomers (57%), Gen X (37%) and Gen Y (41%) want more in-hand salary in their monthly pay packages but their preference for other benefits differ.

While 24% Baby Boomers prefer post retirement benefits, only 10% prefer medical/health insurance benefits.

Amongst Gen X, 29% prefer other benefits or perks (mostly flexible work options). A significant number of them (20%) also preferred post retirement benefits.

Contrary to populare perception, 22% of Gen Y opted for post-retirement benefits over other benefits or other perks.

Shivani Oberoi (name changed), a software developer in an IT company in Delhi NCR, told JobBuzz that while researching on a couple of social & career websites, she found out that she was drawing a lower salary than developers with similar experience in other companies.

"Employees in similar companies at my profile and level are drawing higher salaries than me which made me believe my value can be higher in the job market," she said.

Instead of leaving the job for a better pay package, Shivani said she would negotiate her current salary with the employer. "I have been doing good work and receiving positive feedback from peers, bosses and customers. I think I will be able to justify the salary correction I’m asking for."

However, all employees are not so forthcoming or willing to have an open dialogue on salary matters, and so employers must continuously reevaluate their value propositions to keep their high performers engaged and motivated.

"High performance professionals use a host of online services to evaluate their market worth, research best employers, assess their career growth and upgrade their skills in line with the latest industry and job market trends of their chosen vocations. Employers should conduct internal salary benchmark studies to fine-tune their salary structures and compensation scales according to market standards. This will help them meet employee expectations and reduce attrition." advises Vivek Madhukar, COO, TimesJobs.com

The perception of not being compensated fairly is still a major reason employees leave companies. Any such perceptions, especially among high-performers, must be addressed and corrected by employers quickly.