Dive Brief:

• Companies competing for talent are increasingly focusing on building trusting relationships with employees and driving deeper engagement rather than pay and benefits alone, according to PayScale's 2017 Compensation Best Practices Report released Wednesday. The survey was based on data from 7,700 survey respondents.
• "Employers who pay fairly for competitive positions and foster open dialogue around pay will build more trusting relationships with their employees that, in turn, will impact the bottom line," said Mike Metzger, president and CEO at PayScale in a press release.
• The survey also found that differing views on what constitutes "fair pay" may also contribute to employee dissatisfaction. The survey found 44% of employers say their employees are fairly paid, but only 20% of employees agree.

Dive Insight:

Clearly it takes more than money to keep employees from leaving. Google recently saw talented and well-compensated employees leave the company; with some setting out to create businesses. A combination of open discussions around pay and around the value the employee brings are among PayScale's recommendations for holding onto talent. 

IT has experienced 12% job growth since 2012, the fastest job growth of any industry, having added approximately 472,000 jobs since 2012, according to analysis by CareerBuilder and labor market data provider Emsi released last month. But there are also huge talent gaps, with some skill sets in particularly high demand. 

As long as employers and employees disagree on "fair pay" gaps will persist.