As part of our new regular series “Employee Motivation as a part of Employer Branding” we would like to illuminate the two best-ranked aspects of the 2015 “work motivation” study by the Manpower Group – a good working relationship with colleagues and superiors as well as flexible working hours.

The most important factor for employee motivation is a good relationship with colleagues and superiors. In the study, 65 percent of the respondents said to be more motivated if they get along well with colleagues and superiors. Even though the percentage is lower than last year (77 percent), a good working relationship is still considered to be the most important motivating factor.

Pierre Bourdieu influence on the theory of social capital

The most famous scientific theory about the positive motivational influence of good relationships between colleagues and superiors is the theory of social capital by the French sociologist and social philosopher Pierre Bourdieu. Social capital describes the collective benefits of social relationships between different people, in the case of a company the relations between employees and superiors.

Building social capital requires a high level of trust for giving support, assistance and recognition to others and to establish cooperation. All these characteristics and a high degree of trust lead to a strong intrinsic motivation of the employees and to higher motivation. An employee who does not feel well, is not a good worker. Real friendships between the employees are not necessary but social capital promotes a pleasant and helpful working environment, which leads to collegial relationships and long-term retentions of employees.

Flexible working hours an important motivating factor

The study “Working Motivation 2015” by the Manpower Group Germany named flexible working hours as the second most important motivating factor for employees. Overall, 50 percent of the respondents had the opinion that flexible working hours are an important motivational factor. In the previous year, only 67 percent of the respondents concurred that flexible working hours have a positive influence on employee motivation.

But even though flexible working hours can be found on almost every job advertisement as an incentive, researchers at the University of Minnesota came to the conclusion that flexible working parents have no significant time savings. It means, in particular, that workers can not afford more time for their children. Flexible workers have just more time for themselves and feel less stressed, which is beneficial for their own well-being and their own motivation.

Happy workers positive for corporate image

Good relationships with colleagues and supervisors as well as flexible working hours increase the motivation and commitment of employees and affect the long-term retention of employees in a positive way. In addition, happy workers like to share their positive experiences within the company and thus communicate unconsciously a positive corporate image.

In the next part of our series “Employee Motivation as a part of Employer Branding” we will discuss the aspects “friendships with colleagues” and “free drinks for employees”.

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Employee recruitment and retention: a challenge

Friday, 15. May 2015 Balkaninvest-Team Leave a comment

According to the “Global Workforce Study 2014” and “Talent Management & Rewards Study 2014” by the consulting firm Towers Watson, employee recruitment and staff retention remains a big challenge for many companies.

In accordance with the studies above, 17 percent of the employees have the plan to leave their employer during the next two years. Moreover, 23 percent of the workers are uncertain whether they should leave their company or not.

Employee recruitment and retention improvable

The “Global Workforce Study 2014” shows that only 32 percent of all employees have got the impression that their employers have good skills in talent retention. Furthermore, only 33 percent of the employees believe that their employers are good at attracting new talents.

From the “Talent Management & Rewards Study 2014” can be seen that 38 percent of the companies employed more workers in 2014 than they did two years ago. But apart from this positive fact, 38 percent of the companies registered an increase in worker migration and for 80 percent of the companies it is difficult to attract new talents that have got a strong influence on the company’s success. In addition, 62 percent of all employers have difficulties to retain so-called “high potentials”.

Employee desires are misinterpreted by the companies
Towers Watson has evaluated the top drivers for employee recruitment and staff retention in the studies. The results show that companies misinterpreting the employee desires. For workers, job security is the most important criterion inside the job recruitment, followed by the amount of the basic salary on the second place and a challenging job as the third most important factor.

In the area of employee retention the expectations of employees are mostly equal to the expectations of the companies. The basic salary can be mentioned as most important driving force as well as the opportunities to advance the own career. In contrast to this, employees and employers think differently about the importance of job security. While workers ranked job security as the third most important driving force, job security is just the seventh most important factor for employers.

Appreciation is an important driving factor

There are several factors that have a positive impact on the employee engagement. According to the “Global Workforce Study 2014” the following aspects are the most important:

A communication that appreciates the worker’s contribution to the company’s success and that makes the employees understand the corporate business
A clear understanding of goals and strategies
A good work-life balance at a reasonable workload
A positive corporate image
The involvement of employees in the decision-making processes

Europe @en, Personal @en

Graduates need in the German labour market 2015

Tuesday, 14. April 2015 Balkaninvest-Team Leave a comment

According to a study by the Staufenbiel Institute in 2015, German employers are optimistic towards the developments in the labour market for graduates. Even though a decreasing number of companies expect an increasing need for graduates compared to the last years, pessimistic forecasts for most disciplines are an exception.

In 2015 particularly economists are in demand. For almost 45 percent of the offered positions, of which half are positions for internships, graduates with an economic background are needed. 3% of the companies forecast a rapidly growing demand for economists for the next five years.

Increasing demand for engineers and computer experts

Compared to the previous year the forecast for the demand for engineers and computer scientists is slightly less optimistic but still positive. For engineers, 35 percent of the employers (2 percent less than last year) expect a rising or significantly rising demand. Over the next five years, this amount will rise up to 63 percent which means a decreasing tendency in comparison to the forecasted increase in demand last year (68 percent).

The predictions for IT graduates remain nearly unchanged compared to the previous year. 38 percent of the companies expect rising and 8 percent significantly rising demand. The job prospects remain bright in the future: 51 percent of the companies expect an increase and 51 percent a strong increase for the demand of computer scientists.

Focus on interns

Almost half of all graduates jobs are provided for interns (44 percent). 6% of the jobs are for trainee programs and 18% for young professionals. The remaining workplaces are split up between graduates (27%), clerks (3%) and associates (2%).

In computer science, the distribution focuses less on internships (35%) but more on young professionals (31%). Workplaces for engineers are offered especially for interns (43%) and graduates (29%). Trainee positions are for IT graduates (4%) and engineers (3%) less frequently offered.

Employers prefer Master’s degrees

Inside application processes primarily Master’s degrees are preferred. 90% of the companies favour this type of degree over a University Diploma (76%), a University Bachelor’s degree (60%) and a Diploma of a University of Applied Sciences (55%).

This tendency can be also detected for engineers and computer scientists. 97% of all companies prefer engineers with Master’s degrees and 92% prefer IT graduates with Master’s degrees. The Diploma of a University of Applied Sciences in Computer Science (54%) and Engineering (63%) is clearly preferred over a Bachelor’s degree. A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science is preferred by 47% and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering by 36% of the companies.

Europe @en, Personal @en

Minimum wage in Germany from January 2015

Tuesday, 16. December 2014 Balkaninvest-Team Leave a comment

With the beginning of 2015 Germany introduces for the first time in its history a general minimum salary. Until now Germany was one of the few European countries without such a standard. Employers are obliged to pay their employees an hourly gross salary of not less than 8,50 Euro beginning in January. According to calculations of the German government about 3,7 Million people are currently earning less than that and will benefit from the new legislation.

The minimum wage will be attuned to the salary level development on the German market on a regular basis by an independent commission with members from both labour unions and employer organization.

Minimum wage Germany — Minimum wage in Germany from 2015

Minimum salary valid for Bulgarians

The new minimum wage will cover all employees that work in Germany, no matter what nationality. Furthermore, also foreign companies have to comply with the requirements of the minimum salary law (with the official, not very reader-friendly name “Tarifautonomiestärkungsgesetz”) and pay their delegated staff at least the defined hourly salary of 8,50 Euro. This can be the case e.g. for Bulgarians that are send to Germany to do services – but working on a Bulgarian labour contract.

Correlation with Arbeitnehmerentsendegesetz

For several business branches a minimum salary is no news at all: The Arbeitnehmerentsendegesetz-law which was introduced in 1996 and fundamentally revised in 2009 defined minimum wages for several industrial sectors such as construction, cleaning, and health care.

The Arbeitnehmerentsendegesetz is binding for foreign companies once they are active on the German market. As the name indicates the intention of it was to avoid dumping competition of foreign companies that pay wages below German standards to their employees. The minimum wages vary depending on the particular industry but are in general higher than the newly introduced general minimum salary. In case that one of the defined rates is higher than the 8,50 Euro, employers will have to continue to comply with the well-known Arbeitnehmerentsendegesetz and transfer remunerations above the 8,50-threshold.

Accountability of companies under new minimum wage law

The new Tarifautonomiestärkungsgesetz which regulates the minimum wage points in its §14 “Accountability of purchaser” to the respective norm of the Arbneitnehmerentsendegesetz which is to be used here as well. Accordingly companies bear responsibility if other companies that fulfil service contracts for them violate the minimum wage norm. They may be charged for malpractice of sub-contractors with administrative offence of up to 500.000 Euros per case. It will be highly advisable that companies avoid this risk by including rights of exemption in their contracts with sub-contractors.

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How to organize your work time during Christmas holidays

Friday, 5. December 2014 Balkaninvest-Team Leave a comment

If you want to create the best road to calm and joyous holidays, the first is a good organization and no work limits, which can spoil the good mood and Christmas spirit. Preparing for unforgettable vacation with the help of a step-by-step plan makes quick work of seasonal chores, and leaves plenty of time, energy and money. Here are some ideas and suggestions for well- organized plans which cam reduce all the mess before, during and after Christmas.

Christmas Countdown

The Countdown is a Christmas-only holiday organizing plan, which breaks down seasonal chores into easy-to-complete weekly assignments. This special plan is for people who want to prepare for the holidays without a lot of cleaning or organizing. You can use it if you want to skip all the redundant tasks before Christmas and to enjoy some spare time. It’s a “just simply holiday stuff” plan, which is designed to let you have more fun the whole December, only to be prepared and ready to celebrate.

101 Days to Christmas

If you don’t like the idea of a plan and you prefer to ignore all the organization, you should try the daily reminders from 101 Days to Christmas. These are daily Christmas planning tips, starting from September and taking you to and through the holiday season. The daily gentle reminders can bring holiday planning to mind without annoying schedules and official “plans”. In case it is too late for that opportunity you can always try it the next year.

House & Holidays Plan

You are a dreamer and you want to celebrate the Christmas season in a clean and organized home, enjoying the atmosphere and just having fun. This is the perfect House & Holidays Plan for you. The whole idea is concerned with a week-by-week road-map to clean and organize the whole house by December, while preparing for the holiday season in good time. You can cut the clutter, clean and organize with weekly assignments designed to be do-able, not overwhelming. And to be fully prepared before the Christmas Eve you can include a few holiday prep tasks. At the end you will see that the result is satisfying and the cozy and comfortable atmosphere is created.

Holiday Grand Plan

If you want to have time both for the office and for your home tasks, you should create very strict and not so stressful plan. The Holiday Grand plan is about weekly cleaning and organizing assignments move room by room through the house. In this way you can have time to do your job assignments and to prepare the house for the holidays.

Choose the best plan for your dream Christmas and organize your work time. Don’t think too much, because Christmas is awaiting for you!

Balkaninvest-Blog

Employee Motivation as a part of Employer Branding – Part 1