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.

General @en

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!

Personal @en

Recruiting with Facebook in 2014

Thursday, 6. November 2014 Balkaninvest-Team Leave a comment

The Social Network Facebook has gained a size that cannot be ignored any more. Its well above 1,32 Billion users share more than three million likes – every minute! The following infographic illustrates the most recent numbers that show, how important Facebook has become for social recruiting.

Infographic Facebook and Recruiting

Whereas some recruiter see Facebook as a bit dodgy (in comparison with career networks such as LinkedIn or XING), others have recognized its value, in particular to communicate an employer brand externally and internally. And even for direct recruiting Facebook can offer a lot, in particular if you are familiar with its powerful search functionalities.

How German recruiters apply Facebook

As the infographic illustrates currently 15 percent of the 422 HR -professionals that participated in the survey from January 2014 are already exploiting Facebook for career websites. Twelve percent use it occasionally and three percent for special positions only.

Who wants to reach out on Facebook has to use its paid Facebook ads, like it or not. But only six percent of the participants make us of this way to shuffle visitors to their Facebook career website on a regular basis, with eleven percent at least from time to time and another two percent for special positions.

It becomes pretty clear that the use of Facebook in recruiting has a lot of potential in it. Although one has to note that Facebook is no more growing that rapidly in Germany in sheer numbers if at all. But its enormous size is a factor for the internet, and it will be like that for the near future. Innovative recruiters recognize this – and get engaged!

Balkaninvest-Blog

Employee recruitment and retention: a challenge