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Tag: PwC HR Barometer

  • 65% of Romanian companies didn’t apply measures to reduce employee costs

    65% of Romanian companies didn’t apply measures to reduce employee costs

    Two thirds (65%) of the responding companies didn’t have to apply measures to reduce employee costs in the two months of the state of emergency, according to the HR Barometer conducted by PwC Romania in May.

    Cost-cutting companies have adopted a mix of measures applied differently depending on employees’ positions, in general targeting operational staff in areas most affected by the state of emergency.

    Thus, 11% have applied furloughs with help from the state budget, but without making up the difference, while 15% have used furloughs and covered the salary gap, 17% have reduced working time, with the agreement of the parties or granted unpaid leave, and 4% have laid off employees.

    In terms of wages, the survey shows that half of the respondents applied the salary increases for 2020 before the state of emergency was declared. The average increase was 5.77%, in line with forecasts announced in 2019.

    Almost 30% said they won’t increase salaries this year and 15% have changed their salary increase policy to only to critical positions. Benefit packages remained the same for 80% of respondents.

    The majority (65%) do not intend to change the system of variable payments.

    Back to work

    Less than a quarter of the companies surveyed (22%) returned to work on 18 May, with almost half not having decided on a return date yet.

    In this context, 80% intend to combine work from home with office work, even after the end of the state of emergency (15 May), with a majority taking employee opinions into account.

    Regarding HR activities, 37% of respondents said that they won’t change their recruitment and onboarding policies, and 30% stated their intention to postpone them until the state of emergency is lifted.

    Training and development programmes have been postponed by 33% of the respondents, with the same percentage having changed processes and tools, especially as part of digitalisation programmes.

  • Impact of COVID-19 on businesses: 37% interrupted their activity

    Impact of COVID-19 on businesses: 37% interrupted their activity

    37% of companies surveyed have fully or partially interrupted their operations after declaring the state of emergency due to COVID-19 pandemic and 20% have reduced their activity, according to the PwC Romania HR Barometer conducted by PwC Romania at the end of March.

    In this context, 27% say they will definitely apply for technical unemployment.

    The survey included a series of questions regarding the total or partial interruption of the activity, its reduction, the decrease of the turnover and the ability to pay wages. According to the answers:

    • 19% have stopped the activity altogether
    • 18% partially interrupted the activity
    • 19% haven’t interrupted their activity, estimate a decrease by 25% of the turnover and have the ability to pay salaries
    • 10% haven’t interrupted the activity, anticipate the reduction of the turnover by 25% and don’t have the ability to pay salaries
    • 20% reduced their activity, and business will be reduced by more than 25%
    • 14% don’t expect a decrease in turnover.

    In this context, work from home is an opportunity for companies that can implement it due to the specific nature of the activity. According to the study, 19% of companies implemented mandatory work from home for all employees.

    Companies whose activity specificity doesn’t allow them to work from home and whose businesses are affected take into account technical unemployment provisions, as follows:

    • 27% say they will definitely apply for technical unemployment
    • 18% still don’t know if they will apply because the technical unemployment provisions are unclear
    • 18% still don’t know if they will apply because they haven’t analyzed them
    • 5% indicate that they won’t apply them because the current provisions don’t correspond to their activity specificity.

    According to the survey, almost 30% of those surveyed anticipate that they will have the ability to pay wages in the next three months, while 42% didn’t estimate yet.

  • COVID-19 impact on business: 18% of companies estimate a decrease of revenues up to 20%

    COVID-19 impact on business: 18% of companies estimate a decrease of revenues up to 20%

    18% of the surveyed companies estimate a reduction up to 20% of the revenues as a result of COVID-19 pandemic impact on business, while the majority (65%) haven’t made assessments yet, according to the PwC Romania HR Barometer.

    Another 6% of the respondents estimated a decrease of revenues between 20-50%, 2% consider that the decrease will be between 50-80%, while 9% don’t expect a reduction.

    Of the economic sectors that expect a decrease of the incomes up to 20%, transports are detached with a large percentage of answers (75% of the respondents in this sector gave this answer). Also, 25% of the companies surveyed in the automotive industry (manufacturers and distributors) believe that the decrease in revenues will be up to 20%.

    The same estimate was made by 22% of responding companies in financial services, 21% of consumer goods (distribution, logistics) and 20% of energy.

    Measures to protect employees

    The study aims to find out what measures have been taken to protect employees against infection with COVID-19, as well as the period during which they will be applied.

    According to the answers, 89% of the study participants performed disinfection in the office, 85% limited the interactions, 58% instituted work from home only for those who can work remotely, 40% offered protective equipment, 25% implemented work at home for all employees, 13% decided on mandatory  work from home and 13% only for the employees who traveled to risk areas.

    Interaction-limiting measures

    Another question concerned the options considered for limiting interactions in the context of COVID-19.

    Respondents took the following measures: 81% canceled internal and external events; 79% limited foreign travel; 72% limited domestic travel; 55% limited internal and external events; 24% applied the work in turns to avoid crowding.

  • Romanian companies are planning to increase headcount in 2020

    Romanian companies are planning to increase headcount in 2020

    Over half of the respondents in Romania (54%) plan to increase employee numbers by an average of 11% in 2020, according to PwC Romania’s HR Barometer.

    The IT&C sector has the highest demand for new employees, followed by industry, automotive and retail. According to the respondents, 91% of IT&C companies plan to increase the number of employees by an average of 20% next year. In industry and automotive, 71% want to hire 6.2% more people and 50% of retail companies need an additional 6.4%. Personnel increases were also mentioned by 40% of financial services companies and 30% of pharmaceutical companies.

    “Our estimates show that Romania needs another one million employees in the next five years to achieve an average economic growth of 3.5% annually. As we know, in recent years, the workforce has become more difficult to find, which risks limiting the potential for economic development. For this reason, the government and companies should be involved in education programmes to develop the employee skills, especially digital ones, increasingly demanded by employers as new technologies become widely adopted,” says Ionuț Simion, Country Managing Partner PwC Romania.

    According to the survey, almost all of the new positions created in 2019 were in the Digital & Social Media area, such as Chief IT Digital Solutions, Instructional Designer, Social Media Specialist, Digital & Multichannel Manager, Digital Manager, RPA Specialist and Online Manager. The survey respondents also indicated their belief that accounting, IT support, administrative, financial and business analysis departments would be most affected by automation.

    “The main challenges faced by human resources departments in 2020 will be staff fluctuations and low commitment, rising wage costs, the impact of digitalisation and workforce shortage. New technologies and automation mean new skills and positions, which is increasingly being reflected in Romanian employers’ organisational charts. For example, most of the new positions created in 2019 are in the Digital and Social Media area,” says Oana Munteanu, Senior Manager – People & Organisation, PwC Romania.

    Almost all of the HR Barometer respondents consider themselves prepared for the workforce shortages and wage cost challenges in attracting and increasing employee numbers in 2020.

    PwC Romania conducted the HR Barometer study on 65 companies in various sectors during October 2019.