randstad international trends and workplace survey report

key findings
I General
This salary, benefits and workplace trends
report presents the results of a series of in-depth
interviews conducted among 1,001 key decisionmakers
at companies in 8 countries. Fieldwork took
place between October and December 2012.
The Manufacturing/Industry, Services, Computer/
Software services/Internet and Financial services
sectors constituted the largest groups in our
sample, followed by organizations defined within
the FMCG and Healthcare/Medical/ Pharmaceutical
sectors. The industries varied from country to
country as some focused on specific sectors, such
as Chile on Engineering and Services, for instance,
while Switzerland focused more on the Computer/
Software Services/Internet sector.
45% of the companies interviewed had up to
100 employees, 43% had a workforce of more
than 100 and up to 1,000 people and 12% were an
organization with more than a 1,000 employees.
63% of the organizations surveyed generated a
turnover up to 50 million euro within their country.
Overall (globally), 41% of 801 companies were
organizations with a turnover > 500 million euro,
which indicates they were (part of) a multinational
organization or were associated with one.
When looking at the participants’ profiles in more
detail, we see that the most common job title
(37%) was ‘Manager’, followed by ‘Director’. Most
of the respondents were working within HR (58%)
and found their current position mostly through
professional contacts/referrals (29%) or by means
of recruitment companies (15%) and internal
promotion (14%).
Respondents tended to keep abreast of business
trends via networking (58%), professional
networking sites (52%) such as LinkedIn and
professional associations (50%). Newspapers, trade
journals and web-based sources (blogs, newsletters,
etc.) also scored reasonably highly. 81%
were a member of LinkedIn, 52% had a Facebook
account and 1 in 4 used Twitter.
Respondents use these social networking sites
mostly to expand their network (72%) and to
connect with friends and family (48%). They
also used it to recruit or to look for new job
opportunities.
The networking methods most commonly used
were attending conferences/conventions (57%),
professional networking (54%) and social
networking sites. 1 in 4 also used sector-specific
organizations (federations, etc.).
II HR and challenges
The key productivity challenges for 2013 within
the companies in the different countries surveyed
were developing leadership skills for the next
phase of growth (49%), filling critical vacancies
created by business expansion (30%), government
legislation impacting workforce flexibility (30%)
and making up for the lack of specialist skills to
drive innovation (24%). The lack of specialist skills
to drive innovation was frequently mentioned by
respondents in The Netherlands and Switzerland.
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randstad
international
trends and
workplace
survey report
The top 3 challenges identified within HR were:
1. increasing performance and productivity
2. retaining top performers
3. avoiding losing top talent to competitors
The most important leadership competencies for
managers to obtain in this year’s survey were the
ability to:
1. motivate and inspire others
2. adapt to changing business demands
3. analyse problems and solve them
Additionally, we identified that only 1 in 3 respondents
believed that their managers or employees
had the ability to effectively adapt to changes in
business demands.
To address the issue of shortage of skills, companies
would conduct education and training programs
(60%), followed by offering more flexible working
options for employees (24%) and increasing the
number of hired contractors (21%). At country
level, companies sometimes dealt with other
priorities. Organizations in Switzerland and Chile
indicated that they had to focus on hiring talent
from other countries.
III Employment and recruitment strategies
60% of the companies within the countries
that experienced an economic downturn hired
permanent staff in 2012 and 44% hired employees
on an interim basis. Switzerland was the country
that showed the highest rate of hiring permanent
staff (94%). The lowest percentage with regards
to employment of permanent staff was in
Greece: 46%.
79% of the companies within the countries that are
in an economic upturn situation hired permanent
staff in 2012 and 37% hired employees on an
interim basis. Poland was the country that showed
the highest rate of hiring permanent staff with 89%.
44% of the organizations said they estimated
attrition rates to be the highest with employees
that had been with the company for longer than
5 years on average.
1 in 3 organizations believed they had the ability to
attract top talent. The main reasons the organizations
failed to attract talent were strong competition
for available talent, lack of internal career opportunities
and uncompetitive salary and/or benefits.
Recruitment companies, employee referrals,
company websites, print advertising and job boards
were the primary sources when recruiting talent.
For those respondents that used social networking
sites, 48% claimed they were successful for
recruiting and used them as their channel when
looking for staff-level employees or management
candidates.
Reference checks were the main standard
background checks conducted in the hiring process,
followed by degree verifications and background
checks and assessments. Criminal checks were
frequently conducted in Turkey, IQ and emotional
intelligence tests in Argentina.
Bonuses, medical insurance and career development
were the most common benefits within
the organizations. Specifically for The Netherlands
we found the pension plan to be the most common
benefit offered, whilst Switzerland offered
predominately flexible working options.
IV Trends and innovation in the workplace
Professional and social networks were seen by
28% as a new trend in recruitment. The less
conventional recruitment methods, such as
virtual career fairs, hosting a free lunch to chat
with potential candidates or holding a contest or
speed-dating-style recruitment event, were not
frequently used. 53% of the respondents did not
have an opinion on this matter, although in Poland
virtual career fairs appeared in the top 2 new
recruitment trends.
To manage changes in the workplace 60% of
the organizations prepared their managers/supervisors
or involved people in the change process.
Other changes implemented included building up
a strategy for implementing the change within the
organisation and providing information about the
change early on and often. Creating a “we can do
better” spirit also scored reasonably well.
Top changes that have been implemented included
adding new duties to existing jobs (63%) and
different forms of training and education (41%).
Specific to Switzerland was that a nice working
atmosphere/environment came top of the list of
new changes implemented (88%).
With regard to implementing new ways of
working, organizations mostly implemented a
broader and more embedded collaboration, added
a process and skill reconfiguration or adapted
specific technologies that made smarter working
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