By contrast lower level employees have fared relatively better in the past two recessionary years in terms of ‘at risk’ pay. The proportion of base pay given as bonuses and profit share for lower level employees was 9.7 percent in 2010, only slightly down from 10 per cent in 2008.
 
Across Europe analysis in the report shows a lack of consistency about what senior managers were paid in bonus and profit share in relation to their more junior colleagues.  In Switzerland, for example, senior managers were rewarded with bonus and profit share at an average of 47.6
percent of base pay, the highest in Europe, while its lower level employees received only 7.1 per cent. In Denmark, however, senior managers earned bonus and profit share worth on average 25.1 percent, one of the lowest in Europe, while middle managers also received a comparatively low 11.7 percent and lower level employees 7.7 per ent, which is about average for that level.

Anne Severeyns, Head of Operations – Data Services EMEA at Towers Watson says: “Bonuses and profit share are an important part of the overall reward package in most European countries. However, there are marked differences in the size of ‘at risk’ pay compared with base pay amongst countries as well as differences in the weight given to ‘at risk’ pay at difference job levels. Variable pay such as this, vitally, offers employers the ability to manage cost and performance as well as rewarding and retaining key talent. In the current economic environment it has never been more important to have tools at hand to work out remuneration in the context of strict budgets and at the same time using it to develop those employees who are vital to business success.” Bonus and profit share as percentage of base pay (excluding sales roles) across EMEA.

Bonus and profit share as percentage of base pay (excluding sales roles) across EMEA
 
 

Country	Senior Manager (%)	Middle Manager (%)	Lower level Employee (%)
Austria	31.3	13.1	6.8
Belgium	32.1	12.7	6.2
Denmark	25.5	11.7	7.7
Finland	37.5	15.6	7.7
France	35.5	12.0	8.2
Germany	38.7	14.4	7.7
Ireland	29.8	15.7	8.0
Italy	29.7	15.4	6.5
Luxembourg	39.8	14.2	5.0
Netherlands	37.7	11.7	8.8
Norway	28.0	12.2	6.1
Spain	25.1	13.4	7.5
Sweden	29.8	10.9	7.3
Switzerland	47.6	14.9	7.1
UAE	48.9	16.0	14.3
United Kingdom	35.1	12.6	9.7

 

Jobseekers feel grim about prospects

A survey has revealed that some employees feel HR Execs “out of touch” with what’s really important to jobseekers.

Fifty-seven percent of jobseekers think the job market has worsened in the last month with no suitable roles available. Just under a quarter of respondents have now been unemployed for more than 12 months. Online re-employment assistance provider MyWorkSearch surveyed its users and HR executive community simultaneously to see where opinions tally and diverge on current HR and redundancy issues.

Of the HR execs who responded, 70 percent think their organisations are extremely or very supportive of employees. However, only 22 percent of employees agreed and 40 percent thought their employers were not supportive during redundancy. There is agreement between both survey groups that job finding assistance is useful. It was the second most highly rated form of support (70%) for jobseekers and was the top answer for HR execs (at 36 percent).

There is a major divergence in views on the value of financial settlements for redundancies. It was rated the top type of support by jobseekers (88 percent) in contrast to HR execs where only 17 percent saw it as useful to jobseekers. Although all ages are being affected by unemployment, the majority of jobseekers responding to the survey are over 40 years old and 52 percent are educated to graduate or post-graduate level, proving that in today’s job market even qualifications and experience are no guarantee of a new job.

And jobseeker’s job expectations are having to be lowered. The majority of jobseekers have come from full-time positions or permanent roles, but the scarcity of jobs means that many are applying for temporary roles (76 percent) and part-time roles (63 percent). Almost everyone said they would apply for a job less senior than their previous role to secure employment.

However, while there is much doom and gloom, some job seekers surveyed (60 percent) are cautiously optimistic that there will be suitable job vacancies in the next three months. In agreement with this are over half of the HR executives who think it likely their organisation will be hiring employees for new jobs in the next three months, in contrast to 34 percent those who thought it was not likely at all. Not hearing back after job applications was the hardest aspect of looking for a new job (75 percent), followed by getting an interview (46 percent), financial worries (45 percent) and maintaining self-confidence (42 percent). Sixty-five percent job search after 6pm at night and while Wednesday was the most popular day for job searching. Eighty-four percent said they looked for jobs on a Saturday and Sunday.