Companies in Portugal estimate salary increases next year to be lower than inflation, caution in hiring and difficulties in retaining talent, according to the “Total Compensation 2022” study developed by Mercer and published this Thursday.
This year’s edition of the study analyzed 160,076 jobs from 527 companies based in the Portuguese market, with the sample mainly made up of multinational companies (56%) with the parent company, mainly located in the United States, in 15% of the cases, and in Germany in 9%.
According to Mercer, the geopolitical context and its impact at the economic level, with the escalation of inflation, has had an impact on businesses and conditioned corporate decision-making.
“Greater uncertainty about hiring new talent/increase in the workforce, more effort to retain talent and, in general, higher salaries are some of the reflexes of this framework”reads the statement that reports on the conclusions of the study ‘Total Compensation 2022’ developed by Mercer.
“The average salary increase forecast for 2023 is around 2.8%, which translates into a slight increase of 0.5% over the 2021 forecast for 2022 (2.3%)”reads the statement.
I.e, “despite an increase, this is not enough to keep up with the escalation in inflation, which could translate into a loss of purchasing power for employees”said Tiago Borges, career business leader of Mercer Portugal, quoted in the statement.
“In the scenario of consolidating high inflation levels, the issue of wage increases and their ability to respond to this context will certainly be a challenge for companies in Portugal in the short term”adds.
With regard to recruitment, the survey presents: “a scenario where about 43% of companies expect the number of employees to increase this year, but only 31% for the time being expect to maintain this growth for 2023”in turn, quoted in the statement, says Marta Dias, rewards leader from Mercer Portugal.
More than half (53%) of companies “they assume they are struggling to retain professionals, salaries in general have increased compared to the previous year and the macroeconomic situation does not seem to give organizations the confidence to plan and undertake medium-term growth.” “points.
The positive wage variation is reinforced at the operational level by the increase in the national minimum wage.
“It is important to note that this is observed for all levels of responsibility, with an overall increase of 5% on average compared to 2021. In addition, in particularly heated areas, such as information technologies, this variation is even more relevant, growing about 18% in two year”is in the document.
In terms of benefits, support for training is gaining in importance in companies, with more than half (57%) of study participants bearing the costs of training their employees (by 2021 this was 46%).
With regard to referral bonuses (the context of new hires), the survey states that they have become a relevant practice, with more than a third (35%) of companies (23% in 2021) adopting this practice.
More than three quarters (83%) of companies conduct an annual salary review, according to the survey.
“The second most common trend is salary review without defined periods, conducted by 10% of the entities surveyed” and “the other companies do it twice (5%) or three or more times a year (2%)”those are “the preferred months for salary review are January, April and March (29%, 15% and 13%, respectively)”the study said.
The main benefits that companies offer to employees are: medical plan (90% of organizations), 70% of which covers plan coverage for spouses and children of employees; car policy (88%); life insurance (70%); discounts on corporate products (59%); coverage of expenses related to education (57%); and holidays on top of the statutory days (54%).
The survey sample is representative of the main sectors of activity in the national economic fabric, 67% of which include companies in the general service sectors, manufacturing industries, pharmaceuticals, large distribution and retailing, consumer goods, information technologies.
Source: DN
