Survey shows companies are offering their employees more benefits than before, if not quite the benefits employees might have hoped for

A recent eJobs Romania survey shows that 4 out of 10 employers are now offering more benefits than last year. However, there is still a disconnect between what companies are giving their employees, and what the employees actually want – and employers are aware of this.

84.5% of companies participating in the survey say that they offer their employees fringe benefits. Meal vouchers appear most frequently in the benefits package structure, with 77.1% of employers saying they include them. These are followed by holiday bonuses, offered by 68.6% of respondents, private health insurance (55.7%), extra days off (41.4%), professional specialization training (40%), and annual team parties or team building (33.4%). An additional 31.4% pay for their employees’ transportation to and from work, and 30% of them offer gift vouchers.

"We’re seeing more and more benefits such as office lunches, holiday vouchers, gift baskets, office massages, and psychological counseling. Performance bonuses, share packages, quarterly social events, birthday vouchers, and short Fridays are other benefits that complete the list, but are still found in only a small number of companies," says Ana Călugăru, Head of Communications at eJobs Romania.

The average amount spent each month on fringe benefits is between RON 400 and RON 600 per employee. And most of the companies that are now offering more benefits than they did last year also indicate that they have made an additional budget allocation of between 5 and 10%.

Asked what benefits they would introduce if they had no budget limit, 72.5% of managers and HR specialists participating in the survey mentioned the 13th salary. 55.1% would also opt for a 4-day work week with shorter working hours, 37.7% for covering employees’ utility bills, and 29% for extending the benefits package to close family members – all of which they know are benefits that are highly desired by employees.

The survey was conducted in August on a sample of 170 responding companies.

(Photo source: Jakub Jirsak | Dreamstime.com)