Gap widening between what Czech employees want and what employers offer

Double-digit inflation has been putting pressure on employers to increase wages and financial benefits. Bonuses would be welcomed by 99 percent of Czech employees across all job sectors. There is also strong interest in salary raises in line with inflation, longer vacations, and more days off.

However, there are still large gaps between employee preferences and what employers are willing to offer, according to a survey by the staffing agency Grafton Recruitment.

Many employees would like to see the payment of additional 13th and 14th monthly wages. But the payment of the extra wages for white collar jobs and Christmas and performance bonuses in the business services industry is almost four times lower than demand.

"Inflation has caused a drop in real wages for most workers this year, so these benefits are becoming a very important tool to retain employees and play a significant role in deciding whether to accept a new job offer. Employers should therefore pay more attention to them than before," Martin Malo, director of Grafton Recruitment in Czechia, said.

Regardless of field, the interest of employees in five or more weeks of vacation exceeds 90 percent and is the number one most requested benefit for white-collar workers, second for corporate services and blue-collar workers, and third for IT workers.

"The good news is that a growing number of employers offer this benefit. Currently, approximately two-thirds of IT workers, 60 percent of corporate services employees, and 61 percent of blue-collar and 62 percent of white-collar workers have it," Malo said.

But there is a big gap when it comes to unlimited paid time off, which 72 percent of white-collar and IT workers would welcome, but only 8 percent can use.

Work flexibility also is near the top of the list of popular benefits. Even though many white-collar workers or IT workers consider working from home or flexible working hours to be standard, they still mention these benefits as essential conditions for their continued employment or acceptance of a job offer. This type of benefit is most requested by Millennials, who make work-life balance a priority.

Especially in IT or business services, the possibility of working from abroad has started to appear in the field of job flexibility. Almost 90 percent of employees showed interest in it.

Along with the growing number of cases of psychological problems and the deteriorating availability of professional care, Czech employees are putting more and more emphasis on benefits related to mental health support.

Over half of the employees are interested in them, and this goes up to three-quarters in the field of corporate services. However, only 40 percent of business services workers, 25 percent of IT people, 18 percent of white-collar and 13 percent of blue-collar workers can use them.

The survey was carried out online during February and March 2023 with 2,405 respondents from all over the Czech Republic. In the survey, individual job seekers revealed what benefits their current employer provides them and what they would prefer in the future.