Evolution of the number of employees
24% of Romanian companies do not expect any increase in the number of employees in 2018 compared to only 17% in the previous year. At the same time, 63% of companies, compared to 79% previously, say they expect their staff to grow this year. Furthermore, 13% of companies expect their number of employees to decrease in 2018, compared with 4% in 2017.
At an industry level, 35% of industrial manufacturing firms, 27% of construction and real estate, 31% of the agriculture and food industry, 40% of telecommunications and 37% of energy and utilities say they will maintain in 2018 the same number of employees as in 2017.
Evolution of salary levels
If in early 2017, 4% of companies did not forecast wage increases, in 2018 the percentage rose to 17%. The percentage of companies that will increase salaries by 1% -5% in 2018 goes up by 8pp as compared to the previous year. Adjustments are to companies expecting salaries to grow by 5% -10% (-11pp) and those expecting salary increases of 10% -20% (-9pp).
The increase of the minimum gross national salary guaranteed in payment from 1450 lei to 1900 lei from 1 January 2018 affects the companies mainly by decreasing the profitability (70%). On the second place in terms of impact, 29% of companies say it is above the sustainability threshold for labor costs, and third place 24% of companies have reduced the number of employees. 20% of companies say they are not affected by this change and only 1% have checked the entry into insolvency and the temporary suspension of the company’s activity.
Top 5 Challenges and Opportunities
The most important challenges for companies in early 2018 are the following: tax changes (62%), lack of workforce (59%), improving productivity (37%), motivating employees (25%) and rising costs (21%).
The most important opportunities for companies in early 2018 are the following: economic growth (72%), growth in consumption (69%), growth in exports and opening up other markets (52%), digitization and online opportunities (41%) and access to European funds and SME funding (36%).
„The Business outlook in 2018 survey is differentiated by the traceability, comparability and statistical relevance of hundreds of respondents in Romania. Our research summarizes the opinion of Romanian companies regarding the main indicators relevant to them. The results indicate distrust in economic developments in 2018. Independent of the peculiarities of each industry, the comparative analysis with similar data in the same period of 2017 shows the negative evolution of the main indicators. Under the growing pressure from the operating environment, companies are becoming more cautious. The confidence score that companies in Romania give to the operating environment shows the need for a review of the proposed and approved fiscal and legislative measures”, says Dumitru Ion, CEO Kompass Romania and Doingbusness.ro.
The survey conducted by Valoria on managers’ perception of the evolution of the Romanian business environment in early 2018 is based on a questionnaire analyzing the perceptions of 475 top executives from companies active in various industries. The questionnaire was applied between 15 January and 30 January 2018. 5% of respondents come from companies with a turnover of more than EUR 100 million, 4% of companies with turnover between EUR 50-100 million, 18% with turnover between EUR 10-50 million, 43% with a turnover of between EUR 1-10 million and 30% under EUR 1 million turnover. 44% of respondents are CEO / President / CEO. This study was conducted in partnership with Doingbusiness.ro.
Valoria Business Solutions is a company providing training, consulting and executive coaching services. The company’s mission is to transform the potential of teams and organizations into value. Competence, confidence, innovation and passion are the values that sustain us in everything we do. We believe in people, in their aspiration for personal and professional fulfillment, and their willingness to accelerate their potential. Learn more about them at: www.valoria.ro.
