Randstad’s HR Trends survey for 2024 captures the main trends and challenges for the Greek labor market in attracting top talent.
According to the survey, 72% of companies plan to increase the salaries of their employees, 53% of companies intend to proceed with new hires, while 25% of companies support the use of artificial intelligence and plan to expand it in the operation their.
In particular, the working reality is shaped by significant changes, bringing about the need to upgrade the skills of employees, simultaneously with their adaptation to rapid technological progress. With artificial intelligence taking over and creating new data in the labor market, the HR Trends survey from Randstad, the global leader in the HR services industry, documents how businesses are adapting to the new economic conditions and how they are meeting the challenges, while highlighting the strategies they intend to adopt in the future.
Key challenges for companies remain the high and unrealistic salary expectations of employees (63% of companies), while during the recruitment process they are asked to face the lack of necessary work experience in the respective field of specialization (53%) and the appropriate combination of skills (41%).
According to Randstad’s HR Trends 2024 survey, 66% of businesses see talent attraction as the most important challenge in their operations, while 54% of companies face difficulties in maintaining employee engagement. Business challenges are compounded by retaining and developing talented, top-performing leaders (53%), as well as talent shortages (39%), making it a priority to develop strategies to find, attract and retain the right people.
The provision of education and training programs emerges as an effective tool that many companies are willing to adopt or have already adopted (63%) in order to address HR challenges in general. At the same time, improving wages (59%) and offering a hybrid or remote work model (31%) represent additional approaches to addressing the challenges, reflecting the need for businesses to seek multi-dimensional solutions to improve performance and employee satisfaction. their human resources.
Recruitment plans for 2024
According to the results of Randstad’s HR Trends survey for 2024, the labor market in Greece maintains significant positive elements, as 53% of businesses express their intention to increase the number of their employees, maintaining similar levels to the previous year ( 54% in 2023). On the contrary, only 4% of companies are thinking of reducing their human resources, while 39% are expected to keep it at the same levels as the previous year. 48% of businesses recognize that overall employment costs will be the biggest challenge for 2024, while 46% are concerned about securing processes and guaranteeing the productivity of their employees.
The constant, but at the same time increasing tendency of companies to increase the number of their human resources is due to their business development (89%), the creation of new jobs (57%), the need for new skills (30%), as well as the investment plans they intend to implement (27%). Of particular interest are the hiring prospects for the technology and sales sectors, which are, again this year, at the top of the ranking, with a percentage of 53% and 43% respectively, while the sectors with the greatest difficulties in finding talent are engineering (83 %), technology (78%) and production (57%).
When it comes to recruitment processes, employee referrals and professional digital networks are the most common practices and sources of finding human resources.
Business attractiveness and benefits
Executives surveyed rank competitive compensation and benefits packages, as well as career advancement opportunities, at the top of their list for attracting top talent. A key takeaway from the 2024 survey is that offering competitive packages is almost twice as important as the average for all other attributes in attracting new talent, and has seen a significant increase compared to the previous year. For another year, the pleasant working environment, the maintenance of work-life balance and the possibility of flexible work, applying either a hybrid employment model or remote work, are decisive reasons for the attractiveness of the employer.
In fact, the adoption of training programs (78%) and the possibility of a flexible form of employment (58%) emerge as the most important strategic moves that companies will implement in 2024 in terms of non-financial benefits offered. At the same time, companies also offer financial benefits to their human resources, providing a mobile phone (74%), individual performance bonus (74%), private insurance (64%) and meal plans (61%).
Attitude towards artificial intelligence and its impact
According to the survey results, which capture the different views and approaches of businesses to the adoption of artificial intelligence, 25% of companies support its use and plan to expand it. 32% are “open” to its use, but only in specific areas, 38% have not formed an opinion on its use, while only 4% do not foresee its use in the future. It is typical that 15% estimate that open jobs will increase, 34% believe that there will be a decrease, while 51% foresee no change.
According to the HR Trends 2024 survey, companies are expected to use artificial intelligence in various areas of their business activity, including technology (55%), marketing and advertising (36%), as well as of customer service (29%).
The application of artificial intelligence opens up new horizons in the world of entrepreneurship, offering both substantial benefits and challenges that every business must face. Faster processing of data and more accurate predictions (69%), automation of repetitive tasks (64%) and higher productivity (38%) are significant advantages of integrating artificial intelligence into business operations. However, these developments are also accompanied by challenges, such as the lack of qualified personnel (53%), ensuring data protection (43%) and the high cost of implementing and operating (34%) artificial intelligence.
Main reasons for leaving employees
Looking at the reasons why employees change work environments, 64% of employees leave their current job because they receive better pay or more favorable working conditions from another employer, and 46% seek more career development opportunities in another environment.
At the same time, 18% of employees decide to leave their current job, to follow a different professional path, outside the corporate environment. Other reasons for leaving are the heavy workload (18%) and not aligning with the company’s culture and values (17%). For most of the companies surveyed, the staff turnover rate in the previous year remained at reasonable levels, with 70% of companies recording an attrition rate of between 1% and 15%.
Salaries in Greece: technology and sales the sectors with the highest salaries
According to the results of the survey, as reflected in the salary report for 2024 of the current labor market in Greece, 21% of employees consider their salaries to be higher than those offered by competing companies and 65% consider them to be in the same range flat. For another year, the highest financial salaries are offered in the technology and sales industry, while in third and fourth place are the finance and shipping industries. Finally, 72% of companies plan to offer higher salaries to their employees in 2024, while only 17% will see salaries remain at the same levels.
The research
Randstad’s 2024 survey was conducted from October 2023 to March 2024, with the participation of 585 leaders from different market sectors in Greece, with an important role in HR decision-making. On the occasion of the publication of the survey, which will be presented and analyzed in the special webinar that will take place on Thursday, May 16, the salary report concerning different sectors of the Greek market is presented, as every year. Leda Sgouraki, Director, Professionals, Randstad Greece, and Grigoris Anastasiadis, Commercial Director, Randstad Greece, will focus on the hiring plans in the Greek labor market, the obstacles faced by companies during their recruitment process, as well as the strategic moves of human resources departments of companies, to respond positively to today’s challenges.
obstacles during the business staffing process: challenges and effective solutions.
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