PwC: Romanian New Employments Down 75% YY In ’09

Furthermore, the crisis brought resignations down from 18.3% in 2008 to 8% in 2009, according to the PwC Saratoga Romania 2010 survey.

"Romanian companies have a lower rate of internal recruitment - 1.3% compared to the European average of 4.3%. This indicator shows a significant decrease as compared to the 2008 level, when Romanian internal recruitment rate was 11.1%, which means that companies have sought to maintain their existing labor force, but have also significantly reduced the number of promotions or lateral movements within the firm," said Peter de Ruiter, Tax and Legal Services Leader, PwC Romania.

"Decreasing of revenue and lack of promotion opportunities influenced employees' morale, a fact that results in higher absenteeism, lower engagement rate and an increase in unproductive behaviors", he added.

A high rate of absenteeism (12%) was noted among managers in the financial system.

The companies from the consumer goods sector reported the lowest revenue per full time employee, a lower remuneration level compared to other industry sectors and a low rate of engagement, as expressed by the high absence rate (4.2% for the entire sector).

On the other hand, telecom and technology companies posted the highest revenue per full time employee, which counterbalanced the high costs per employee. This sector is also characterized by a low absenteeism rate (just 3.2%), as well as an above average rate of staff fluctuations, especially among specialists (14.3%).

"The industrial products sector was severely hit by the economic crisis, with low revenues per full time employee and a high rate of dismissal. Companies had to cut labour costs in order to survive the difficult market circumstances," the report reads.

The PwC survey also shows that employee return on investment rose by 19% in Romania in 2009.

"Also, the costs of labor as a percentage from the total costs of the companies decreased from 12.2% before the crisis to 9.3%. At current levels, the Romanian costs of labor are more than half the labor costs incurred by companies in Western-Europe," the document notes.

According to PwC Saratoga Romania 2010, corporate investment in training and development dropped 50% between 2008 and 2009, but the number of training hours remained the same.

"There is also a growing tendency for companies to externalize their human resource activities (a 70% increase in the number of companies using outsourced human resource services), which lead to a decrease in the cost of the Human Resource department within the companies' total costs, from 0.32% in 2008, to just 0.17% in 2010," the document notes.

The survey uses data collected from 58 companies active on four economic sectors, namely telecom, industry, durable goods and financial services.

PricewaterhouseCoopers provides financial audit services, fiscal consultancy and business consultancy, with its 161,000 employees in 154 countries.

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