Meal vouchers, cars, bonuses and other benefits punctuate the lives of some employees. In tense sectors where talent is in short supply, companies have to multiply their attentions to the point of becoming a little paternalistic. In a post-Covid environment where the employee has taken over, companies must adapt.
Everything that is scarce is expensive. The adage also applies to certain categories of employees who are in demand on the labour market. This is particularly true in the IT sector and in startups. In a world where young recruits rule, companies have to pamper them in order to keep hard-to-find talent. While the big names can afford to be generous with their employees, who just have to focus on their work, some companies have no choice but to offer benefits in kind in order to stand out from the crowd and attract talent with a 'company culture' where the needs of employees are central. In Silicon Valley, Google and Facebook have been offering free meals for years, from breakfast to dinner. This makes life easier for 'nerds' who don't take time to cook at home anyway. It's a way to get employees into the office earlier and to make them stay later if necessary.
Chaffa Zaroui, founder and CEO of Fidès Executive Partner, a recruitment agency specialising in IT for the financial sector, carried out a study last March which confirms a shortage of talent in the sector. "I counted 4,800 open positions in IT in Luxembourg. As a result, some positions are very difficult to fill", she explains. Candidates are therefore potentially spoilt for choice and become very demanding.
Today, in a post-Covid-19 era, employees have developed a taste for remote work and negotiate it from the moment they start to work. Thus, companies that are flexible in this respect already have an advantage. Ben Embleton, recruiter at KR Recruitment, which specialises in the financial sector, also believes that employees have become more demanding and that companies have had to adapt, regardless of their size: "Standards have risen in recent years. A company that sets up in Luxembourg and does not offer lunch vouchers will be very badly regarded, it has become the minimum for candidates. Private pension, health insurance, all this has become very commonplace, so companies have to align themselves and offer even more if they want to be attractive. For example, transport allowances have disappeared with the advent of free public transport. They have been replaced by a wellness allowance in some companies to go to the gym or to Mondorf."
You want more? Get access now.
-
One-year subscription€185.00/year
-
Monthly subscription€18.50/month
-
Zukunftsabo for subscribers under the age of 26€120.00/year
Already have an account?
Log in
