Magazine: FMCG’s ‘name will be noble once more, worthy of our past, our great lore…’?

8565.pngFMCG’s ‘name will be noble once more, worthy of our past, our great lore…’?

In the last few years the FMCG sector was unable to attract the best workers. Although the sector is still less attractive than in its heyday in the 1990s, finally its reputation amongst workers has started to improve. Retail trade also bettered its position – according to the results of the Randstad Employer Branding survey, conducted for the fourth time in Hungary.

Salary is still the most important job choice factor, 74 percent said it was important, but this proportion was 7 percent smaller than in previous years. A good workplace atmosphere (2nd most important factor) and work-life balance (4th most important factor) are now more important to workers than before. From an employer perspective, one of the basic pillars of employee loyalty is to be aware of the fact that people want to make progress. The second pillar is the work-life balance mentioned above, while the third pillar is acknowledging the work done by employees.

Jim Stroud, USA

It is also noteworthy that job security is still the 3rd most important job choice factor, but it is losing its importance. Another Randstad survey has revealed that today already 62 percent of workers think they could find a position with a similar salary quickly. People are now willing to travel more for having a good workplace. This is good news for employers, but it also means that travel and accommodation have to be organised for such employees.

Randstad’s study has also found that each persons’ expectations are very different, so what employers should do when trying to recruit new workers is to emphasise what kind of worker expectations the given job meets, e.g. work-life balance and flexibility should be stressed for women, career and salary for men, etc.

In the last few years the automotive industry and services were the most popular sectors, but in 2017 the FMCG sector and the pharmaceutical industry finished in the first two places. FMCG companies have realised that they need to make employees more satisfied if they wish to recruit new workers or keep the ones they have. 40 percent of employees would like to work in the FMCG sector – 2 percentage points more than last year. Last year 22 percent said they would work in retail trade, but this year this proportion increased to 28 percent. Despite this, retail is still the least desired area of work in Hungary.