Survey: 4 out of 10 employees are unhappy with their pay in Romania

39.4% of participants in a latest survey say they are not satisfied with their salary, while 49.8% say it is OK, but could be better. Only 10.7% have no reason for dissatisfaction from this point of view. However, a possible salary renegotiation seems to be a solution for a fairly small percentage of employees, given that I do not think they could come up with arguments that would convince managers to grant the desired increase. Thus, 42% say that, a discussion in this sense, could bring them a maximum increase of 10%, 37.7% think that they could get between 10% and 20%, and 13.1% between 20% and 30% 3.1% are confident that a renegotiation could increase their salary by 30% – 40%, 2% between 40% and 50% and 2.1% above 50%.

“Many candidates complain that they are not good negotiators of their own salaries and that such a discussion with their manager causes them a heightened state of discomfort. This happens not only when conducting the interview from the position of employee, but also in the final stages of recruitment. That’s why, for example, almost half of the respondents said that, throughout their careers, they received the most salary increases without asking for them. 35.3% received them only after they asked for them, while for 16.6% it is difficult to make an estimate”, declares Ana Călugăru, Head of Communications at eJobs.ro, an online recruitment from Romania.

32.1% of respondents complain that although they try to negotiate, they rarely get the desired amount. 20.9% admit that they do not like and do not manage to negotiate at all, that is why they always accept the offer proposed by the employer. Less than a third believe themselves to be doing very well, since they almost always managed to get the amounts they wanted, while 20.7% find it difficult to assess their negotiating skills.

Moreover, the survey also shows that 39.6% of participants have not negotiated their salary since employment, while 19.5% did so at the beginning of the year. For 18.4%, more than a year has passed since the last negotiation, and 6.5% went through this stage in the last month. 15.8% say they don’t even remember the last time this happened.

When they want to get a salary increase, 54.6% adopt the classic method of presenting their recent professional achievements to the manager. 14.8% say directly that they no longer feel motivated by the current salary, 10% justify this request by the increase in prices from the last year and the same number do a preliminary research on the salaries offered in the market, for the same position, and present the data to the manager . “Another strategy that employees have resorted to quite a bit over the past year has been to come up with a counteroffer received from another employer. It’s not necessarily a winning option and many managers tend to have an adverse reaction to employees who do this,” explains Ana Călugăru.

On the other hand, if they do not receive the expected salary increase, 41% of employees start looking for a new job, and 23.9% even tell their manager verbatim that they will start taking steps in this regard. 22.6% say they understand the situation and are therefore waiting for a time when things will be better financially for the company.

Almost 10% consider a refusal from the manager as a strong demotivating factor.However, most of the respondents would not be in a hurry to accept a new job if the salary offer was not at least 30% above the current salary – this is what a third of the survey participants say. 22.6% would go elsewhere for at least 20% and 14.3% for at least 50% more. 12.2% would not make the switch for less than 40%, and 10.2% would only resign if faced with a double offer. Those very dissatisfied with their current job (11.2%) would also accept a maximum 10% higher salary.