A majority of Belgian employers want to move towards remuneration based on employees' skills rather than the length of their service, a study by the human resources company Acerta Consult revealed on Tuesday.
Most of the surveyed companies (78%) in Belgium base their pay on employees' seniority level. However, according to the survey, only 26% of companies want this to remain a criterion when determining salaries in the future. Instead, employers prefer pay based on employees' professional competencies (34%) and performance (40%).
Nonetheless, the HR company warned against a discrepancy between the preferences of employers and employees. The study showed that 85% of employees want certainty regarding how much they will earn per month and how their salary will change over the next five to ten years.
"Workers in our country would like to be sure that the same salary is paid into their bank account every month. [...] As long as the remuneration policy offers this, employees say they are open to other solutions," said Acerta Consult remuneration expert Laura Couchard.
The study also revealed that Belgian employees are generally satisfied with their wages, rating this a seven out of ten on average.
The data of the study was obtained through a survey commissioned by Acerta Consult to Indiville. The survey was carried out between 16 January and 1 February 2024 and included a representative sample of over 2,700 employees and 500 employers. The employee data was weighted to be representative of the country in relation to factors such as age, language and sector.
