Median wages have increased in Belgium, but by how much? Which province has seen the biggest increase? (Map)
Changing the system, but at what cost?
Today, 78% of Belgian companies still use scales based on seniority, according to Acerta Consult. Employees with more seniority therefore receive a higher salary. However, most of these companies would like to do away with this system. Only 26% of companies want to keep seniority as a salary criterion for their staff in the future. The others would prefer to pay their employees based on their performance (40%) and their professional skills or competences (34%).
Results of the survey on the question on what basis employers see their workers’ remuneration being set in the future. ©Acerta/Indiville
“Basing their salary on the skills and performance of the worker is already a widespread system.”In Japan, performance-related pay was introduced for historical reasons to increase the level of capital after World War II., explains in a review American economist Edward Lazear. Before adding: “Employees were rewarded with bonuses of up to 30% of their total compensation when the company’s profits were high. This practice has also become widespread in the United States, although initially reserved for senior executives. For example, a large portion of executive compensation is in the form of shares or stock options.”
guillement
It must not be profit for profit, nor carrot and stick.”
In Belgium, such a system is also entirely possible, but it must respect certain legal conditions.Belgium has the particularity that a minimum wage must be determined for the worker.explains Laura Couchard, remuneration expert at Acerta Consult. This fixed part varies from one sector to another and from the seniority acquired by the worker. This legal basis imposes a certain framework on the employer who would like to no longer base himself on seniority criteria. Currently, the legislation makes it impossible to pay completely in variable terms with us. But it is possible to move towards a more hybrid system.”
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The Acerta expert recommends that an employer adopts a system that uses fixed and predictable remuneration to provide security for the worker. And to add “bonuses” that would then result from criteria of skills and results.The downside, when you work a lot on the valorization of skills and performance, is that you put greater pressure on the shoulders of the worker. So, if you want to have a good salary policy, you necessarily have to have a good well-being policy.” This well-being framework should therefore require employers to set a viable and secure fixed minimum wage, as well as to offer “bonuses” in line with the company’s objectives and values.”The idea must remain to develop the talent of workers, in the perspective where they feel supported and belong to the company. It must not be profit for profit’s sake, nor a carrot and stick policy.”
