According to a survey of salaries and benefits by Platy.cz with more than 73,000 respondents, the share of people entitled to no benefits at work increased at all levels of positions in 2012. On average, the share of people with no benefits in the Czech Republic increased by about 1 % a year to 24%.
The survey confirmed regional differences in non-financial benefits. While only 19% of employees and 22% of respondents in Brno had no benefit, is was already a share of 29% in the Ústí nad Labem and Liberec region. In the Karlovy Vary region, 34% of people got no benefits.
The higher the position, the greater the chances of a benefit
"Although the proportion of people with non-financial benefits has dropped, it still applies that the better the position, the more people in a given group have at least one benefit. 42% of people from the group of auxiliary employees state that they receive no benefit. Conversely, only 7% of top managers receive no benefit," says Kateřina Jaroňová from Profesia CZ, the company which operates the Platy.cz online survey of salaries and benefits.
The greatest annual change was felt by administrative employees because while 22 % of them received 22% no benefit in 2011, it was already 25% last year. On the other hand, the share of qualified technical employees remained the same when only 16% of them received no benefits in both the years.
Table 1: Share of people who receive no benefit
| Level of position | 2011 | 2012 |
| Auxiliary employees | 41% | 42% |
| Skilled workers, employees in the service sector | 37% | 39% |
| Administrative employees | 22% | 25% |
| Qualified technical employees | 16% | 16% |
| Qualified non-technical employees | 22% | 24% |
| Lower and middle managers | 11% | 12% |
| Top managers | 6% | 7% |
Source: Platy.cz
Meal vouchers remain the most common benefit
The five most common non-financial benefits include meal vouchers provided to 45% of people. Benefits such as flexible working hours (26%), extra vacation days (24%), pension insurance (23%) and mobile phones for private purposes (23%) follow.
The year-on-year comparison shows the largest increase of 4% in the share of employees receiving meal vouchers. The largest decrease of 2% relates to the benefit of education. This benefit is offered less and less, even though it was offered to 33% of employees in 2008, ie. to 15% more than this year. The cause may be in the drastic HR budget limits during the crisis when training costs were cut as the first.
"An overview of the benefits monitored and their share can be found in the table below. The survey also includes a box called other benefits which, in recent times, often include employee discounts, housing allowances or sick days - paid days used to recover. We therefore decided to include these 3 benefits in the survey, too," adds Jaroňová.
Table 2: Annual change in the share of employees with non-financial benefits
| Non-financial benefits | 2011 | 2012 |
| Meal vouchers | 41% | 45% |
| Flexible working hours | 26% | 26% |
| Extra vacation days | 25% | 24% |
| Pension insurance | 21% | 23% |
| Mobile phone for private purposes | 22% | 23% |
| Free drinks in the workplace | 19% | 18% |
| Education of employees | 20% | 18% |
| Notebook for private purposes | 15% | 16% |
| Possibility to work from home | 7% | 8% |
| Company car for private purposes | 8% | 7% |
| Paid commuting costs | 5% | 5% |
| Corporate weekend events | 5% | 5% |
| Reimbursement of sports and cultural activities | 5% | 4% |
| Contribution to health insurance | 4% | 3% |
| Above-standard health care | 2% | 2% |
Source: Platy.cz