Ernst & Young announces launch of 2013 Compensation & Benefits Survey in Armenia

 Ernst & Young CJSC has announced the launch of the 2013 Compensation & Benefits Survey in Armenia, the company's Marketing Service told ArmInfo.

In 2013, general and specialized industry reports will be issued based on the Compensation & Benefits Survey Report. Similar to previous years, the Survey Report will consist of two parts. One part will cover salary information, including monthly and annual fixed pay as well as annual variable compensation, a description of the compensation structure for each job presented in the Report and actual (current) and planned salary changes in percentage terms. The other part will provide detailed information on HR policies used by the surveyed companies, such as salary arrangements and structure of cash compensation, working time arrangements, social allowances, business travel policies, employee motivation programs and non-cash
benefits, recruitment policy, training and development, HR agenda and development plans and other issues related to HR policies.

Subject to data sufficiency, salary data will be presented by regions (marzes).  It is planned that the final Survey Report will be issued by the end of September 2013.  Upon request, Survey Reports for particular industries can be provided by a sooner date.  Specialized industry reports will include remuneration data for industry-specific jobs, as well as information regarding benefits and HR policies and practices specific to the selected industry, such as financial services and banking,  IT and telecom, pharmaceuticapharmaceutical, FMCGl and other industries. Issuance of specialized industry reports will be subject to participation of at least seven companies from the selected industry.

By data of Ernst & Young, in 2012, the number of companies which participated in the Compensation and Benefits Survey in Armenia increased to 40 Armenian and international companies from various industries. In addition to the general industry report, specialized industry reports were issued for the financial services and banking sector as well as the pharmaceutical industry involving 14 and 7 companies, respectively. The final Report provided salary data on 114 cross-industry jobs for general industry, 128 positions for the financial services and banking sector and 6 positions for the
pharmaceutical sector. A wide spectrum of information on HR policies and practices in Armenia was also included.

Despite the fact that the majority of the surveyed companies had no plans to change the number of personnel in the next year, 38% of the companies planned to increase, and only 7% planned to reduce staff in 2013. With respect to external indicators used as a base of salary changes, similar to prior years, market data on the actual level of salaries remains the most popular indicator, followed by the inflation rate and cost of living index.  Finally, regarding HR priorities, the results showed that companies highlight the importance of performance evaluation & management, motivation & retention of employees as well as training & development as the most important HR issues for the next 12 months.

 "The results of the surveys prove the market to have been gradually Activating. Many companies  in the Armenian market have been introducing and  improving employee motivation systems,  non-cash benefit packages and increasingly using short-term and long-term incentive plans, etc," says Eric Hayrapetyan, Ernst & Young Yerevan Office Leader. 

Ernst & Young conducts the Compensation and Benefits Survey, as well as a number of other surveys, annually in nearly all CIS countries.

Hundreds of companies are involved in General industry surveys, specialized industry surveys (banking, insurance, FMCG, logistics, pharmaceutical, IT, Telecom, non-profit organizations, etc.), customized surveys (key market players, top management surveys, foreign employees, regional surveys) and other surveys. According to Ernst & Young's management, the main reasons for the popularity of the surveys are the volatility of the labor market and growing demand of companies for reliable market data on compensation levels. In Armenia ,the company has been conducting the given surveys for
already 4 years. 

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services. The company's team of 167,000 people are united by shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality.  The company's 19 offices in the post-Soviet space comprise 4000 specialists.  The company entered the Armenian market in 1999 and intensified activity in 2008 when EY Yerevan joined the CIS sub-region.