Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
On the other hand, firing people in Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg is the most expensive, according to the latest International Dismissal Survey of the network of law offices Deloitte Legal which has compared the conditions and costs of laying off employees in 31 countries. Recently, some countries – e.g. Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy – have changed their legislation concerning termination of work contracts.
Layoff costs are generally higher in western than in central Europe, Miroslava Terem Greštiaková, attorney in Deloitte Legal, said for the TASR newswire. Slovakia is among the countries with higher dismissal costs only in the case of a medium length experience, when the job is terminated due to organisational reasons, she said.
Regarding experienced employees and employees without any practice, we are still rather on the bottom of the chart, according to Róbert Minachin, attorney in Deloitte Legal, said, adding that in most countries, the difference in costs when firing an employee because of organisational reasons, and for reasons stemming from the employee – like health reasons or insufficient performance – are minimum.
When comparing the total costs of layoffs, both factors like minimum payment of severance based on the law, and the costs exceeding the minimum legal framework, aimed at arriving at an agreement with the employee, were taken into account. Generally spoken, the decisive factor for the amount of costs for dismissing an employee is mainly the duration of the job; while the costs are further increased by the length of the notice period which is different for individual jurisdictions, according to Greštiaková.
