Illustrative stock photo (source: SME)
The beginning of May will burden employers in Slovakia with several new duties. Apart from the hike in work surcharges they will have to publish the exact minimum salaries in job offers. The Labour Ministry has pushed through this new duty to make remuneration more transparent and to intensify competition between companies for workers.
“Such a competition and fight for a quality labour force between companies is welcomed,” said Labour Minister Jan Richter. “This may also be a way of naturally increasing wages.”
Employers and HR warn that the new duty would not create more transparency in the labour market, also pointing out its bad timing. Along with work surcharges, companies are preparing for the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Moreover, the qualified labour shortage the Slovak labour market has been suffering from is pushing companies to fight for workers either with higher wages or other benefits.
New legislation
As of May 1, companies will be obliged to publish the base pay in all their job offers. Employers will also not be allowed to sign work agreements with a recruited employee with a lower base pay than listed in the job offer. Failing to meet the mandatory disclosure duty may cost companies a fine of up to €33,193.91 while companies will face a fine of up to €100,000 if they do not give the recruited employee the disclosed minimum base pay.
The new duty does not apply to public administration posts since wages are set based on tariff tables. Neither does it apply to job offers abroad.
The way it is now
In Slovakia the topic of remuneration is kind of taboo, where it is even not polite to ask people how much they earn. And in case of higher positions a prohibition from disclosing a person’s salary is often part of the employment contract.
