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In 2010, employee benefits were most frequently provided in banking and the insurance industry

The survey of company collective agreements that was based on the Working Conditions Information System (hereinafter referred to as the WCIS) managed by the MoLSA of the Czech Republic has shown that in 2010, social partners laid great emphasis not only on arrangements in the field of wage development and industrial relations but an important role was also played by arrangements concerning employee benefits and other employee advantages provided in excess of Act No. 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code, or other legal regulations as the case may be. With regard to the fact that employee benefits represent an important motivation tool used by employers not only for recruitment of new employees but also for keeping the current qualified ones, we shall further focus on those benefits that are arranged by employers in the business sphere in their collective agreements most frequently.

The survey included an analysis of 1,316 collective agreements of employees from the business sphere who represented 19 sections of economic activities with more than 762,000 employees.

Employee benefits arranged in the collective agreements for 2010 are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Benefits provided in excess of Act No. 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code, or other legal regulations as the case may be, pursuant to collective agreements of the business sphere in 2010.

Employee benefits Share of collective agreements
[%]
1. Meal allowance 94.8
2. Higher holiday leave entitlement 83.3
3. Remuneration on the occasion of an important work or life jubilee 76.9
4. Provision of time off with wage compensation upon an obstacle at work on the employee's side (wedding. birth of a child. death in the family) 75.0
5. Contribution to contributory pension scheme 57.5
6. Higher redundancy payment in case of termination by the employer 51.7
7. Social fund/programme 46.0
8. 13th wage 42.3
9. Flexible working hours 22.9
10. Contribution to life insurance 19.0
11. Provision of products or services at a discounted price 17.0
12. Wage compensation for the first 3 days of incapacity to work  6.3
13. Contribution to transport to and from work  3.5
14. Contribution to temporary accommodation  2.0
15. Work from home  0.3
Total 100.0

Source: WCIS

Table 1 shows that the most frequent benefit provided to employees in the business sphere in 2010 was the meal allowance. Other most wide-spread benefits included extension of the holiday leave in excess of the Labour Code, provision of remunerations upon important work and life jubilees, provision of time off with wage compensation and contribution to life insurance. Some benefits are sometimes put aside despite the fact that they were arranged in a great number of collective agreements - for example the provision of time off with wage compensation upon important family events (e.g. wedding or birth of a child) or higher redundancy payment upon termination by the employer. On the other hand, some benefits appear rather sporadically in the collective agreements, e.g. provision of products and services at a discounted price, wage compensation for the first 3 days of incapacity to work, contribution to transport to and from work or contribution to temporary accommodation.

In 2010, benefits were most frequently provided to employees working in the field of banking and the insurance industry and in the field of mining and extraction. On the other hand, the least benefits were provided to employees in the field of education and in the field of trade and repairs of motor vehicles.

In addition to the basic summary in Table 1, it is possible to obtain detailed information about selected benefits from WCIS. You can find further information about individual benefits at the server www.kolektivnismlouvy.cz.

11/1/2011