20.06.2023
3 WAYS TO ENCOURAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES
For a company to be successful, its employees must be productive, engaged and creative. It directly depends on their motivation. It is crucial for any company to encourage its employees so that they give their best.
What most affects employee motivation?
Employees like to be incentivized and rewarded when they achieve results. Financial benefits have a significant impact on their work morale, and development opportunities keep them engaged. Factors such as work-leisure balance, a positive work environment and flexible working hours also play a role in maintaining high motivation. In the next few lines, we will look at three main ways to encourage company employees to be more motivated.
Choose the right social benefits and bonuses
When your employees achieve high results, praise alone is not enough. Choose the right benefits and bonuses to reward high performers. Social benefits should be part of your arsenal even for those employees who achieve the set goals and work with commitment and dedication.
Choosing social benefits and bonuses that will appeal to each individual employee is not easy. Therefore, there are universal tools such as food vouchers, bonus schemes, supplementary health insurance, corporate discounts. They give each employee the opportunity to choose how to spend the honestly earned amount according to his taste and preference.
Organize fun events
If you want to raise the level of emotions among the team, then you can build on the financial incentives and organize a company party, team-building or a more modest event in the office, where employees can relax and have fun together. Whether you will rent a karaoke bar where everyone can show off their singing skills, whether you will organize a nice weekend away from the office or just have an evening cocktail-making competition in one of the company's meeting rooms, it doesn't really matter. The important thing is to do it often enough and make sure everyone participates.
Give feedback
Something that won't cost any money, but the effect is undeniable, is providing feedback. Very often, employees leave a company because they did not understand in time whether and how much they are valued by the employer, and especially by their direct supervisor. Create a company culture where feedback is important. Don't let managers wait for the annual appraisal to give feedback to team members. Uncertainty about how an employee is performing causes him or her to look for a new job just in case. In addition, through timely and correct feedback, some minor shortcomings in the employee's work can be prevented. It's not an easy job, but if you succeed, there's a chance you can significantly reduce the number of people who leave voluntarily, and also increase the efficiency and productivity of employees.
What are the mistakes you should not make?
Perhaps the most effective way to realize for yourself the mistakes you make when managing a team and trying to keep the motivation level high is by putting yourself in the shoes of your employees. However, this is by no means an easy task. Therefore, we have prepared some common mistakes that you should avoid.
The list is long, but back to the original advice – when you get to the stage of deciding on motivators and the work environment, put yourself in your employees' shoes and think about how this will affect their motivation or engagement. This way you will almost always manage to avoid mistakes.
20.06.2023
BDB WILL GIVE LOANS TO COMPANIES WITH PROJECTS UNDER NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN PROGRAMS
The Bulgarian Development Bank will support companies implementing projects under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the European Structural and Investment Funds.
This is the first loan program of the state bank developed entirely in sync with business. Through it, the Bulgarian Development Bank will provide access to resources for the implementation of projects under European and National programs, making it easier for companies encountering difficulties in starting their activities due to a lack of bridging or supplementary financing.
The bank will provide investment loans of up to BGN 5 million with a repayment term of up to 6 years and a grace period of up to 2 years for companies applying for grants under National and European programs.
Companies can also take advantage of an unsecured working credit of up to BGN 200,000 in addition to investment funds. The terms of both loans are preferential.
The Bulgarian Development Bank provides financing for the full value of the projects (100%) to already approved applicants, as well as up to 85% of the costs for those who have not yet signed their grant contracts.
The new program is in fulfillment of the bank's strategic goals of supporting the implementation of government policies and contributing to increasing investment activity among small and medium-sized businesses. It will provide an instrument for accelerated absorption of EU funds and will support the green transition of the Bulgarian economy.
19.06.2023
ONLY 8% OF THE EMPLOYED IN OUR COUNTRY HAVE ABOVE AVERAGE DIGITAL SKILLS
Only 8% of the employed in our country have above average digital skills and only 30% have basic digital skills. And the implementation of high technologies in medium and small enterprises reaches 25 percent or half of the average share for the European Union.
A conference of the Bulgarian Industrial Chamber is looking for solutions to these problems, with the participation of employers, trade unionists, representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs and non-governmental organizations.
The labor market needs an unprecedented change of skills and competence in the workplace, from the Bulgarian Industrial Chamber says.
At the same time, a study by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences shows that most of the employed would not participate in training if it did not lead to increased wages.
And the lower the position, the less likely they are to participate in digital skills training. This leads to the danger of digital marginalization of the population, warned the Deputy Minister of Social Affairs.
"We are talking about relegation, exclusion from the socio-economic life of a large part of the population. We have a rather serious financial resource. I would say unprecedented, which the state has never had before in terms of training for adults, in particular digital skills - over Bulgaria has invested 1.6 billion euros from all funds in the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience".
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is implementing an investment of BGN 380 million for the digital training of 500,000 persons by the end of 2026, and 200,000 of them will be trained by the middle of next year.
16.06.2023
SUCCESS TECHNIQUES: BY HOURS OR BY TASKS? HOW IS IT BETTER TO STRUCTURE YOUR DAY
The first mechanical clocks in the world were those of the clock towers, created in Europe during the Renaissance, somewhere between 1270-1300, and in Bulgaria during the Renaissance around 1700. They had neither a dial nor hands, and the time was announced by the ringing of a bell. You can still hear them in many parts of the world and our country. People at that time had some idea of the time of day, but only in general terms. Bells were mainly used to announce collective events - church services, funerals, town meetings, etc.
In the late 1700s, a new device similar to the one we use today was created to measure time. It determined the time to the hour, minute and second. As a result, people began to behave and organize differently than before. The Industrial Revolution is the best example of how people began to organize their time using clocks while working in shifts on assembly lines. Their arrival and departure marks the working day. Public transport is developed where the clock determines when the train arrives at the station and when it leaves. Overall, the goal was to increase efficiency, and the watch turned out to be a great tool to achieve that. However, dividing the day into hours and minutes also implies that every minute must be accounted for, and this can be very limiting.
A world ruled by clocks
Let's go back in time to 2023. Watches are everywhere - from mobile devices that are always with us to sophisticated sports gadgets that show not only the time, but also the heart rate and the number of calories burned. At the same time, we live in a society that values not only time off from work, but also the very idea of the need for periodic rest for recharging and greater productivity. However, many of us also plan our free time with the help of watches.
It's kind of an oxymoron. Because the most important thing in the rest breaks at work and in the breaks from work itself is not to be efficient or responsible for every second. When someone needs a recharge, they want to stop, think, give themselves to the moment. But by continuing to divide the day into hours and minutes, we only turn our "free time" into another task that needs to be done efficiently and "on time." In a culture obsessed with timeliness, there is no room left for other ways to control our time.
Impact or effectiveness
In the study done by Psychology today, participants were asked to plan their day either by hours and minutes, or by the tasks they had to complete that day. It was then measured how using these two different ways of structuring time affected their sense of well-being and control over their actions.
The results obtained are quite unexpected. The prevailing assumption is that people who are punctual and structure their day based on units of time are more in control of their own actions and are more focused than those who divide their day based on tasks, because at first glance it is not clear when their day starts and ends for them. However, the study produced the opposite results.
Those who planned their day based on hourly units reported less control over their own actions and attributed most of their results to luck or coincidence (eg, "I did well on the exam because I was lucky, it was easy") . Those who planned based on the performance of tasks reported a stronger sense of control and mostly attributed the results to themselves (eg, "I did well on the exam because I studied hard on the outline and knew the answers to most of them ").
Researchers go further and examine how the type of day definition that affects a sense of control also affects those actions of a person that can benefit the environment or society - for example, by contributing to the reduction of global warming or donating money for charity. And again got unexpected results.
Those whose day was organized by hours reported less willingness to sacrifice than those whose day was defined by tasks. Furthermore, participants who use the time and are forced by the researchers to choose a charity to donate to are less interested in its goals (what the money will go to) and more in its results (impact and effectiveness). On the other hand, those who ignore time and strive to complete the task are as interested in the goals of the charities (eg donations for cancer research, fighting poverty, illiteracy, etc.) as they are in their effectiveness.
Back to the roots
People who use watches are likely to be more efficient at tasks, but less in tune with their emotions and ability to be in the moment. Using an external mechanism to control their world also makes them see the reality around them as a random, chaotic place where their efforts have no effect on the outcome, so what's the point of sacrificing if it doesn't change anything anyway?! People who throughout the day are guided by an inner feeling "Is the task accomplished?" Can I move on to the next one?” see more commonality and causality in the world and therefore believe that giving can matter.
Being more efficient and achieving the set goal may have been a strategy suited to the industrial times of the 19th and 20th centuries. But today, special importance is attached not only to the connections between people and the impact on the surrounding reality that the actions of an individual can have, but also to the opportunity to stop and take a breath. All of this is more suited to a world where people use watches less and manage their own sense of time, just as it was before the invention of the first mechanical clock.
16.06.2023
AN INDIVIDUAL APPROACH AND AN EQUAL START ARE PARAMOUNT TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Equal start and individual approach. These two factors were highlighted as key to increasing employee engagement and motivation during the second panel "Reinventing engagement" of the Next Level HR 2023 forum, organized by "Manager" magazine, which Consultancy Center - Berkovica presents to you in detail.
"Why are we reinventing people engagement as key for employers and what are the new ways to engage the people we work with?", these are the questions that the moderator of the second panel of the Next Level HR 2023 forum Maria Stoeva, Director of Sales and Business Development " in "ManpowerGroup" Bulgaria, started the conversation.
"In recent years, we have said a very big and definitive goodbye to the classic office, where people had to go to a certain workplace, start work at 8:30 or 9 and finish work at 5, 5:30 or 18:00 hours. The focus is now on what these people actually do and how effective they are, not so much when and where they work from. Their commitment, self-motivation and self-discipline came to the fore,” she said.
"The fact that the workplace has moved home since the pandemic began has changed quite a few factors that engage employees. What we observed 4-5 years ago was that employees are motivated by being part of a community – being together, having common goals and achieving those goals together. This was actually related to employer branding. It was this factor that was quite leading in terms of employee motivation. However, things have changed now," commented Hristo Borisov, co-founder of ARS Bulgaria.
He said that it is already noticeable that employees are looking more and more at their personal and independent goals, which they achieve individually. Employers should be flexible at this point and treat their employees as freelancers.
"The main role in the motivation of this type of groups is the direct manager, people expect constant feedback and their professional qualities to be developed," added Borisov.
"About 2-3 years ago, we introduced another factor - employee experience. How an employee joins the company, how he develops, how he is cared for, etc., he also said.
According to him, this is a trend that is being strengthened by the new generation of people entering the labor market. "They are quite marked individualists."
"More and more often we talk about developing the company as a community. It is becoming more and more important to have an internal community in order to be able to engage people not only with the mission and vision of the company, but also with the colleagues with whom they work in a team," notes Maria Stoeva.
Nadya Vasileva, chairwoman of the Bulgarian Employment Confederation, said that for her, the individual approach to people and the meaning of the work performed have always been important. "Seeing that you are doing something meaningful is one of the most important reasons that keep people in corporations."
She quotes William McKnight's thought from 1924: "If you put a fence around people, you get sheep."
"My idea was to break down those fences. When I appointed my people, I did not look for them to be exclusively cooperative with the company. For me, the sparkle in the eyes, the desire to learn was important," commented Vasileva.
According to her, it is extremely important for the leader to set the topic.
"In 2007, the crisis developed headlong, naturally it also came to Bulgaria. We had just opened the company and the whole business went downhill. I received instructions from above that I had to fire 50% of the people. I haven't blinked all night. The next day in the morning I called them together and said, "Guys, we're all working a 6-hour day." We worked like this for a year and not a single one was fired. We were able to float and I can't describe what a bond it was," she said. "You have to have an approach and finish things the way you want them to go."
Maria Stoeva pointed out that belonging is certainly important and we increasingly see in a number of reports that it has long been more than just about money when it comes to people's commitment. "Money can be a motivator and a demotivator, but people are looking for a lot more than that," she added, then asked what are the main other motivators?
"I believe everyone here is aware that money has never been the primary motivator for how engaged a person is," said Anna Gabrovska, Head of Culture and Human Capital, Philip Morris Bulgaria.
“I like that we talk about belonging. Even before the pandemic, there was a study by colleagues at Deloitte that talked about the need to create belonging. Naturally, this happens by uniting around a common goal. However, the purpose must be well understood. Just putting the vision in front of us is not enough because that vision becomes chimerical and impractical. If we have a common goal, I need to know what my contribution is to fulfill that goal,” she added.
In her words, the "employee journey," with all its mistakes and trials, is key to being able to go through all the internal processes, understand them well, and know how to contribute.
"This new opportunity - to be able to work from wherever we want is extremely important. Our organization offers 60 to 40 work within a month, which means 60% at home and 40% in the office. However, when we give this freedom, it is good to create conditions to attract people to the office, because that is where those interactions happen, so that they continue to like each other and support each other," said Gabrovska.
"New generations are coming that have certain requirements. I wouldn't call them selfish, but people who know what they want to achieve in the future," she added.
Maria Stoeva summarized that with regard to work outside the office, it is important that people have the necessary flexibility to have well-being in their personal lives, but it is also important that they see each other in the office from time to time and that something is done with them.
"Last year we did a study and developed personas of all the people who have a different approach to their working hours. It turned out that all that connected these people was the word freedom. It's not even flexibility because it's within the framework. Freedom is the feeling that you have the right to choose. I believe that this is what should lead us," said Gabrovska.
"A sense of freedom is very key. When people feel truly autonomous in their work and are highly engaged, they are usually also highly responsible," added Stoeva.
She noted that around the world and in Bulgaria we see that the standard 40-hour model is also being called into question. "We are seeing more and more countries and companies adapting the 4-day working model."
"The less work time we have, the more concentrated we are. It would be logical that the 4-day work week could give people the freedom we talked about to a greater extent," said Nadya Vasileva.
However, according to her, the people themselves should have sufficient responsibility and choose how to work.
“We have people with active bodies, we have people with passive bodies. Some can work from home and some can't. It's extremely important to bring that understanding, that's where the individual approach comes from - what paradigm everyone has around them," she said, adding that her dream is for people to work 2 hours a day.
In terms of macroeconomic trends, including declining economic growth and rising costs of living, she said this was because everyone in work was "wasting an enormous amount of valuable time in administrative work, crunching data into spreadsheets to can prove they deserve a salary'.
"That needs to go away, and if it wasn't there, everyone would be a lot more productive." I hope that digitization and robots will take over exactly this part of the work," Vasileva added.
"For me, this is the future, especially in a country like Bulgaria with the demographic problem we have. We are melting at 10 people per hour - 7 are born and 17 die. I don't see how it will happen without importing people from outside. Its economy needs at least 300,000 people and more," she added.
Hristo Borisov also commented on the 40-hour work week.
“What I would share is unlikely to appeal to all employees. We have to take a comprehensive look at the tracks of the Bulgarian economy. The coefficient of beneficial action in Bulgaria is extremely low. How then to solve this problem? It also depends on the industry. If, at this efficiency factor, we decide to shorten the work week by 1 day, what will most likely happen is that the employer will have to hire new people to make up for that 1 day. The employer will have to hire people which will cost him quite a lot,” he said.
According to him, this cost will be transferred to the services and products produced by the respective company.
"Regardless of whether it is the foreign market or the Bulgarian market, we are very price sensitive. This is the one element to look at. Yes, it is surmountable, but until that moment comes, companies should look flexibly at this challenge and at the 40-hour work week as an added benefit. Some people would prefer to leave work earlier, others to have more paid leave," added Borisov.
Maria Stoeva noted that for a year and a half ManpowerGroup has been working on a 4-day work model.
“I can say that it's definitely a process. If we just automatically cut 20% of the working hours, we'll need more people or we won't get as much work done. But if it's seen as a process where we use technology, artificial intelligence, the higher concentration of people because they want to get their work done by Thursday, then we get much different levels of engagement and a better ROI than those people. It's a process, not something that happens from today to tomorrow," she commented, adding that it has positives in many ways.
Anna Gabrovska also shares the opinion that the end of the time has come when the employer could afford not to care about the well-being of his employees.
“I believe it's not just about people's demands, but how the employer is going to achieve that productivity. In order for us to achieve productivity that leads to a 4-day work week, people must have the necessary training. I do not believe that the Bulgarian is not productive. I believe he is capable of doing this. If he is prepared to be productive enough, he can also switch to a 4-day work week," she is emphatic.
“When it comes to the other elements of well-being, mental health care has come to the fore. The COVD-19 pandemic has shown needs in this direction. I think we need to bring this topic closer to people," Gabrovska also said.
According to her, the Workshops do not solve these issues, as there is a need for an individual approach to people.
"In large organisations, this is difficult, but talking to people is the other thing that can help us understand exactly where we need an individual approach." Just as marketing initiatives have target groups, we need to have target groups inside the organization – knowing them well enough and knowing what works for them,” she said.
Maria Stoeva asked what other practices, besides the 4-day work week, could support employee engagement and well-being.
"We're back to the individual approach again. Everyone has their own understanding of things. In this case, what our panel is about is to look at other concepts from the point of view of the managers' attitude, precisely about skills such as empathy, trust, as well as the attitude towards intra-company entrepreneurship", answered Nadya Vasileva.
"Managers have to help their people. In many cases, they fall into micromanagement, which leads to the destruction of complexes, and the manager is ultimately left alone. It is important to make sure our managers know what they are doing and how they are doing it," she added.
Maria Stoeva added that in the organization everything starts with the leadership - what is he like and what kind of culture does he create in the organization.
The next topic from the panel was that of policies focusing on mothers of young children.
"I can give an example from our company. This group is quite well defined and should be paid attention to, especially in these times when ladies do not want to lag behind in their career development. A mother wants to spend more time with her child, and when she is not with him, to know that he is in safe hands," said Hristo Borisov.
"Many companies in Bulgaria open their own kindergartens, where their employees have the opportunity to accommodate the children. The other practice is to pay extra fees for private kindergartens to solve the problem with state ones. These are the two main moments that we observe in companies. Flexible working hours are also very important so that the mother can leave and pick up her child from kindergarten on time," he added.
Anna Gabrovska also gave a personal example.
"What we introduced is that within a total of 4 months of the first leave, we pay extra on top of what the state pays mothers - their full salary. Along with this, we have given a total of 18 weeks of leave for fathers because they are also parents. It's something that's everyone's idea," she said.
Gabrovska also comments on parents who work from home when their children are with them.
"It's something that will continue to happen. We have a program in this direction so that we can talk to parents about what they need to be able to find a balance. The other is to give parents the knowledge to take care of their finances so that they can provide for university for the children who are currently growing up. We all understand that this is a long term policy. We should all have a family long-term policy to take care of our children," she commented.
Maria Stoeva noted that very often we see good and working examples from organizations that have values and a vision in this direction. However, she emphasized that there are still employers who pay women differently.
"I read this week that on the subject of pensions it turns out that men currently receive higher pensions than women. There are differences in the work they've done, but aren't we provided the same? There is a difference of about BGN 148 between men and women," said Nadia Vasileva.
It highlights an important and hidden problem – we have a large percentage of single women, whether mothers or not, who take care of their families and parents alone.
“This should be taken into account when negotiating the salary. There is an extremely large percentage of women who are exhausted," Vassilev added.
Maria Stoeva also paid attention to the policies for diversity, the inclusion of people who are different in some way from the rest. "We are talking about very young people, people over the age of 55 or people with mental differences. These policies are increasingly becoming very important in companies."
"In Bulgaria, this balance between women and men is more of a balance than an imbalance compared to other countries in Europe. In our organization, we have 67% women, and over 65% are in senior management positions. They are well represented," said Anna Gabrovska.
"I am skeptical that we should put the social and personal demotion of anyone on the table, because then it would be very difficult for us to balance the rest of the equality of all employees in an organization. We don't want to have the reverse discrimination against men," she added.
According to her, these are policies, and the other is awareness and strategy of the organization.
"There can be inequality of people who are not only divided by gender, but perhaps by religion. We are an open company that respects everyone. This is proven by the standard we pursue. The other is the internal culture and willingness to cooperate. Internal culture is what creates a sense of belonging. If it shares identical values and people share them, they would certainly be ones to support the policies. That is, the policy should come afterwards, not put it up front," she added.
Maria Stoeva shared the results of a survey on LinkedIn with the question: "Should there be quotas for female leaders in a given company?".
According to her, 68% of people answered "no".
"It's not equal if we interfere. At the same time, we need to be committed to attracting those people who are not normally part of the regular labor market," she added.
Hristo Borisov stated that most of the companies he encountered on the market have similar policies, but another question is how they implement them.
“I heard comments about justice here. To me, all of these policies are about fairness and the culture of the company or employer. Where does justice come from? It came again from the management, from the leaders. In order for us to implement these policies, there must be a high level of fairness on the part of the company's leaders themselves. For me, fairness should be the main criterion in choosing a leader. You have to have a high level of fairness that is recognized by employees,” he said.
Borisov also said that in Bulgaria we do not have such serious problems among employers.
“When it comes to women in business, I've talked a lot about quotas. There is a huge difference between how women leaders feel in Eastern and Western Europe, and especially in the Anglo-Saxon world. Many of the problems facing the Anglo-Saxon world were incomprehensible to me until I met with leaders from the region. I asked them if quotas solve the problem. They replied that they did not need quotas, but an opportunity to prove themselves. It is much more important for them to reach these positions by proving themselves than with quotas," commented Borisov.
"I don't think that with this lack of people we can have quotas in Bulgaria. Here, we do not do selection, but mining, and we still cannot find them," added Nadya Vasileva.
15.06.2023
SUCCESS TECHNIQUES: HOW TO DEAL WITH THE IMPOSTER SYNDROME
Imposter syndrome is a trap that many of us often fall into. It's an inner voice that tells us that our insecurities are because we're not good enough, and eventually, one day, everyone will understand that. He makes us believe that one failure is more important than all the successes.
It's an all-too-common phenomenon faced by professional athletes, scientists, experts at the top of their fields, and 75% of women in leadership positions, according to a recent study.
This strong level of doubt in our own abilities discourages us and hinders our ability to make authentic decisions. It disrupts our productivity and leads to burnout. Even worse, when we convince ourselves that we're not good enough and should just "fake it till we make it," we focus our energy on covering up our insecurities and waste the time we need to learn and we grow. This is bad news for businesses and individuals alike.
What exactly is imposter syndrome and what does it look like in practice?
Imposter syndrome was first identified and named by clinical psychologists Pauline Rose Clans and Susan Ames in 1978. Although not an official diagnosis, this phenomenon is widely recognized among mental health professionals as a very real form of self-doubt. his abilities. The syndrome is often accompanied by anxiety and depression, and it affects all kinds of people in a variety of situations.
Unfortunately, imposter syndrome is also something that most of us keep deep within us, making it hard to spot — especially in the workplace. However, there are some telltale signs. An example of this is the type of perfectionism where an employee is hesitant to share progress on a task or give feedback. Another warning sign that someone is deeply insecure is an unwillingness to share ideas, ask questions, or ask for help when needed. Many who suffer from imposter syndrome also have a fixed mindset, believing that a person's traits and talents are static. These people often think that if they work hard at something, it means they are not naturally good at it and it is okay to give up. Unfortunately, this way of thinking can prevent people from realizing their full potential. However, it's important to note that it doesn't have to go that far.
Every leader always cares about his team. Supporting our employees through their toughest struggles and during their greatest successes is the most important thing a leader can do. It is his job to ensure their growth if they have sunk into self-doubt. Here are three key strategies that will allow you to overcome imposter syndrome:
Normalize errors and fluctuations
The idea that your success is somehow due to luck and that you are not really as competent as your peers is a thought that creeps into most people's minds. Sometimes this coincides with certain challenges, such as difficulty learning a new skill or making a mistake. It can also occur against the background of success. Remind yourself regularly that many people (even Olympic gold medalists) experience these feelings of self-doubt. It is also useful to emphasize that pursuing ambitious goals goes hand in hand with making mistakes. When things go wrong, we have a choice. One option is to adopt a growth mindset—to learn from the situation and move forward with new knowledge. The other option is to let this stumbling block stop us completely.
Promote a culture of psychological safety
The mindset needed to maintain a happy and high-performing team is only possible when people feel psychologically safe in the workplace. When employees are afraid to be authentic, give honest feedback, and make mistakes, they won't be willing to take risks, learn new skills, or solve problems. To allow their employees to be vulnerable, take risks, and grow, a leader must support and protect them as needed. This means giving them the support they need to learn, grow and be themselves.
Celebrate successes and achievements regularly
Both at home and at work, people love to celebrate. We believe in scoring victories, be they big or small, at the earliest opportunity. There will always be challenges and setbacks to overcome, which makes counting even the small successes so important. Whether that means mentioning a job well done during a team meeting, meeting one-on-one with an outstanding employee who deserves praise, we know from experience how important it is for people to be recognized for their successes. This helps them gain the confidence they need to continue to develop over time.
Imposter syndrome and a lack of psychological security can prevent even the most capable people from realizing their full potential. Since a leader must take care of his team, it is necessary that they have the opportunity not only to thrive at work, but also to develop. We know that empathetic and effective communication, as well as building a psychologically safe environment, is an important part of this.
15.06.2023
THE ANNUAL SALARY IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF MONTANA IS SLIGHTLY OVER 15,000 BGN
The average annual salary in the municipality of Montana for 2021 is BGN 15,102. It has grown compared to 2020 by BGN 1,611. This is recorded in the annual report on the implementation of the Plan for Integrated Development of the Municipality of Montana in 2022, which was approved by the councilors at the last session.
The report also assesses the effective and efficient spending of funds from the state and municipal budgets, as well as EU funding.
The data from the document show that in 2021 the population in the municipality decreased by 2.12% or 979 people compared to the previous year 2020.
Every 100 people who leave working age are replaced by 63 young people, which leads to the conclusion that it is still difficult to find labor for the local economy.
In a year, the enterprises in the municipality decreased by five, but the value of the produced products increased by over 102,000 thousand BGN, and the revenue from sales by 114,175 thousand BGN.
In 2022, the labor market in the municipality of Montana is characterized by a decrease in registered unemployment, but also a lack of new jobs opened in the municipality.
In 2022, a total of 102 projects and initiatives with a total value of BGN 59,540,857.94 were reported. The funds actually paid from local revenues, the republican budget and European money amounted to BGN 18,000,099.32.
14.06.2023
28 MUNICIPALITIES WITH 50% PERMANENTLY UNEMPLOYED
Almost all indicators indicate that the labor market in Bulgaria is in very good shape, despite the gradual slowdown in economic growth - unemployment is very low, employment has exceeded records since 2019, and expanding businesses in various industries are competing for staff.
However, this does not mean that the labor market does not lack free resources, or that it does not have visible imperfections. While a certain level of unemployment is expected, and even healthy for well-functioning labor markets, keeping people out of work long-term is a sign of structural problems. An analysis by the Institute for Market Economy examines the territorial distribution of the permanently unemployed and some of their characteristics.
The presented data are calculations of the Institute for Market Economy based on the monthly data provided by the Employment Agency. Since the Employment Agency does not publish average annual data on the permanently unemployed, the analysis uses the average number of unemployed persons with registration for more than one year at the labor offices for the 12 months of 2022, presented as a share of the total population in a working age age, as well as from all unemployed. It is important to note that this number does not include those looking for work independently (say, through online platforms), so the indicators included here most likely underestimate long-term unemployment.
In 2022, the average annual number of permanently unemployed throughout the country was 35.5 thousand people. However, their distribution is highly uneven - two relatively small municipalities, Kotel and Kaolinovo, each have 1,100 permanently unemployed, their number is also large in Velingrad and Pleven, with almost 900 people each.
And vice versa, there are entire groups of municipalities where this phenomenon practically does not exist - in the Srednogorieta, almost all the Black Sea municipalities, near Gabrovo and Veliko Tarnovo.
It is also noteworthy that, despite the large size of the labor markets of the leading municipal economies, the number of permanently unemployed in them is very small - in Varna it is only 28 people on average per year, in Plovdiv - 105, in the capital - 242. Several regions are being formed, which concentrate the majority of the permanently unemployed - practically the entire Northwest around Vidin, Montana, Pleven and Lovech, significant parts of the Northeast around Razgrad, Shumen, Silistra and Targovishte, as well as smaller clusters in Blagoevgrad and Smolyan.
The distribution of the permanent unemployment rate, which describes the share of the unemployed with registration for more than a year among the able-bodied population (between the ages of 15 and 64) of the municipalities, is similar. In three small municipalities - Kaolinovo, Dimovo and Ruzhintsi - the coefficient is over 20%, and in another 27 municipalities it is over 10%.
As expected, there are also visible clusters in the Northwest and Northeast, but some border areas also stand out - to the west along the border with Serbia and to the southeast with Turkey. In most municipalities, the rate of permanent unemployment is low - in 110 of them it is below 1%, in 150 - below 2%, in Sofia - only 0.04% of the working population. This, in turn, means that in almost the entire country, the share of people who want to have a job, but cannot find one, remains relatively small.
The most interesting indicator is the share of the permanently unemployed among all unemployed. It is indicative of the state of local labor markets and, above all, of the ability of potential workers to adapt to local labor demand.
In as many as 28 municipalities - and here mostly in the North-West, North-East and border regions - the share of permanently unemployed persons is over 50% of all job seekers. Conversely, this share is lowest in the municipalities with the most dynamic and adaptable labor markets – those of the largest regional centers, coastal tourist municipalities and leading industrial areas.
The strong regional concentration of permanent unemployment once again underlines the need to apply a regional approach to labor market policies. It is, of course, only one aspect of a multidimensional problem – large groups of individuals remain permanently outside the labor market and, despite their desire to find work, are largely currently unemployable due to low education and inadequate skills.
This is a visible obstacle to the economic development of some of the poorest Bulgarian regions, where the direction of investments has the potential to bring rapid change, but the lack of a trained workforce is among the most serious obstacles to such investment decisions being made from the perspective of individual companies. As businesses face increasing barriers to finding suitable staff, however, the long-term unemployed, along with the inactive, are becoming an increasingly important resource for expanding employment, making it all the more crucial to upskill them to match demand to potential future employers.
14.06.2023
LEAVES DUE TO PERSONAL AND FAMILY REASONS
Leaves for the performance of civil, public and other duties are defined in the Labor Code. The worker or employee has the right to them under the law, and the employer is obliged to ensure their use by releasing the worker or employee from work, without the right to judge whether or not to grant the corresponding type of leave and when to grant it.
Leave for the fulfillment of personal, family and community obligations is due regardless of paid annual leave or unpaid leave, whenever there is a reason for their use (i.e. they are not deducted from the due paid annual leave). Prior accumulated work experience is not required of the worker or employee for their use.
Here are some of the events defined by law for which we are entitled to leave:
Marriage leave
The employer is obliged to release the worker or employee from work upon entering into marriage (the conclusion of a civil marriage). This type of leave is not granted for the performance of a church or other ritual on the occasion of the creation of a family. The duration of leave is 2 working days. The granting of the leave is not related to the sequence of marriage.
Leave for donating blood
The employer is obliged to relieve the worker or the employee from work when donating blood - for the day of the examination and blood donation, as well as 1 day after it. This type of leave is granted to the worker (employee) to donate blood.
Leave in case of death of a close relative
The employer is obliged to release the employee from work in the event of the death of a close relative - 2 working days. The worker or employee is entitled to this leave for the day of the relevant event (the day of death) and for the following working day. When the day of the event coincides with the weekly holiday, the leave is used in the first 2 working days after it.
During leave for marriage, blood donation and the death of a close relative of the worker or employee, remuneration is paid according to the provisions of the collective labor agreement or according to an agreement between the worker or employee and the employer. If there are no such agreements, then no remuneration is due.
Reference:
Art. 157 of the Labor Code
Art. 50, para. 1 of the Ordinance on working hours, breaks and leaves
13.06.2023
WHERE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS ARE HIGHEST
On average, there were 56,911 registered unemployed persons per month entitled to unemployment compensation from the State Social Insurance in 2022. This is shown by the data of the National Social Security Institute for last year.
The largest number of those registered were in the Sofia-city districts, where the monthly average was 7,922 (13.9%), Plovdiv with 5,213 (9.2%) and Blagoevgrad – 4,535 (8%). The least are in Silistra (950), Yambol (799) and Vidin (581). Women are on average 32,183 or 56.5% of all entitled persons, while men are considerably less – 24,638 (43.5%). According to their educational profile, 40,137 or just over 70% of the unemployed have a secondary education. Graduates are 7,295 (12.8%) per month, and those with basic education - 6,659 (11.7%).
About BGN 652 was the average amount of cash compensation for unemployment paid by DOO in 2022.
The largest amount was in the districts of Blagoevgrad and Targovishte, where each eligible person received an average of BGN 889. Among the districts with the highest benefits is Sofia City, where the average amount of the payment was BGN 818.
The average amount of compensation was the lowest in the regions of Montana and Silistra (BGN 529 each), Kyustendil (BGN 522) and Vidin (BGN 512).
The compensation values for men are significantly higher - in 2022, an unemployed man received an average of nearly BGN 725, for women the amount was just under BGN 596.
The number of registered unemployed persons with the right to compensation from the State Social Insurance in March 2023 decreased by 6% compared to a month earlier, data for the first months of the year show. In February, 60,359 people received funds from the NSI, and in March they decreased by 3,707 to 56,652.
About BGN 749 was the average amount of cash compensation for unemployment in March 2023, which is BGN 71 more than the previous month. Men were paid an average of BGN 824.24, while women received BGN 669.
