Beta Remuneration Survey 2024 Offers No Surprises

The 2023 edition was an outlier, when salaries shot up across the board, primarily in the form of inflation corrections. But looking at the figures for 2024, everything has settled down again. There appear to be no spectacular outcomes or notable trends. ‘Did you really expect any?’, asks a wryly smiling Sven Hemmink, director of CheckMark Labrecruitment and long-standing partner of the Bèta Beloningsonderzoek [Beta Remuneration Survey] (and a reliable supplier of respondents). Even so, there is plenty to discuss, as several new topics have been included in the questionnaire that have already been a hot subject across the labour market for some time.

Tightening belts

Take ‘workload’, for instance. Half of respondents consider their workload ‘normal’, whilst just under half indicate that their workload is ‘high’. Only a very small proportion experience workload as ‘too high’ (or, notably, ‘too low’). The most frequently cited reason for high workload is ‘understaffing’. Does this suggest that the labour market is still extremely tight, making it difficult for companies to fill vacancies (quickly)? ‘No, that’s an oversimplification,’ says Hemmink. ‘What we also see — and have been seeing for some time — is that companies are being very cautious about posting vacancies. Belts are being tightened. Vacancies are not exactly abundant, yet those that do exist are genuinely being filled. You sometimes need to look a bit harder, but it does happen.’

‘We have been seeing for some time that companies are being very cautious about posting vacancies’

Sven Hemmink, CheckMark Labrecruitment

Hemmink’s colleague, commercial director Cora Bos, has noticed something else from conversations with clients. ‘There’s a recurring comment that people feel staff change jobs quickly. That rapid turnover means you constantly have to bring new people up to speed, and in roles like ours, certain things really do take time to master. When changes happen frequently, that too contributes to a higher workload.’

Dynamics

The Beta Remuneration Survey always looks back — in this case at 2024 — whilst developments are moving extremely quickly. The chemical industry is under considerable strain; factories are being closed or mothballed and investments are being deferred. There is also a great deal of movement in the life sciences sector. Hemmink: ‘A lot is happening in the sector, and things like major reorganisations are something we do notice. We always see two cohorts emerge. First, the people who have only recently joined the company in question, or who are on fixed-term contracts — they come forward straight away. The second group are those who have been employed for longer; they typically wait for the redundancy scheme to be announced before starting to look around.’

As unpleasant as this turbulence is for those involved, it also feeds supply into a tight labour market. Do these newly ‘available’ people find new roles quickly? ‘Analysts from those factories — often QC analysts — do tend to find their way, though they frequently have to accept somewhat less. Contract laboratories generally have work available, but they really do pay less than the large industrial companies.’ Hemmink is surprised that, amidst all the coverage of the malaise in the chemical industry, salaries are barely mentioned. ‘Industry pays very well compared with other parties in the chemistry and life sciences sector — and wages there are still rising. We read mostly about companies closing their plants in the Netherlands due to high energy costs and additional levies, but that labour here is also costly — I read nothing about that.’

‘The possibility of working from home at least part of the time is something candidates do ask about’

Working from home

Another finding from the survey: working from home. Much has been made of the topic, but where does ‘our’ sector stand? Just over a third never work from home, and of those who do, the vast majority limit it to one day per week. Hardly a well-established habit, then. Yet at CheckMark, they interpret those figures in precisely the opposite way. ‘Two thirds work from home one or more days a week,’ their report states. According to Hemmink, these are genuinely striking figures. ‘I find that quite a significant shift, because just five years ago, before Covid, working from home simply did not exist in the lab sector. Now we see — particularly in the more senior roles — that it has become entirely normal, even if it remains largely limited to one day per week.’

It has at least become a standard topic of conversation, says Bos. ‘The possibility of working from home at least part of the time is something candidates do ask about.’ At the same time, it is by no means a given, Hemmink notes. ‘The sector remains fairly conservative on this front. Even for senior roles — say, a senior scientist who would like to work remotely three days a week due to the commute — you won’t get that through. More than two days working from home is often a real sticking point.’ Whether that will remain the case is something a future survey will have to reveal. Past results from the Beta Remuneration Survey do, however, provide a reasonably reliable guide to what lies ahead.