The Association of Business Service Leaders launches annually the report regarding the salaries and employees’ benefits working in the outsourcing industry.
The salary for an entry level employee can be, most of the times, with up to 30% higher than the minimum wage earned by the higher education employees.
The study released in partnership with KPMG analyses seven industry processes/types of jobs as follows: Project/Process Management, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Customer Services, Supply and Acquisition Services, Software Development (IT) and Top Management.
For the Project Management specialists, the gross wages can start at 5.000 RON and in many cases can reach up to 20.000 RON / month.
For the Finance and Accounting professionals or Customer service, the entry level gross wage can start at 5.000 RON, and for those working in the Supply Chain field can start at 3.000 RON / month.
“Our industry is one of the most dynamic in Romania, having a potential of 300.000 employees. Currently, in the industry are approximate 125.000 employees. The outsourcing industry offers the possibility of very rapid personal growth using multidisciplinary training through which companies help employees gain the necessary skills.”, explains Bogdan Pelinescu, ABSL President.
The companies activating in the industry offer language bonuses which can exceed a gross salary of 3.000 RON / month
According to the study, most of the companies offer language bonuses. French, German, Italian and Spanish are the languages most demanded by employers, which are paid with gross bonuses ranging between 270 RON and 3.000 RON per month. Those who speak rare languages can receive monthly bonuses up to 3.600 RON, in addition to the salary.
Another benefit granted to employees is additional free days, besides the mandatory ones, which may vary between one and six days a year.
Other benefits offered include meal tickets, private medical subscriptions and the option of having flexible working hours.
The study conducted by ABSL and KPMG was done through a questionnaire, where 19 industry companies responded.
In 2018, 33% of employees provided Customer Management services, 25% IT services, and 23% worked in Financial and Accounting.
According to the same study, the average age of the workforce is between 26 and 35 years, with women accounting for 61% of the industry’s employees.
According to the survey, an employee spends on average between 1 and 5 years in the company. Most of the people working in the industry have at least one higher education diploma and 24% have a master’s degree or PhD.
At this point, the most demanded are the people who combine the knowledge of a foreign language (German is one of them) with other skills required by the industry.
Automation level in the industry
The back-office or call-center employee spends up to 80% of daily time filling out forms, processing data or orders, which is a multitude of vital tasks for the final client but taking a lot of time for employees.
Automation does not replace the workforce but it’s ideal for activities that involve repetitive and predictable processes. Software robots can accomplish the tasks they are programmed to do five time faster than company’s staff.
According to the ABSL study, 76% of the surveyed companies use simple automation (Robotic Process Automation – simple based rules) in company’s activities.
Adding artificial intelligence and cognitive automation, software robots are able to perform repetitive and predictable actions without the need for employee intervention (automatic mailing, virtual agent, Interactive voice response). 21% of the interviewed companies use cognitive automation.
Most companies, 57%, develop internally these simple automation solutions. 25% of the interviewed companies developed internally centers of excellence for the development of automation processes.
“The automation of certain activities means to enable employees to engage in activities where they can use better their skills and creativity. The team has more time to work on the projects and initiatives that bring high business value, and so people will have more satisfaction instead of having common and repetitive tasks. At the same time, the robots will have to be coordinated, becoming more and more employees’ “assistants”, helping them to work more efficiently, and in many cases, ensuring ongoing processing for standard activities”, said Bogdan Barbu, ABSL Vice-President.
Business Services Master’s degree program, intended for future industry employees and offered by ABSL Romania and the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, reached the third promotion
ABSL Romania and the Bucharest University of Economic Studies launched in 2016 the Business Services Master’s degree program, organized by The Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, which is available for 50 students every year.
“What we have managed to accomplish through the partnership with ASE is a pilot project, which needs to be replicated nationally. This can be accomplished only through a state partnership.
What we should do is adopt the Finnish model of education system, where the necessary labor force should be created for the current economy, and not for the one planned based on criteria used in the past. The outsourcing sector needs a partnership with the Government because education is a key factor in preparing the people the industry needs”, said Bogdan Pelinescu.
“In 2018, the first generation of students of Business Services Master’s degree program graduated. The fact that 98% of them have already been employed in companies in the industry at the end of their studies, confirms how important it is to continue the investment in the education of the next generation of specialists.”, continued Cătălin Iorgulescu.
During the two years of the program, students attend courses such as Financial-Accounting Process Management, Project Management Tools, IT Process Management, Business Process Enhancement (eg Lean Six Sigma), Financial Analysis, Business Requirements Analysis, ERP Systems (eg SAP), or the study of a foreign language (eg. German). The courses are taught by ASE Bucharest teachers and specialists from ABSL member companies. According to the study conducted by the Association and KPMG, it is estimated that the outsourcing industry generated a revenue of about 4 billion euros in 2018 in Romania.