The most attractive employers in Hungary in 2024

For the 11th time, the most attractive employers in Hungary were honoured with the Randstad Award.

According to Hungarian employees, LEGO is the most attractive employer in Hungary this year, BT (British Telecommunications) came second and Mercedes-Benz came third. The Randstad Employer Brand survey also reveals, among other things, the extent to which employees are considering changing jobs, the criteria they use to choose a new job, the sectors they find most attractive, and whether they are willing to be mobile at home or would prefer to work abroad.

Where would Hungarians prefer to work?

On 25 April 2024, the winners of the Randstad Award for Hungary were announced at a gala event in the Várkert Bazaar. LEGO was named the most attractive employer, while BT and Mercedes-Benz defended their second and third place positions from last year. 

Libri, the Hungarian National Bank, MOL, Novartis, Accent Hotels, Coca-Cola, Szerencsejáték Zrt., Magyar Telekom, Wizz Air, Lufthansa Systems and KÉSZ Group won special awards in their respective sectors. The best known employer was Aldi.

What do Hungarian workers want most?

According to recent Employer Brand research by Randstad, attractive wages and benefits packages will remain the top priority for Hungarian employees in 2024 in terms of job choice preferences. They also put a high value on a pleasant work atmosphere, how they experience everyday life in the workplace environment, and how they relate to their colleagues and managers. The financial stability of the employer, where the job is long term, where there is no fear of redundancy and where there is the possibility of achieving a work-life balance, is also a major factor – the value of the latter has increased compared to two years ago.

Compared to last year, the top preferences of Hungarian workers and even their ranking remained the same, however, the survey also showed that the importance of these aspects is significantly higher among Hungarian workers compared to the European average. In particular, there is a striking difference in the degree of expectation for an attractive salary and benefits package, a pleasant working atmosphere and the financial stability of the employer.

“Unfortunately, all this shows that these motivators are still not self-evident in our country, and employees have to constantly reiterate what they want when setting their expectations,” said Sándor Baja, Managing Director of Randstad.

While chasing the top 3 motivators, much less attention is paid to the job content itself, its interesting nature or even the general perception of the company. On average in Europe, these are much more important expectations.

Different needs by gender and education level

The top 5 driving factors for choosing a job are the same for both sexes, but for reasons that go back to our social context, some attributes show significant differences between the expectations of women and men. Convenience and accessibility of the workplace and the possibility to remote work/home office are more important for women than for men, and equality of opportunities is also a priority for women.

Although the first 5 factors show the same results in terms of educational attainment, there are striking differences in the order of preference and even differences in other drivers. For those with primary education, a pleasant working atmosphere is a much more important factor than pay, and they value a comfortable approach to the workplace or equal opportunities more than those with secondary or higher education.

The data show that those with a secondary education are the most concerned about their income: for them, salary and long-term job security are more important than for others. For those with a higher level of education, in addition to top factors, comfort and quality are also important. They are more interested in the possibility of remote working/home office, the interesting nature of the job, the use of modern technologies or the quality of the product offered by the company.

Expectations vs. reality

When respondents were asked to describe their current employer in terms of the values that are important to them, there were also significant differences between experience and expectations, i.e. employees do not get what they generally consider important or what they want in their daily lives.

According to the responses, what workers value most in their current jobs is that they have a good location and job security. Salary, the most important aspect for them, is only ranked ninth on the list of good things about the company.

There is also room for improvement for employers in terms of a pleasant working atmosphere, which is the second most important characteristic that employees consider to be ideal for their workplace, but is only ranked fourth among the values offered by their current employer. 

For employers, a deeper understanding of this, bridging the gap between aspirations and reality, is an opportunity on a silver plate to build a more engaging employer brand by developing a more attractive value proposition.

Not all sectors are equally attractive

The IT sector remains the most attractive sector in Hungary, despite its recent downturn. It is closely followed by the BSS (business services sector) in second place, while life sciences and automotive companies have moved up to third place on the imaginary podium. The difference in attractiveness between the sectors is quite small, so employers are not only competing for talent within their own sector, but also have to compete with other sectors.

Almost all sectors, to varying degrees, have been able to improve their attractiveness compared to last year. The attractiveness of the BSS, automotive, manufacturing and HORECA sectors has increased spectacularly, while the telecoms sector has declined significantly and companies in the financial sector have stagnated in this respect. Attractiveness is not everything, however: the overall visibility of the sectors considered most attractive is well below average. In this respect, employers with a more widely known consumer brand, such as retail, telecoms or financial services, are in a much better position.

Money, money, money

The pace of pay rises is key, especially after years of Europe-beating inflation. 

According to research by Randstad HR Trends Survey, published earlier this year, almost all of the surveyed companies reported that they had implemented pay rises in 2023 – and some of them more than originally planned. 

Despite this, just under eight in ten (12%) of Randstad Employer Brand Research respondents feel that their employer has fully compensated them for the effects of inflation, with a third (34%) saying that their pay rise has only partially offset the increased costs of inflation. And nearly a third (29%) have not received any support from their employer. Workers who received no compensation are almost twice as likely to quit (41%) than those who received some form of support (23%).