More than 40% of Greek companies expect to hire new workers in the next six months according to a survey on labor market trends conducted by ALBA Graduate Business School.

The survey, conducted in the period from February to May 2014, showed that only a 14 % of surveyed enterprises intended to cut their workforce in the next six months, significantly down compared with a 28% rate in the previous six months, while a 41.5% enterprises said it would hire new workers and a 44.4% said it would take no action.

Also, according to the same survey, 36.6% of enterprises intended to pay wage rises up to 3.0% this year.

The services sector recorded a 60% increase in attracting and hiring new personnel, while the construction, pharmaceutical and tourism sectors also recorded high rates.

Enterprises continued seeking young executives/graduates (49.6%), with focus on sales, customer service, IT and marketing.

Internet sites remained the most popular method for attracting and seeking personnel for enterprises, followed by intro-corporate actions, corporate websites and workers’ social environment.

According to the survey, 63% of enterprises uses interviews as their basic tool to select new personnel, while a 26.7% uses other tools such as skill tests and psycometric tests.

A 57.8% of surveyed enterprises said they had been badly hit by the economic crisis, with only 2.2% saying they were felt no impact at all. One in two enterprises cut wages by up to 5% in the last five years, a 38.3% said they cut wages by 5-20% and a 14.1% said they cut wages by more than 20% since 2009. Wage cuts were more often and bigger among medium-sized and high-ranking executives.

A 28.9% of surveyed enterprises said they made dismissals in the last six months, while a 28.1% said they cut wages, both figures lower compared with the same period last year.

A 25% of enterprises said it was probable to reduce training of their workers, while a 4.7% said they planned to relocate part of all of their businesses abroad.

A 55.3% of enterprises said they intended to bring wages back to levels before the crisis, but were the vast majority said they did not when this action could take place. A 62.8% of the sample said they did not hire workers with the minimum wage, while a 30.5% said they have used an “entry check” program for unemployed young people up to 29 years old.

Enterprises have managed to reduce their operating spending and to improve their profitability, but faced a decline in personnel’s loyalty and performance, particularly in the services sector.