Referral bonuses are the best strategy for attracting and retaining talent in Portugal, new survey has found. The survey, called the HR Barometer 2021/22, was carried out by the Kaizen Institute in partnership with Hays Portugal. Respondents of the survey are all HR managers and directors of large- and medium-sized national companies.

The professionals surveyed also considered the most influential factors in employee motivation levels to be salary increases and monetary bonuses. 40% of respondents said motivation in their company had “evolved positively over the last 12 months”.

The next most common responses regarding employee motivation were company culture and a hybrid working model with flexible work hours, respectively.

HR managers considered retaining talent and hiring new professionals to be the main priorities of companies, respectively, reflecting “intensification of the talent shortage”, according to the report.

This contrasts with last year’s report, wherein the same question saw respondents name preparing employees for various medium- and long-term scenarios as well as improving safety and hygiene at work.

Within the themes of diversity, inclusion, and equity at work, 49% of respondents have invested in creating an inclusive environment in which each employee feels valued, and 46% have promoted mentoring, coaching and career programs to fulfil this commitment.

Hays says that more and more companies are seeking their services for recruitment, and that it is becoming harder for said companies to fill their companies’ recruitment needs.

“The intense transformation we are going through has been generating increasingly complex challenges for companies,” says Filipe Fontes, Director of the Kaizen Institute Western Europe.

“The priorities of professionals have changed and employees are willing to go further when they have a choice about where, when and how much they work”.