The latest employee survey by the online recruitment company “Alma Career Latvia” reveals significant differences between age groups in terms of satisfaction with pay and attitudes towards their workplace, pointing to pressing challenges in human resources management.

Older employees – the most critical about pay

Based on the survey results, employees aged 55 and over turned out to be the most critical about whether their pay matches the work they put in – 58% of them said they are paid too little. Young people up to the age of 24 are not much more satisfied either – 54% of respondents in this group said their pay does not match the work they put in.

“The survey results clearly highlight the differing experiences and attitudes of employees across the generations. Older employees (55+) give the most critical assessment of whether their pay is appropriate – more than half believe their contribution is not adequately valued. This attitude can be explained by a number of factors, such as skills that are not sufficiently adapted to the modern labour market, as well as age discrimination,” comments Krista Roziņa, marketing and communications manager at “Alma Career Latvia”. “At the same time, young people up to the age of 24 also largely feel that their pay is inadequate – this signals that expectations at the start of a career and reality often do not match, and it also points to the need for greater involvement from employers in explaining career development opportunities and the logic behind pay increases.”

Comparatively more positive assessments were observed in the 25 to 54 age group – in this group, roughly one in four to one in five respondents said they considered their pay to match the work they put in.

The loyalty gap between generations

The survey also reveals a significant gap in how different generations rate their employers. Asked “Would you recommend the workplace where you currently work to others?”, it was young people who answered positively most often – 26% of employees up to the age of 24 said they would recommend their workplace to others.

Meanwhile, the most critical were employees aged 55 and over – 71% of respondents in this group said they would not recommend their current workplace to others.

“The survey data show that employers need to pay attention to employees’ needs and to how they are valued across all age groups, which can have a significant impact on an organisation’s development and reputation, both with more experienced employees and in attracting and retaining new talent,” emphasises Krista Roziņa.

About the survey

The survey was carried out by “Alma Career”, analysing employees’ views on pay and loyalty to employers across different age groups. It was conducted in 9 countries and reached almost 15,000 respondents, 1,571 of whom were employees in Latvia. The survey involved employees from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia and North Macedonia. It was carried out online using the international salary comparison platform Paylab, which operates in Latvia as algas.lv