HR Navigator: Investing in people - reality and projections 2025

Salaries, bonuses and benefits are not just costs, but strategic investments in human capital. In the studio for the first HR Navigator episode of the year, our speakers discussed how these investments will impact sustainable growth for companies in 2025 and what are some of the successful strategies for integrating, motivating and retaining employees.

The discussion started with sharing the results of the regular survey of Assert International Bulgaria and Manpower Bulgaria - Salaries, additional benefits and bonuses - trend research. The data reveals the key trends for the first half of 2025, during which 65.4% of companies plan to increase salaries, and 15.9% of employers also foresee changes in social packages, including additional health insurance and coverage of transport costs. The main reason for these changes is the need to retain staff and maintain competitive market conditions.

• Balance of the benefits - the valuable and the invaluable: Additional benefits are now becoming a "must" because candidates and employees expect them. Benefits such as health insurance, sports cards and meal vouchers are some of the most offered, but they are not the only ones companies can use to stay competitive in the market. "Training and qualification will continue to be a focus for companies and this is only natural - it is important for people to be competitive, it is important for companies that their employees have skills that add value to the business.", said Tatyana Ilieva, HR Compensation & Benefits Manager at LIDL. "The key for organisations that want sustainable development is to invest in people and respond to the need for new competencies and new skills.", noted Tatyana.
• Different formula, yet the same - wage indexation to retain talent: Wage indexation is an important tool for employee retention. This practice will continue to gain momentum in 2025 and will be more effective for businesses than dealing with high turnover rates. "A working person, who gets recognition for their work, who receives a good compensation and knows that it's going to happen every year, is much more stimulated, more motivated. The company saves the expense of having to hire new people, dealing with turnover - we know how much money and time it takes to get a new person into the organisation and have them start showing results as well. It is very important, at least once a year, to have such an indexation.", shared Konstantin Kamenov, Head of Sales and Business Development at Manpower Bulgaria.
• Technology and human capital - the strategic approach to investing in people: Artificial intelligence and digitalisation have not only been major focuses for businesses over the past two years, but also drivers of transformation that will continue to gain momentum going forward. But how can businesses use AI not just as a technology, but as a strategic enabler, and how can they tackle the challenges that the digital world brings? "Certainly technology has a place in the business environment to improve labour efficiency, to optimise and automate processes that are repetitive and do not require creativity, so that they can free up space and resources for more strategic activities... This entails new competencies that companies need to invest in people so that they can be retrained or qualified.", noted Tatyana Iieva. "Digitalisation through improving the employee experience is key and this should not elude employers. They need to look at how to use technology to improve the employee experience through learning platforms, self improvement and self service.", she added.

Investment in human capital is the foundation for the success of any company. Salaries and benefits, healthy working conditions and development investments not only improve the performance of teams but also improve the sustainability of companies in the long term.

You can watch the episode here and get the full survey data here.