Hungarians Do Not Expect Much from Their Employers

A joint survey by UniCredit Bank and SteiGen investigated how aware people in Hungary are of the concept of ESG and what they expect from large companies in the field of sustainability. The responses revealed a surprising result: the majority of respondents still almost only associate environmental protection as an expectation for companies in this area, while 72% say that domestic employers are not very concerned about employee well-being

ESG (E, environmental; S, social; G, governance) makes the work done on sustainability visible and measurable for medium and large companies. A recent joint survey by UniCredit Bank and SteiGen showed that only 12% of Hungarians are familiar with the concept of ESG, even fewer with its social and governance aspects, and the survey also found surprising results on Hungarians' donation habits.

The research also revealed that two thirds of respondents associate the concept of ESG at company level with environmental protection. What exactly do they mean by this? For example, companies meeting their energy needs from renewable sources, reducing their ecological footprint. Closely linked to this, they meant continuous modernization, the introduction of new technologies, recycling and waste reduction. The researchers believe that this is because the environmental dimension is most associated with the concept in both the media and social media.

The results also revealed that more than two thirds of respondents (67%) know little or nothing about their employer's social initiatives.

The survey found that it is mainly large companies that people expect to support social causes, but only 35% think they do. Only 30% of respondents had heard of some kind of local corporate support, but not all of them were sufficiently informed.

The results of the survey suggest that the public's perception of their employer in terms of employee wellbeing is quite negative. According to 72% of those surveyed, domestic employers do not pay much attention to this issue, preferring to focus on tangible factors – first of all physical needs (fair and timely pay, declared employment), followed by physical safety (good working conditions) – as the main expectation from companies.

Specific requirements such as the employment of people with disabilities, the situation of young children, family workers, women workers, and the physical and mental well-being of workers are almost absent from the minds of Hungarian workers. "At a job interview, when I found out that we had just applied for Housing Subsidy for Families (CSOK) scheme as newlyweds, I immediately failed because they suspected that we would soon have a child here," recalled one young woman. In the area of gender equality, it is important to note that only 22% of women think they can work on equal terms with men.

The employee benefits surveyed are available to only a small proportion of workers: 47% receive travel allowances, 33% have the possibility of working part-time, while 29% have the option of working remotely. The latter proportion is much higher in the competitive sector, at 72% for suitable jobs.

According to Zsuzsanna Lázár, Head of People&Culture Expertise Center, "he social and corporate governance part of the survey was both instructive and reassuring for our bank, as UniCredit Bank has a number of successful employer initiatives and programs to promote employee well-being, for example. For us, it is natural that as a stable employer, our bank always pays salaries and benefits on time and supports the careers of our colleagues. What we have on top of that is the extra we provide to all our employees as a responsible employer. We believe that effective work can only be expected from colleagues who are valued and feel valued."