Abstract:

The present article focuses on non-cash remuneration of employees, or fringe benefits, and the way these benefits were affected by the current economic crisis. We shall discuss within the few next pages what fringe benefits are provided by employers, which types are popular with employees, and which fringe benefits were taken away from employees most often as a result of the economic crisis; and also whether such withdrawals were related in any way to a decrease in company sales as a result of the economic crisis.

The aim of this article is to contribute towards the current understanding of the impact the global economic crisis has had on the commercial activities of companies operating in the Czech Republic. The data presented in this paper were obtained from primary research (Šebestováet al., 2012), involving approximate 650 selected companies active across a range of industries. The research study was run by the department of management, School of Business Administration in Karviná, Silesian University in Opava. The initial section of the paper will discuss the theoretical framework regarding the global economic crisis as well as its impact on businesses. Later on, staff assessment methods and remuneration practices in non-cash remuneration will be analysed along with their current status among Czech companies. The theoretical framework leads then to establishing hypotheses concerning the impact of the global economic crisis on businesses in the Czech Republic in terms of provision of fringe benefits.

The subsequent section will present the methodology used, the data and results from the primary research. A part of the questionnaire survey will be analysed to look into the interdependence of certain questions pertaining to the change in fringe benefit offer in 2007 - 2011, the period assumed to be a crisis era. In conclusion, an overall assessment of the questionnaire survey will be provided.