Silvarom sees 50% of staff leave in under one year

More than 300 employees at Silvarom, a leading furniture producer, have left the company to work abroad or in the constructions sector. Silvarom now has 400 employees, compared with 725 in the first half of last year. "Many have left to work abroad and many went to work in constructions, which pays double our wages. This wave of departures has taken us by surprise," said Ioan Marginean, (photo) Silvarom's financial manager. The average salary in the furniture industry stands at 220 euros, while in the constructions sector the figure stands at 400-500 euros on average. Silvarom's representative says there have not been any cases of people coming back to work for the company so far. Alprom, another top player in the furniture industry, also lost approximately 400 employees last year, when staff left to pursue careers abroad. Dum itru Petcu, general manager of Alprom Pitesti, said he did give all employees a 20% raise, but wages are still along way behind those paid in West. In some cases, the trend has seen a slight reversal with twenty or thirty people coming back this year, but the figure is still not large enough for the company's needs. Even Swedish furniture retailer Ikea, whose business reached 87 million euros last year, was faced with the migration of personnel, after around 25% of employees left to work for other companies. Silvarom ended 2007 with turnover down 30% against the 60.1 million RON (17.1 million euros) derived in 2006.