Compensation Study for HISWA-RECRON

There’s a common perception that the recreation sector doesn’t pay very generously. But is that actually true? That’s what Martin Merks, manager of social policy at industry organization HISWA-RECRON, wanted to find out. Ahead of the upcoming CLA negotiations, he decided to have the compensation practices of a group of members examined.

"These have been strange years with high inflation," Merks said. "In early 2022, we agreed on a CLA for two years that didn’t take inflation into account. The union wanted to amend those terms midway, but we didn’t agree. We suspected that many of our members were already doing more than the current CLA prescribes." To get clarity, Merks initiated a study.

The research focused on a specific subset of members: entrepreneurs in the holiday recreation segment—such as campsites and bungalow parks. With many SMEs and a few large companies like Roompot, Landal GreenParks, and Center Parcs, they represent the largest group within the land-based recreation sector. HISWA-RECRON also supports businesses in the water sports sector, following the 2020 merger of industry associations RECRON and HISWA.

To organize the study, Merks enlisted Guyot van Meer from Highberg this past spring. Van Meer had previously been involved in developing the new pension scheme for recreation businesses and had worked as an interim manager at vacation park operator Landal GreenParks. He knew the sector well, as well as several members of the committee preparing for the CLA.

So, did the study yield any major surprises?
"Not really. It mostly confirmed our suspicion that many members are paying above CLA levels and have indeed responded to rising inflation," Merks noted. "On average, about 30% of their employees received more than the periodic increase to which they were entitled. There’s also a group that exceeds their salary scale. All in all, it was more than we had expected."

Other examples of additional benefits offered by many employers in recent years include one-off payments to offset inflation and travel expense reimbursements. The current CLA does not address travel expenses, but in practice, most employers reimburse part of these costs. Based on this outcome, HISWA-RECRON is now proposing to include a standard travel expense reimbursement in the new CLA.
"That’s been on the horizon for a while," Merks said. "Not offering travel expense reimbursement no longer feels appropriate. Recreational businesses are often located in more rural areas and are harder to reach by public transport. With rising fuel prices, employees can lose a significant portion of their salary just getting to work."

Not every detail is specified in the CLA, partly due to the diversity of the members, Merks explains. Some businesses are highly seasonal, others are not. Company sizes vary greatly—from around ten employees to more than three thousand.
"That’s why we sometimes phrase things broadly. One example is the jubilee scheme. The CLA states that such a scheme should exist, but the exact details are left to the members themselves."

In September, negotiations on the new collective bargaining agreement for companies in residential recreation began. The study on the current terms of employment is not a negotiation document, Merks stressed. It primarily serves as background information. Although the response of the entrepreneurs was a bit disappointing, probably because they were approached during a busy period, the results are representative for the sector.

Merks experienced the cooperation with the researchers as "extremely pleasant. "My impression of Highberg is that they employ fun, enthusiastic and smart people who are good at math, analysis and making connections. When the research was in progress, we were in contact almost weekly about how things were going. Questions and comments from our members were well addressed.'

Is such a survey of actual pay by this group of companies worth repeating? 'I think it would be good to repeat it prior to subsequent collective bargaining talks,' Merks said. What also seems interesting to him in the future is to investigate specific job groups within the sector, such as employees in cleaning, landscaping and catering. 'With us, everyone is in one collective bargaining agreement, but it would be good to take a look at how pay relates to the specific sector collective bargaining agreements. Although that is still in the future.'