Human resources: supply on the labour market improving
Though it may seem that domestic and foreign companies are plagued by poor demand most of all, the business sector faces also other, chronic problems. Various surveys have shown that the biggest grievance is the long-term lack of employees with sufficient qualifications and commitment to work (see http://www.stavebni-forum.cz/…zamestnanci/). According to a poll in which SF questioned several domestic firms, the personnel situation seems to be improving today, paradoxically because of the recession.
A. Do you have enough qualified and competent workers? Has the ongoing
recession changed anything about your personnel situation?
B. No matter if your need is satisfied or not, how do you explain this
(situation in education, general mood in the society, competition etc.)?
C. We often hear about people who “want employment, but don’t want work”.
This is related to the issue of motivation – how do you solve it in your
enterprise?
Irena Reichlová, SATPO
A. At this time I dare say that we have enough competent workers. Conversely, the current “crisis” has forced us, just like many other companies, to streamline our workforce. Which also answers your second question – yes, we have dealt with the personnel situation in connection with the current recession. However, our solution was mild. I think that our colleagues in key positions in our company have been there for a long time and have huge experience in the field.
B. This question is very general and very hard to answer briefly and specifically. As for myself, I can only talk about Prague’s labour market. In the past we often saw few experienced people with the needed specialization. I think this is caused by the local labour market and by the overall economic situation. During a short time span, many firms have grown up and their need for experienced workers has increased. Unfortunately, these workers have not been “growing up” so fast.
C. I agree with this statement to some extent. In the past we saw few experienced people with the needed specialization. The labour market and the market situation allowed people to work less and to talk about work more. I think right now it is time to really start working. Employers are likely to have a greater choice of job applicants and people who want employment and want and are able to work will succeed. The issue of motivation in our company is divided into several stages. We use short-term and long-term bonuses for meeting targets and the so-called target bonuses related to specific projects and potential one-off bonuses.
Michal Šourek, MSG holding
A. I think our company is relatively saturated in this respect … maybe slightly above average. The recession has already started improving the labour market situation – greater supply and motivation of employees have become reality.
B. The causes for the long-term bleak situation in human resources consist in the residues of the socialistic philosophy of life. Education in families, public institutions and schools, including universities, has not yet taken into account the new reality, based on competitive environment. When average Czech professionals lack is especially involvement and responsibility. “This is not my problem, it’s a problem of those above me” type of thinking is very frequent even in situations where there are no “those above me”; another commonplace idea is “I know it failed, but I did my best – what else do you want me to do…”
C. This is not a quantitative problem, it is qualitative – with some exceptions, these characteristics of employees are not black-and-white. In our firm we perceive employees who “are easily satisfied” with a smaller quantity and/or worse quality of their work, and we pay increased attention to them. We are more inclined for negative motivation in case of these people.
Karel Bezděka, PSJ Jihlava
A. At this moment we have a sufficient number of competent employees in key positions, but we are still interested in employing qualified, skilled and hard-working employees. However, we have made our new recruitment criteria stricter.
B. The problems of the Czech market are well-known. Everything starts with the system of education, which is not adequately connected to the real labour market and its needs. This is very obvious in construction. In the last couple of years, the number of new graduates of technical secondary schools and colleges has been continuously decreasing, especially in teaching construction jobs. This situation continuously aggravates the age structure of employees in construction firms, namely in skilled positions. The system of vocational schools does not currently produce optimum numbers of students in total as well as with respect to their structure and focus (bricklayers, tilers, carpenters). There are several causes. One of them is the unfavourable demographic development of the Czech population. Another is the state policy – increasing the level of education among the population decreases interest in vocational jobs. The attractiveness of construction jobs is reduced by the need to commute, by frequent changes of job sites and often by the performance of work in bad weather. Last but not least, unfortunately, some building jobs have a lower social prestige in the eyes of the public and are not sufficiently rewarded. We are dealing with this problem and are looking for ways to bring pupils from elementary schools to our vocational schools, while ensuring that they work in construction when they complete their education. The boys have their practical training directly on our construction sites; we are trying to communicate with their parents a lot and are deploying a motivation system in the form of scholarships, pocket money and study loans.
C. We motivate our employees in many ways. We especially apply a motivational wage system with a specific bonus scheme. We also offer benefit cafeterias, an elaborated educational system called “PSJ University” and an extra leave. Our support for professional growth, evaluation of long-term employees and a positive corporate culture also contribute to our employees’ motivation.
Radek Polák, Sekyra Group
A. Sekyra Group can rely on dozens of experienced managers, project leaders and other specialists, and the present situation has not changed anything about that. On the other hand, there are also jobs that our company solves through outsourcing. They include for example architectural, designing and construction activities.
B. Each major company needs sufficiently qualified, experienced and motivated employees. The situation in Sekyra Group is good in this respect, we employ university graduates as well as experienced professionals with many years of practice. Some of them came to us from our competitors a short time ago.
C. All employees are motivated financially. This is more visible in case of higher management and sales managers.
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