Again, we are in a situation of shortage of qualified staff, which creates many potential and real risks and problems for the working enterprises. More and more is being talked not only of attracting new employees and of retaining existing ones. And conversations often begin and end with wages. Is it enough?
Society is changing, working habits are changing, and businesses are changing. Many foreign employers are entering the labor market with their specific know-how, with different inter-company relationships, and this also changes the environment and the expectations of the workers.
Research among developed sectors such as IT shows that pay is no longer a leading choice for an employer. It is still extremely important, but it is in the top five of the factors that determine employee engagement. They are interested in the opportunities the company gives them, the training they could get, the quality of leadership in the company, the good level of communication, and so on. Ie. It is a more complete package of benefits and benefits, as well as the overall experience of being a company employee.
This is all the more true for workers in manufacturing plants. Paying is extremely important, especially in the low pay segment, but more and more people are also interested in working conditions, microclimate, management attitudes, development opportunities. And here we come to a thin balance that companies need to learn to manage. It is based on a more detailed understanding of the reasons that make people stay in the company or leave. Each company is unique in itself, and the specific set of factors should be based on a detailed survey of satisfaction and engagement, but there are some examples to mention for their performance.
Seasonal work in tourism is one of them. Whether for months in the active season of the sea or in the mountains, this is one of the threats to businesses. In the case of work in tourism, it is more often a matter of leaving, than for the use of hospital and leave. But in both cases, the company loses skilled workers for a shorter or longer period of time. Indeed, people are tempted by the possibility of easy profit combined with free rest. Here, the counter-action would be a known pay adjustment so that work remains profitable. In this case, people would find it harder to break away from family and friends for several months, especially when the direct economic benefit is questionable. Facts show that businesses are doing better with this case, and more and more people in affected regions prefer the security of year-round employment and salary.
What is salvation for companies in the tourism industry? Again in creating year-round employment. For example, off-season staff from the sea can be posted to mountain resorts and vice versa. Leisure can also be used to educate and develop people and thus ensure their retention. Experience shows that such practices are increasingly being imposed. Appropriate programs by the Employment Agency and MLSP would also be beneficial, especially if the seasonality of the work is taken into account.
Seasonal work in agriculture. Here, less often, it is about leaving, but rather for the use of hospital or longer leave, which also poses a risk and disrupts the workings of businesses. The solution would be to strengthen control but also to create additional financial incentives for people who are not absent from work. Such practices in the business are also very successful.
There are many such examples and threats, such as work abroad, for example, but the goal here is not to be comprehensive but to show that for each threat there are solutions and good practices, but their use must be made after careful analysis of the situation in the particular firm , The peculiarities of the region in which it works, and the type of people working in it. Only then can the right decisions be made to reduce the risks to the company.
The text was originally published in the “Business Club” magazine.
