Labor shortages: how employers adapt to COVID realities

15:26, November 21, 2021

Experts discussed ways to solve the demographic problem on the labor market

Researchers, specialists in the field of human capital management and HR specialists of large companies told about radical changes on the labor market and how to solve global economic problems in conditions of limited human resources. The discussion took place on November 18 at one of the events of the business program of the XVI International Conference " Russian Regions in the Focus of Changes".

Participants of the plenary session “Labor market: demographic and generation gaps impacts” considered issues relevant to enterprises of all sizes of business and sectors of the economy. It was not just about the short-term effects of the pandemic on the labor market. Job layoffs, underemployment, unpaid vacations, distant work, and wage cuts are just the beginning of change, experts say. The experts focused on long-term problems, including demographic ones. A decrease in the proportion of young people will lead to a reduction in human capital and the rate of its renewal.  Experts say,  this will deal a serious blow to the country's economy in 10-20 years.

 "The demographic situation is still poorly understood, but it has great consequences. If we look at how everything related to the accumulation of human capital is formed within this shrinking stratum — the cohort of young people, we will see a steady decline in those who receive higher education. This will lead to serious competition for this cohort. Because it is only with this cohort that we can largely associate the renewal of knowledge, competencies, and the emergence of high-quality human resources," notes Sergey Roshchin, Vice Rector of the HSE, Head of the Labor Market Research Laboratory.

Experts are sure that the solution to the problem lies in improving the quality of work with the category of young people that exists now. Employers need to use the existing human capital more effectively and create conditions for its development. This motivates companies to monitor changes in the requests of people applying for a job.

HR specialists note that the value orientations of the younger generation are changing.

“For the younger generation, a balance between work, family, and hobbies is important. They are always focused on development. Therefore, there are two vectors along which it is important for employers to move. External is the creation of a development environment for professionals in their region or area. Large companies are now beginning to invest in the region to make it comfortable to live in. Within the company, it is important to give employees the opportunity to expand their professional competencies, the ability to change them. Changing areas of activity increases the term of work in one company,” explains Svetlana Skolzkova, Head of Personnel Department SKB Kontur.

Representatives of companies also talk about the need for internal training of employees. In addition to basic, highly professional knowledge, employees of any company need soft-skills. The ability to work in a team, emotional intelligence, customer orientation and other competencies are necessary for a person to build a career.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly highlighted the needs of millennials to adapt their work environment to their own lives. Representatives of generation Z also began to appear, for them an individual approach is also important. Therefore, we began to rebuild the learning model, and now it is based on the principles of person-centeredness. Each person is talented in his own way, and the goal of the training is to enable each person to develop, to give new knowledge,” says Svetlana Belyakova,  Head of Personnel Development at the Ural Branch of PJSC Promsvyazbank.

Business restructuring, focus on creating a developing environment and improving conditions for the development of human resources is one of the success factors in solving economic problems. The use of human capital as the main factor of economic growth is relevant and promising for society. But this will be possible only when investing in human capital.

“If we want to win the race to an innovative human resource that is shrinking, it’s important to change technology. The cost of everything else that is not labor must be cut substantially in order to somehow win over the super-skilled labor. Without restructuring the business, we will not be able to respond to the challenges that the labor market faces,” says Sergey Roshchin

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The conference is one of the biggest business event in the Ural region dedicated to the issues of regional development in the context of global economic trends. More than 30 discussion sessions and panel discussions traditionally cover the most relevant trends. This year, the conference events focus on the digital economy, the design of clusters and "smart" ecosystems for territories, the development of the urban environment, industry issues and much more.