HRM market – summary of 2018, challenges for 2019

GDPR – the challenge of the year

Undoubtedly, the event of 2018 for the HR industry was the introduction of GDPR legal regulations. The new regulations on the protection of personal data have significantly affected employment agencies, which collect and use information about natural persons – employees and candidates – on an ongoing basis.

The challenge was not only the operational implementation of the GDPR in organizations, but above all the development of new practices for acquiring and processing contacts to candidates. As a result, the role of headhunting, i.e. active search for employees, has increased significantly. We observe that social media channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook have an increasing share in recruitment, especially in the area of permanent recruitment conducted by our Professional and ITLT companies.

Reinforcements from the East
Even the best communication tools and platforms will not change the fact that there is a shortage of workforce on the Polish market. Comparing the data from the Central Statistical Office, which shows 165,000 unfilled positions in the second quarter of 2018 with the lowest unemployment rate in years at the level of 5.8% (Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy) and the entry of successive cohorts of demographic decline into the market, we observe a situation that has not yet been seen on the Polish labour market – a huge demand for workers from the East.

– Poland is an attractive country of employment for citizens from the East. It is estimated that about 1.5 million employees from Ukraine are currently working for us. However, the circle of search is expanding month by month. More and more often we hire employees from much more distant countries, such as Moldova, Nepal, India, Azerbaijan and even Vietnam. Polish employers are facing a new challenge – managing a multicultural environment and creating appropriate working conditions – said Aneta Sztompka, Director of Foreign Market Development at LeasingTeam Group, responsible for recruiting employees from the East.

In the perspective of opening the German labour market to non-EU citizens, it is worth asking whether Poland will be the last or the first stop on the way to professional development for workers from the East.

Will the German labour market take away workers from the East?

Germany is experiencing an acute shortage of specialists. According to data from the third quarter of 2018, a record approx. 1.24 million professionals, engineers and people from the IT industry are needed. In an effort to counteract the growing trend, the German government has adopted a draft immigration law aimed at making it easier to hire specialists from outside the EU. Taking into account the significant difference in wages in Poland and Germany, in favor of our western neighbors, Polish entrepreneurs began to fear the loss of employees from the East. To what extent is their anxiety justified?

– It is worth noting that the relaxation of the existing regulations, coming into force on 1 January 2020, only abolishes the obligation of the labour market test – the so-called priority test consisting in the possibility of employing a foreigner for a given position, only after checking the lack of employment of a German citizen. However, other standards will be maintained, i.e. the ability to support oneself, possession of the required qualifications, education and professional experience, and knowledge of the German language. This means that the change in the regulations on the employment of foreigners from outside the EU will apply only to employees with qualifications and professional experience. In our opinion, the fears of Polish entrepreneurs about the mass loss of Ukrainian employees may turn out to be significantly exaggerated. Although there is a probability that Poland will become a transit place for Ukrainians on their way to the West – after earning a certain amount of money in our country, some of them may decide to leave – but this will be a slow, several-year process – said Anna Macheta, Development Director at CPC Consulting Group – the LeasingTeam Group company responsible for cross-border posting of employees to Germany.

Specialists urgently needed

As in Germany, qualified specialists are also most sought after in Poland, such as IT developers, IT systems architects, analysts, artificial intelligence specialists, robot designers, R&D employees or digital marketing and e-commerce specialists.

– Employers will want to hire people with experience and documented competences. Although employees are becoming more flexible and often have experience in working in several professions, the demand in these areas is not able to meet the supply. Therefore, the industry will be looking for more and more creative ways of recruitment and employment opportunities, e.g. by creating virtual teams or digital workplaces that will gather qualified employees in the e-space. It seems, therefore, that in the battle for employees, the winners will be those employers who will be able to provide a creative and developmental work environment – said Anna Kurczewska-Formela, Recruitment Director at Professional – a LeasingTeam Group company responsible for permanent recruitment and white collar outsourcing.

The market focuses on improving communication

Since the number of specialists on the market is limited, quick access and good communication with the recruiter will become an advantage in acquiring candidates. The success factors will be: good and fast communication via social media, clear employment conditions and feedback. Tools that speed up contact with candidates are social messengers such as WhatsApp, Viber and Messenger, whose importance will grow month by month, also in communication between the recruiter and the candidate.

A growing trend strengthening good contact with the candidate will also be the presentation of financial terms and conditions of employment already in the job advertisement. According to the “Quality of Recruitment Processes” survey (November-December 2018), in which LeasingTeam Group was a partner, as many as 86% of candidates expect it. In our opinion, this trend will intensify with the greatest force in the area of temporary work, outsourcing and recruitment for the IT industry. Such activities strengthen openness in communication with the candidate and speed up the recruitment process.

Automation, outsourcing and EB – top 3 in 2019

Difficulties in filling vacancies are generated by two visible trends observed in organizations. On the one hand, companies focus on the automation of work, processes and positions, on the other hand, they see the need to take care of current employees in such a way that they do not want to leave their jobs.

The first trend, which was already strongly visible in 2018, focuses on entrepreneurs eliminating the negative effects of vacancies by automating more jobs or outsourcing services. In order for a smaller group of employees to be able to cope with the growing amount of work, they need modern digital tools. And so, on the example of the HR industry, these will be IT systems used for the initial selection, categorization and comparison of candidates or activities using social media tools.

The second direction indicated as key for entrepreneurs for 2019 is the retention of current employees. However, not by raising wages, but by activities in the area of Employer Branding. The high costs of recruiting new people and the time needed to onboard them generate unnecessary losses that can be prevented by implementing a well-thought-out strategy of pro-employee activities within the organization. By creating a friendly and modern work environment, development opportunities and inviting people to be involved in building the company, we cause that not only current employees will leave the organization less often, but also speak positively about it. As a result, candidates will be all the easier and more willing to apply for vacancies.

“Culture in an organization is extremely important, which we see every day when recruiting employees. A perfect example confirming these words is one of our clients from the FMCG industry. Every month, we delegate several hundred temporary workers to it. Although the salary is not the highest on the market, employees are very eager to start working there and stay there for a full 18 months. They appreciate the openness of the staff, the friendliness of the management, but also the clear rules of cooperation. Therefore, when working with clients, we try to get to know the organizational culture well in order to carry out the recruitment process based on its principles. This creates a consistent image in the eyes of candidates and translates into the success of employment – said Katarzyna Janusz, Operations Director at LeasingTeam, a company providing temporary employment services and outsourcing of processes and functions.

Summary

Record-low unemployment, a high number of vacancies, an influx of workers from the further and further East, but also the opening of German borders or a constant shortage of specialists on the market pose more and more challenges to Polish employers and employment agencies.

On the one hand, new tools for automating work are emerging, on the other hand, there is an increasing emphasis on activities in soft areas, i.e. communication or Employer Branding. The winners will be entrepreneurs who will invest in employees from the East, those who will bet on new technologies or companies that will decide to take care of their current employees? Or maybe a mixed model of simultaneous development in these 3 areas will determine success? In just a few months, 2019 will show which trend will be the most effective and bring the greatest benefits.