The second wave of COVID-19 in the labour market: the growing role of employment agencies
The pandemic has been going on since March 2020 and no one can predict when it will end. The related restrictions affect almost every branch of the economy, not only because of restrictions on conducting business. The second wave of Covid-19 shows that every company can be exposed to difficulties or even downtime due to the illness or mandatory quarantine of employees. Especially in production plants, ensuring continuity of work becomes crucial. The situation on the labour market in the “blue collar” sector is analysed by Edyta Kowalczyk, Key Account Director at LeasingTeam Group.
Labour market reaction to the first wave
In March and April this year, many companies were forced to reduce employment and even temporarily close their offices, premises or plants. The lockdown came suddenly and did not give us time to prepare. You had to act here and now, which usually involved making quick decisions. Although there were companies that were not economically affected by the pandemic, even they were cautious about hiring new people or cooperating with HR agencies. Meanwhile, companies already cooperating with agencies appreciated this cooperation, because thanks to it they managed employees faster and with greater flexibility. What is more, in the event of forced redundancies, they could also count on the support of the agency. At LeasingTeam, we have repeatedly managed to delegate employees made redundant by one employer to other projects, even when they had to relocate to another province. Such flexibility is made possible by the temporary employment service and outsourcing.
Second wave – potential threats and emergency solutions
The second wave of the pandemic, although more violent, does not entail such quick and sometimes final decisions by employers as it was at the turn of the 1st and 2nd quarters. Currently, companies are facing the challenge of ensuring continuity of work in the event of quarantine of part of the staff. Proper preparation for this eventuality can protect companies from such effects as paying overtime to employees not in quarantine or stopping or drastically reducing operations. Stress, fatigue and declining morale of the crew are also important.
In order to face staff shortages resulting from the pandemic, companies are first looking for internal solutions, e.g. by launching “ad hoc” recruitment through their own HR department. At the same time, the effort and time spent do not guarantee the intended effect. This is influenced by many variables: the size of the internal HR team, the experience of individual recruiters, the tools and skills to reach the right candidates.
Some companies also save themselves by temporarily moving employees from other departments, e.g. from the warehouse to production. However, there are limitations: it can be done for a maximum of 3 months a year, the position must match the employee’s qualifications and the salary cannot be reduced (Article 42 § 4 of the Labor Code).
Such solutions are only a temporary remedy. They will not work in the long term or with a larger scale of the problem. It can be treated as the so-called emergency exit, but with the awareness that it does not constitute an effective, systemic protection of the company.
Plan b – the prudent always secured
In view of the current epidemiological situation, but also in connection with the flu season, enterprises, especially manufacturing companies, should prepare in advance internal procedures in the event of sudden and possibly mass absences of employees. The larger the scale of the business, the less you can rely on chance, count on luck or rely on ad hoc actions.
Recruiting and hiring employees with the right competences and available “immediately” are not easy tasks. When preparing for such an eventuality, it is worth talking in advance with a professional employment agency, which will be able to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of the process in a short time thanks to a wide database of candidates and large recruitment resources.
Employers, aware of the upcoming threats, want to protect themselves and have the so-called plan B, i.e. the ability to obtain quick support in a situation where some of the staff are in quarantine or on a longer sick leave. We are observing a growing interest in the services provided by LeasingTeam Group, such as temporary work or outsourcing. Some of our clients go a step further and invest in employees on the so-called stand-by, who can come to work almost overnight in the event of an emergency. The model of cooperation we choose depends on the individual expectations of the client – what number of employees he needs to replace him, how quickly, what budget he has, etc. Based on the information received, we jointly consider and implement the best solution for a given company.
Not only during the pandemic
Outsourcing and temporary work is a way to effectively manage employee absences, regardless of whether we are dealing with a few days of L4, a two-week holiday or quarantine. An experienced employment agency is able to delegate candidates for replacement even within a few days, and operating throughout Polish, it can reach almost every candidate interested in working in a specific plant.
For example, at LeasingTeam, quick response, the right tools and resources made it possible to recruit and hire more than 70 employees scattered in dozens of locations for the 2-week period required by the client within just 2 working days. In most locations, the cooperation time was later extended by further weeks. Partnership, mutual trust and open communication – this is what made the project a success. Currently, the client has asked us to prepare a similar recruitment campaign, which it treats as a “plan B” in the event of an increase in demand for employees.
Our experience shows that it is worth working with a proven employment agency on a long-term basis. Over time, coordinators from the agency become more and more familiar with the specifics of work in a given organization, and this allows them to regularly expand the database of candidates with people who meet the employer’s requirements. The level of employee matching increases significantly, and the time to deliver them is shortened. Employees, on the other hand, are becoming more and more efficient in adapting to new responsibilities and better acclimatizing to the company. As a result, all three parties benefit.
Doświadczony analityk rynku pracy, specjalizuje się w badaniach nad trendami zatrudnienia i zmianami w strukturze zawodowej. Jego artykuły, publikowane w renomowanych czasopismach branżowych, pomagają czytelnikom zrozumieć dynamikę rynku pracy.
