A new work dynamics
One of the most unexpected benefits of the pandemic has been the change in the work dynamics
România Internațional, 02.03.2022, 11:46
One of the most unexpected benefits of the pandemic has been the change in the work dynamics: a change in the work paradigm, in the sense that, now, employees prefer to resign from their job, even without a backup plan, rather than agree to compromise. A recent study found that only 3% of those surveyed wanted a full return to work at the headquarters, while the vast majority said they would resign if they were forced to do something they did not want to do. 86% of employees want to work from home at least two days a week and we are talking about a study of 10,000 people globally!
Let’s see, together with Raluca Dumitra, Head of Marketing at eJobs Group, how the work dynamic has changed in our country and elsewhere, what the labor market in Romania looks like in 2022 and which are the areas that employ the most. And, yes, we are talking about The Great Resignation, a phenomenon that exists in Romania, although still a bit shy.
In 2021 we heard about ‘The Great Resignation’, and in the meantime the phenomenon has got very close to Romania. In a study we’ve conducted recently among candidates, 21% of them said that they would resign from their job without having a backup plan. It is a percentage that is surprising in view of the fact that we must keep in mind that these employees are no longer willing to compromise when it comes to job. Moreover, 8 out of 10 Romanians said in the same survey that their main priority this year was to change their job and that the search had already begun. What is even more surprising is that we are witnessing huge optimism, because almost half of them believe they would find a job in less than three months. On the other hand, I don’t know if its optimism or a reality of the market, because we are currently facing an extremely big talent deficit, which obviously puts the candidates in a privileged position, in which they can choose the job they want, negotiate their benefits and, at the same time, gives them confidence that if they resign, even without a backup plan, they will find a new job quickly enough. And it is the reality of the market also because it is true that skilled people will find work very quickly in accordance with their expectations.
Raluca Dumitra told us which are the fields that lack talents, and those that employ the most.
At the moment, there is a big talent deficit in the Romanian labour market. Since the beginning of the year, 60,000 new jobs have been posted on the platform (mid-February). Most employers are in Bucharest and in the big cities, and the fields that employ the most are retail, services, call-centers, production, IT-Telecom, logistics transport, food industry, construction. Just a few weeks ago we conducted another survey, among employers this time, and we asked them what the areas in which they think they would employ the most this year were, and the first areas mentioned by them were sales, production and construction. These are areas that are traditionally faced with shortage or where the fluctuations are high (sales), or fields where finding labour force is a bit more difficult, such as manufacturing or construction (the latter area has recorded a great boom, especially in the last two years). On the other hand, we are still talking about a huge talent shortage in the IT sector. Before the pandemic, we were talking about a deficit of 20,000-30,000 specialists that the market could have absorbed at any time, and now, with all the momentum that digitalization has gained because of the pandemic, this deficit now stands at around 50,000 specialists.
The pandemic helped us to discover hybrid work, which is here to stay, even after the pandemic ends. Raluca Dumitra:
One of the very few good things the pandemic has brought along is this flexibility. Because we all had to work from home, we got this freedom to work from anywhere, which it is natural for employees not to want to give up. It is true that in 2022 we will be talking about a hybrid program rather than remote work, because there is this desire on the part of both employees and companies to go back to the office (but beware, we are not talking about returning to what was before the pandemic, five working days at the office – something we will probably never see again soon or maybe never), we are talking about a desire to return, but while still maintaining this flexibility. Basically, employees want to return to their office on their own terms, for several reasons – they can socialize, maybe some of them can focus better there on certain days, but it is not a desire to return permanently. Moreover, those companies that want to bring their employees back under certain fixed parameters (for example, we have all employees to return three days a week to work from the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and, practically, we leave no room for flexibility) those companies will suffer, especially in these times when the battle for talent is fierce. Those companies that do not understand the need for flexibility will suffer and will probably face a wave of resignations, in the context of what is called the Great Resignation. On the other hand, the employee’s desire to take as many days off as possible in 2022 is absolutely natural. We must keep in mind that for about two years we all operated in a crash system, more or less, we did not have the freedom to travel or, when we travelled, we did it with extreme caution, we travelled less than in previous years and not everyone could take a vacation as they used to. In view of the fact that we worked predominantly from home, the professional space merged a lot with the personal one, we worked a lot (with many cases of burnout) and so this need to rest is quite natural. (MI)
