The labour shortage is the hot topic of the day, and no wonder. According to a recent survey conducted by the Finland Chamber of Commerce to 1 300 of its member companies, up to three in four businesses are suffering from a shortage of labour. Almost 70 percent of businesses also stated that the labour shortage has already restricted their growth.

However, the good news is that one reason for the labour shortage is economic recovery and the decrease of unemployment. At the end of June, there were more than 100 000 fewer unemployed people in Finland than a year ago.

Despite this, there are still hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in our country, which is why it may be hard to understand the labour shortage. But it appears that the labour market is currently faced with the challenge of the employee’s market and labour market mismatches.

The people who already have the required skills and expertise, can pick and choose where they want to work. And at the same time, there are numerous people in the labour market whose skills do not match the current needs of businesses. So, there are workers, but not skilled workers.  

Why do people want to work for us?

In an employee’s market, it is a good idea to stop and think about why skilled workers would want to work in our company in particular. Or perhaps the more important question is how do we engage and retain our current employees. Some degree of employee turnover is a good thing, but if the doors are constantly revolving, this may end up being costly.

Studies show that the salary affects the choice of workplace and, as the cost of living is rising, the importance of the income level will continue to grow. The salary should therefore be at least competitive, but other factors, such as corporate culture, work that feels meaningful and well-being, are increasingly outweighing money.

Since we spend half of our waking hours at work, we want our job to represent the values we believe in. We expect our job to be versatile and flexible and we want to be able to influence things and progress in our career.

Sometimes you hear people say they did not change jobs, but they changed bosses. This shows that the management culture of the business and its consistency should also be examined on a regular basis.     

The list of demands may sound long and laborious in the ears of an employer. It is true that building an attractive workplace does not happen in the blink of an eye or even two blinks. That is why the development of corporate culture and recruitment should be incorporated into the business strategy and day-to-day operations.

Invest, keep up and stand out

As the world is developing at a rapid pace and businesses are specializing in even narrower sectors, you may also find yourself in a situation where suitable employees are not trained even in the schools specializing in the field. In these cases, one option is to train skilled workers yourself.

Organizing apprenticeships and recruitment trainings requests some investment, but many businesses have already found that they eventually pay for themselves. Career changers who are given the chance to study a new profession typically make highly dedicated employees.

Many industries also have their work cut out for them when it comes to updating outdated impressions. For example, jobs in the metal industry are still often seen as physically strenuous and dirty, although in reality many machine shops involve working in clean production areas with modern equipment and robots.

As the population of Finland is ageing, it is true that we will be needing more and more work-related immigration in addition to changes in the structures of education and employment. The best talents and good employees will still have plenty of options to choose from and that is why the businesses that will be able to keep up the best in the next few years are the ones that start working actively on behalf of their recruitment and corporate culture today.