Industrial growth of Czech companies is shaken by crises. Will it help them to resurrect the employment of Ukrainians?
Labor in the Czech Republic is a scarce commodity. Companies complain that the market lacks tens of thousands of workers to help grow their business. Czech technological, biotechnological or otherwise innovative companies would need to strengthen teams of qualified experts for their expansion. However, they are looking for them in vain.
“In recent years, we have not only experienced an enormous shortage of quality workers in the labor market, but unfortunately also a loss of motivation and the desire of many workers to do a good job,” says Zuzana Bubnová, Executive Director of the biotechnology company Contipro.
The unfavorable development on the domestic labor market is taking place against the background of the economic instability of the last two years, caused by the waves of the pandemic. The result was disruptions in supply chains or outages in industrial production. With the retreat of the covid-19 pandemic, 2022 was expected to be high-growth, but the business was hampered by labor problems and new uncertainty stemming from the war and sanctions.
The personnel problem largely concerns the mentioned companies with sophisticated production requiring high qualifications. At the same time, innovative products with high added value have the potential to be a significant component of Czech industry and exports. According to Vladimír Velebný, owner of Contipro, biotechnology in the Czech Republic can be an important industry: “Czech companies in the field of biotechnology have the potential to become major companies in the European and global context. We also have strong centers of academic biotechnology research,” he also points to a declining skill level in the workforce.
There is interest in Ukrainian companies:
Although the situation around the coronavirus pandemic has not yet returned to pre-2019, war broke out in Ukraine in February. According to a March survey by the Hofmann Personal recruitment agency, 68% of companies surveyed plan to offer jobs for Ukrainian refugees, and another 14% are thinking. Personnel from manufacturing, wholesale and logistics companies were interviewed.
“I think that the influx of new workers on the labor market could help reverse the negative trend and, so to speak, set the normal situation,” comments Zuzana Bubnová, who does not assume that quality and qualified Czech employees should have any concerns about competition from newcomers. “Employers would be against each other if they wanted to get rid of such workers,” adds Bubnová.
The war in the east is disrupting companies’ plans:
It should be noted that the arrival of labor from Ukraine is a kind of marginal positive moment against the background of the war tragedy, which, among other things, means for many Czech companies the collapse of their activities there. According to a Hofmann Personal survey, up to 72% of companies surveyed will be adversely affected by the war in Ukraine, with only 9% saying they will have no impact on them. Smaller companies are among the most affected. However, innovative companies are free from this dependence, because they have managed to gain a better foothold in lucrative Western markets, and the Eastern ones are therefore less important to them.
“The major impacts directly related to business in Russia and Ukraine are now marginal. Our total turnover in Russia and Ukraine is in the order of low percentage units,” said Contipra CEO. However, according to her, the issue is the indirect effects that may manifest over time for Contipro as a subcontractor to multinational companies in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics segments.
Source: Contipro and CTK
