Ukraine will provide hundreds of suitable candidates for technical positions

Prague, 22 August 2017

Welders, manufacturing operators and also engineers. Workers from Ukraine could now be recruited for positions for which there is a critical shortage of candidates on the Czech market. According to information from the Grafton Recruitment Agency a large number of people have lost their jobs as a result of conflict in Donbas and are now looking for employment abroad.

“More and more companies are employing foreigners, because they are being forced to do so by the economic situation: the employment rate is actually 100% on the current labour market. In order to recruit workers for vacant jobs or to avoid losing contracts for which new workers are required, the only alternative to stealing employees from the competition is acquisition of new employees from abroad,“ says Martin Ježek, Commercial Director at Grafton Recruitment, with the understanding that, according to the Czech Statistical Office, most employed foreigners come from Slovakia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Germany and Hungary, and frequently fill a varied range of positions – from labourer positions in the processing industry, through construction, retail and business services, to highly qualified positions in development and research or in the field of information technologies.

Foreigners are not a cheap workforce

Employment of foreigners causes many challenges for company managers: from a more demanding recruitment and selection process, through managing additional administration in relation to work permits or visas for foreigners from countries outside the EU, to managing language-cultural differences. ” And all this means additional costs. It is therefore impossible to propose that foreigners are cheaper than Czech employees. Employers are also required by law to pay the same salary for the same work, regardless of the nationality of their employees, so they cannot save on salaries as many people believe they do,” says Martin Ježek and adds “In spite of this, companies have to focus on foreign workers in many branches, in order to balance the lack of available people in the Czech Republic.“

​Ukrainians can help the Czech labour market substantially

The recently adopted amendment to the Employment Act, which has allowed recruitment agencies to temporarily assign foreigners from countries outside the EU to carry out work, if they are holders of an employee card, blue card, or employment permit, is a great opportunity to employers. “This amendment to the act offers an opportunity for legal employment of Ukrainians through Czech recruitment agencies, which is a positive change for all Czech employers. We expect that the Czech labour market could now be supported by hundreds of workers from Ukraine,“ Martin Ježek concludes.