I quited my job because of a short sabbatical for some months travelling around the world. And after reading about the job market and how low unemployment in Switzerland and Germany is at the moment, i got to the rising problem with the shortage of skilled workers, that will apparently get worse in the next years. What is a great thing for skilled workers.
I have noticed a clear higher fluctuation in the company I work for since the end of last year. I work in the IT/Software branche where is specially a problem to get skilled professionals, After checking job portals like linkedin, jobs.ch etc I think the problem could be general.
What do think of it? Is it real? Is it a real problem for the country to get enough skilled people to make the economy work?
Just yesterday a waitress told me that her colleague was asked, by a former employer, to please come back and work for him. She said no. He cannot re-open his business, post-Covid, because he has staff shortages in every single area of work needed to run a restaurant.
I've heard the rumor that some large companies pay permanently for open position ads in job sites. So, in case some hiring is needed, they already have proof to show cantonal authorities that they looked for X months in Switzerland and they found no one. Maybe, not all ads are real.
There are specific skills shortages but the knock-on effects of home working and covid is that employers will be able to source staff more widely.
Experienced staff (more likely to have substantial family/home commitments, who could not work in the hospitality sector during covid, will have moved on to other jobs - and won't return if they managed to find something more secure and with a better salary.
Reality is that hospitality is poorly paid, long working hours with bad working conditions (family friend just worked 10 days straight, one day off then another 7 days straight for an employer he 'likes').
IT has specific shortages - the word 'from the ground' is that there is a significant shortage of swiss-based coders. You may want to also look at the skills planning at the governmental level - they have just added a few new identified career paths for young people that were not there before - that may give you an idea of where it is headed - social media marketing there are heaps of jobs advertised, but when you 'drill down' the employers are considering it something that a young person can do as an intern - not a highly qualified career progression....
For some companies complaining of an IT skill shortage, what they actually mean is that there is a shortage of skilled IT workers at the price they are willing to pay, for the specific type of employee they are willing to consider.
Which is not quite the same thing as a shortage of skilled IT workers.
I guess when people got the message of "We don't need you" during covid19 times......they surprisingly got it, found something else to do to avoid starving and no one wants to go back to the shitty job. The irony is that the people that said "we don't need you" have not understood yet the power of words.
This, plus of course many were Europeans who had to leave because of Brexit- and found better jobs elsewhere, where they were welcomed. Be they Pilots, mechanics, stewarts or luggage handlers, etc. From the highly trained and skilled, right to the 'other end'.
Not alone that, but they are uninterested in taking on trainees as well. I have not been involved in graduate recruiting in may be 15 years or more, but back the when you’d have a presence at a fair or workshop you’d be one of maybe 30 companies seeking new starts.
Helping my son last year when he graduated and was doing the rounds, I was surprised to find so few companies were genuinely offering training programs - perhaps 5 at his college fair.
Exactly. I know of companies trying to hire people for salaries (sometimes even lower ) that one can work for from distance, e.g. from Eastern Europe even with a regular contract (i.e. not on an hourly basis).
On a separate note, many expect a recession. Actually similar wage rises/HC shortage have been often followed by recession throughout the history. It does not have to materialise but still there's a real likelihood that finding job may not be so easy in a year or two as it is today.
Maybe, but the amount is not that high compared to the total that needs to be paid. It wasn‘t a reason for my previous and current employer to not hire me.
There is a real shortage in some areas in Switzerland right now:
- Gastronomy: Lots of restaurants closed during the pandemic and people who used to work in the sector had to find different jobs. Two years on do the restaurants open again and struggle to find skilled people interested to work long hours for low pay... Once people found their alternatives are they apparently not interested to move back into their old sector.
- hotels: ditto
- IT: The IT landscape change dramatically over the last few years... But training your IT department? Something that barely happens in Switzerland. Go and watch some online tutorial or something... fast forward a few years and you surprisingly dont find enough people with the required skillset... If you are willing to work in the IT function in some boring mid sized Swiss industrial company... with a solid salary but not much of a career path or ways to grow... you can pick and choose right now. I'd personally in this market situation rather do contracting, take the money and do the occasional short sabbaticals as the OP lined out.
The fun thing is that all the backstabbing is done among 55 YO and older workers with 222% work more experience than a 35 YO. It seem the 222% experience is applied to get rid of the competition for management positions
I don't find younger employees more or less motivated in the slightest. Motivation is a personal trait, not an age-related trait.
While younger people will sometimes work harder or more hours to prove themselves, they often don't know what they're doing so it's all for naught. I've cleaned up a whole lot of messes caused by "younger, more motivated employees."