Employment Many Finns are now changing jobs, and this is a big problem for companies: “There are no quick or easy solutions”

Finns are now switching exceptionally many jobs, according to a recent business survey by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK).

Employees who change jobs and retire have caused a shortage of experts for Finnish companies, which is reflected both in the difficulties in recruiting new labor and in the considerable departure of existing personnel.

Almost a thousand companies responded to the survey of EK’s new kind of competence panel in November last year. According to the survey, the main reason for recruiting new employees is to compensate for the departure of old employees.

More than 80% of the companies that responded to the survey cited the departure of the population as the reason for recruitment. In less than 70 per cent, the reason was the increased need for labor.

Nearly half of the companies also said they needed a whole new kind of expertise.

The shortage of labor and skills in companies is also indicated by the fact that only two percent of respondents said they now have no need to hire new labor.

Is there Even the coming to Finland in the United States during the pandemic, the much-talked-about wave of voluntary redundancies called “Great Resignation” or “Big Quit”?

The phenomenon includes the complete abandonment of paid work, the care of children at home during a pandemic, and also a more active change of job or profession when there is a shortage of labor.

“Yes, we were surprised that the replacement of the departure of old employees in the survey became the main reason for recruiting new ones,” says the expert. Mikko Vieltojärvi From the EC.

However, it is not clear from the survey whether the phenomenon has now grown in Finland or where the population has left.

EK has not done a completely similar survey before, nor has the first one asked where or why the employees have left.

According to Vieltojärvi, based on previous barometers, it was estimated that the need for new labor would have become the number one reason for recruitment.

Workplace In Finland, too, exchanges are likely to be boosted mainly by the fact that there are many vacancies. According to Statistics Finland, there were more of them last year than in 2019 before the pandemic.

There were an average of 58,000 vacancies last year, compared to 43,800 in 2020.

The annual average number of job vacancies was higher than in 2019, when it averaged 50,000.

There has been movement, especially in the restaurant and other service sectors. At the end of last year, the largest increase in job vacancies was in trade, transport and storage, accommodation and food service activities.

Pension Security Center According to (ETK) registry data, people in their 40s have changed jobs 6-7 times in their careers, but this data is from before the pandemic.

ETK’s new registry survey also shows that those born in 1975 and 1980 have changed jobs more often than older age groups.

Men born in 1980 have changed jobs on average six times and women on average seven times. Between 1940 and 1945, men changed jobs an average of five times, and women an average of three times.

At the same time, women have outnumbered men in terms of job changes.

Predominant According to the survey, the reason for the recruitment difficulties of EK’s member companies was the applicants’ insufficient sectoral work experience.

Other notable reasons were applicants’ lack of job-specific expertise, insufficient training and limited multidisciplinary skills.

Companies find it most difficult to wash people with enough work experience, about 6 to 10 years.

“The spectrum of recruitment difficulties shows that companies have quite varied needs. Some companies need multi-skilled workers, while others need employees with language skills, for example, ”says Vieltojärvi.

Educational background recruiting those with a professional degree became the most difficult.

However, the differences between a vocational degree, a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree are relatively small.

Common to all educational backgrounds was that it is not difficult to recruit recent graduates, but you do not want to find employees with sufficient experience.

“The results of the survey underline that there are no quick or easy solutions to the shortage of companies. Degree training is unfortunately a slow way to alleviate the shortage of professionals experienced by companies here and now. There is now a huge need for various company-based specific trainings, ”says Vieltojärvi.

Only a third of EK’s member companies are employed by Finnish citizens. About a third of the respondents are also currently planning to recruit from abroad.

According to EK, the immigration of experts should be further promoted.

EC: n 949 companies responded to the new Competence Panel survey last November. The respondents were mainly the CEOs and the directors responsible for human resources.

EK will now conduct the survey twice a year.