Interview with Claudia Indreica- CEO PSIHOSELECT, published on April 30, 2020 in Actual de Cluj – the full article can be found here.
We also asked Claudia Indreica, CEO and co-founder of Psihoselect agency, about the current state of the job market and what the prospects are.
– What is happening now in the labor market? How have/are companies adapting?
These are new experiences, the ones we’re having now are slightly different depending on the industry we work in. There are companies that have 70-80% of their staff technically unemployed, and the rest are teleworking or even downsizing. There is a lot of pressure inside companies when revenues fall by 50-60%, you are forced to take measures to adjust spending. You renegotiate contracts, redefine your objectives and act accordingly. The crisis of 2008-2010 was the first lesson, now companies are more prepared, even if the decisions were taken much faster due to the state of emergency.
– Can we still expect closed businesses and lost jobs?
March went by inertia, for the most part. April felt the first closures, the first layoffs today totaling 1,027,000 suspended employment contracts and 260 thousand closed contracts. These are in the private sector, let us understand that. Still, public institutions have not moved to streamlining structures in relation to real revenues. There are several town halls and county councils that have reduced working hours to 4 days a week, which has also led to a 20% reduction in wage costs.
May is the month that’s keeping a low activity pace, but working on restart scenarios. May 15 is the day when travel restrictions are lifted, but before that … there’s May 4 … important. Many companies, working in manufacturing, have May 4 set as the first day they restart production. Once the stores open, we have a chance to restart consumption.
– Still hiring? Where are staff still needed? What will be the medium- and long-term effects of this time of crisis and the areas most affected? What measures can be taken now to reduce the effects of the pandemic on the labor market?
The crisis is and must be seen as an opportunity.
There are companies that have found the best opportunity to rid some departments of toxic or non-performing employees by adjusting their staffing schemes. And that’s as it should be. We are each responsible for our actions and as such, we are prepared to face the consequences. If we haven’t realized it by now, it’s a good chance to learn.
The crisis also brings other opportunities.
Companies or investment funds that become interested in acquisitions are very active during this period. And such acquisitions come with time and a wave of change. I am glad to see that there are Romanian companies – financially stable, with no cash-flow problems in this period – open to acquisitions. We are starting to move to another level of investment in Romania.
There is also a need for change – companies are redefining roles in this period.
Work from home has shown us that we can be more efficient in certain activities by working from home, so many jobs will remain in this regime. The office real estate market could be shaken after this pandemic. The work from home experience has shown many employees that they can deliver value in a much more flexible schedule, allowing them to be parents at the same time. Certainly, when schools are back up and running in September, the workload will not be so heavy.
But there’s something else we need to do! We need digitalization in public institutions but also in private companies. We need to focus the new roles and job profiles in companies on the value that people bring to us, not the routines they perform. This also emphasizes training for every employee.
We need to take training and development into our own hands. Don’t just wait for companies to make efforts for your development. There are so many resources around us right now. You just have to make the decision – yes, I want to learn a new tool, I want to know a new programming language, the key word is,,I WANT TO …!”
The experience of a pandemic is unique, unpleasant … even painful, for many. But we have the chance to learn new behaviors, to form healthy habits, to be more disciplined, we just have to decide to do so!
