Company employment review: Glassdoor Job Search | You deserve a job that loves you back

Using Glassdoor to boost your employment reputation

QSR leaders are becoming increasingly interested in employer review websites to ensure their reputation is held in high regard amongst job seekers.

From a human resources perspective, businesses—restaurants included—are built on the genuine level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of employees with their employers. No amount of employment-related advertising can change the reality of the boots-on-the-ground experience of employees. Because of this, it’s imperative that leaders strive to build the employment aspect of their brand authentically by maintaining a culture of employee appreciation. 

QSR employees are using Glassdoor

More and more employees in the QSR space are flocking to Glassdoor to leave reviews. These first-hand reviews reflect employee happiness and satisfaction—showing what it’s really like to work for your business.

While the idea of receiving candid feedback from your employees on Glassdoor may be somewhat unsettling due to its public nature, there are also many benefits.

The benefits of employee reviews on Glassdoor

An effective way to establish a strong reputation as a great QSR to work for is through your employee reviews. A positive review from an employee goes further than you might think. It’s easy for employees to air out their frustrations on a review site, but for someone to take the time to express their genuine appreciation for their employer—that takes a lot of intention, often driven by a deeply meaningful experience.

Employees often take to Glassdoor reviews when they want to be heard. So, as a leader, Glassdoor reviews can provide you with an objective view into your company culture. This objectivity will allow you to gauge if your employees’ experiences are in line with your organization’s culture and aspirations—and empower you to make changes if and as needed.  

Let’s take a closer look at four specific benefits of employee reviews on Glassdoor:

1. Employee morale

One of the best ways to boost the morale of your hourly workforce is to invite them to leave reviews on Glassdoor. By encouraging your employees to leave reviews, you’re making it clear that their opinion is valued. When employees feel valued, team morale increases.

2. Employee insights

When employees use a third-party review website such as Glassdoor, they are more likely to be genuine with their feedback. It removes a layer of fear caused by the possible repercussions of sharing the feedback directly with their managers. The genuine nature of Glassdoor feedback allows QSR leaders to gain a more accurate understanding of the day-to-day experience of their employees. This increased transparency allows managers to make better decisions about the future of company culture.

3. Prospective candidates

When prospective candidates read transparent reviews of your restaurant on Glassdoor, they get a better sense of what it’s really like to work at your organization. When candidates feel they truly understand your brand and store culture from an employment perspective, they are more likely to show up to the interview more engaged and eager to land the job.

4. Balance

Glassdoor asks that all employees provide both positive and negative feedback. The results? A balanced review that helps job seekers see all the great and the areas for improvement. Every employer has strengths and weaknesses, and by openly showing that to your candidates, you’re giving them the opportunity to see whether the job is a fit—and even a glimpse into the areas they could come in and immediately make an impact. 

While there are many benefits to receiving reviews on Glassdoor, there is one main challenge facing QSRs on Glassdoor: Getting employees to leave reviews.

Best practices for getting more Glassdoor reviews

Getting your employees to leave feedback about your restaurant on Glassdoor isn’t always easy. Most reviews left on Glassdoor without prompting by the employer are either extremely positive or extremely negative. If you don’t encourage your employees to leave reviews, you’re not likely to get reviews that are fully balanced and accurate.

QSRs that receive a lot of balanced reviews on Glassdoor put considerable effort into implementing a review collection strategy. Here are four best practices QSRs are using to get as many balanced employee experience reviews on Glassdoor as possible:

1. Don’t overlook new hires

Your new hires often bring genuine enthusiasm to your organization. They can provide great reviews of your restaurant—especially once they complete their onboarding. As a leader, you should ask your new hires to leave Glassdoor reviews of their hiring and training experience, and then again after they’ve been on the job for 90 days (to update their review).

2. Train hiring managers to ask for reviews

Hiring managers are uniquely positioned to encourage employees to leave Glassdoor reviews. For example, when your team is undertaking a large hiring campaign, they can request reviews so that job candidates have accurate, trust-building information about your QSR’s culture. The best way to ensure that this practice remains a focus for hiring managers is by having them set a twice-yearly calendar reminder to request Glassdoor reviews from their employees.

3. Use review request templates

Glassdoor provides leaders with customizable email templates within their Glassdoor Employer Center Account. You can customize these email templates and send them to your employees in order to generate more reviews on Glassdoor. Glassdoor also provides shareable links that you can use in any digital channel that you choose. These shareable links prompt employees to start the Glassdoor review process when clicked.

4. Request Glassdoor reviews during employee performance reviews

QSRs are using employee performance review meetings as an opportunity to ask for Glassdoor reviews. Performance review meetings are timely occasions to ask for reviews because of the relevancy of reflecting on the past year of employees’ experiences with your company. By asking for Glassdoor reviews in employee performance review meetings, you’re also showing your employees that you care as much about their feedback as you do your feedback on their job performance.

QSRs must respond to Glassdoor reviews promptly

Once leaders make the effort to generate balanced Glassdoor reviews, the reviews will start to come in. It’s vital that QSR leaders respond to all employee reviews on Glassdoor promptly. By responding to reviews promptly, you show your employees that you truly care and you show job seekers that you foster a positive culture they’ll want to join. Promptly responding to Glassdoor reviews also shows potential job candidates that your organization is responsive and values employees’ opinions. This responsiveness makes your restaurant more attractive to potential job candidates.

The process of creating and implementing a Glassdoor review generation strategy can be daunting at first. However, the effort pays off in the long term because of the positive impact it has on company culture and recruitment of future talent. 

If you’re ready to get going on your next hiring campaign, reach out to us today to learn how you can put our platform to work for your brand!

Related Categories

Hiring

Hiring Innovation

Employee Engagement

Restaurant Hiring

HR Resources

Workstream

Workstream is a hiring platform that helps employers get 4x the number of qualified applicants. The world’s most trusted brands use Workstream to optimize job board postings, automate screening and interview scheduling, communicate via text message, and streamline the onboarding/training process. See what all the buzz is about by scheduling a demo or email us [email protected]!

Glassdoor

Special Offer

Pricing:

Glassdoor offers free and paid plans. Brand advertising and review intelligence add-ons are available on the paid plans at an additional cost. Interested parties should contact Glassdoor to obtain a quote.

Glassdoor used to charge per job slot with pricing starting at $199.00. Since partnering with Indeed, employers must pay for a job posting on Indeed to have their job advertised on Glassdoor.

While Indeed offers free and paid options, only paid posts also appear on Glassdoor. Indeed’s pricing starts at $5.00 per day with a pay-per-click pricing model.

Review:

Glassdoor is one of the most popular employer rating platforms and attracts more than 50 million unique monthly visits. According to Glassdoor, 83% of their users are actively searching for work or willing to consider new opportunities, and 74% read at least four reviews when researching a company before making a judgment.

Glassdoor offers employers a range of tools to build and manage their employer brand online, along with optional add-ons, such as brand advertising, to promote their company and jobs. Glassdoor’s extensive analytics features allow employers to gain meaningful insights about their target market, competitors, and how their brand is perceived.

Highlights:

• Employers can request, monitor, and respond to company and interview reviews.
• Paid job postings on Indeed are also listed on Glassdoor.
• The site offers targeted advertising options.
• Employers can integrate their social media feeds with their Glassdoor profile.
• The Employer Center is a feature-rich account dashboard from which employers can easily manage their employer brand.
• Employers can showcase their company online with a “Why Work With Us” section and multimedia content.
• Employers can group affiliated company profiles, create segmented profiles, and customize their profiles for job seekers in different countries.
• The site offers comprehensive analytics tools that provide insights into page visits, follower engagement, candidate demographics, ratings data, and more.

Shortcomings:

• Employers cannot post jobs directly to Glassdoor. Instead, they have to pay to post a job on Indeed for it to appear on Glassdoor.
• Pricing is not readily available on the website.

Reputation:

Glassdoor is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has a D- rating on the platform. There are over a dozen, mostly negative reviews of Glassdoor on the BBB site. On Trustpilot, there are more than 250 user reviews, most of which paint a similar, negative picture. These give Glassdoor an overall rating of 1.2 out of 5 stars.2

Dominant themes in the reviews include concerns about the company’s business practices in terms of how reviews are verified and when they are removed, as well as general dissatisfaction with the site’s user-friendliness.

How to Recruit on Glassdoor:

A step-by-step guide for managing your employer brand and promoting your company to attract informed and qualified candidates on Glassdoor.

1. 

Create an employer profile.

1.1 

Sign up for an employer account.

Register for a free account on Glassdoor for Employers to get started. You can always upgrade to a paid plan to access enhanced features at a later stage.

Navigate to Glassdoor for Employers.

Click on the “Join Glassdoor” button toward the top-right corner of the page.

Complete the online form.

Click on “Create Account.”

Enter details about your business, including your company website, number of employees, employer type, and location.

Click on “Continue.”

Glassdoor will verify your profile and send you an update about your account status via email. This can take up to 24 hours.

1.2 

Add content to your profile.

After logging in to your account, you will be directed to the Employer Center. Here, you can manage your employer brand on the platform, from uploading content and monitoring reviews to tracking profile activity and viewing analytics.

Get started by adding information about your company and uploading content.

Click on the employer profile icon in the left-hand menu.

Review any prepopulated content in your profile for accuracy.

Update and complete the information in your profile.

Follow the prompts to add your company mission statement, website link, location, number of employees, the name of your CEO, and the year your company was founded.

1.3 

Showcase your company.

Enhance your employer profile with a compelling “About” section and details about your workplace culture, perks, and benefits. You can also add promotional badges to highlight your commitment to specific causes and show off your company culture with photos submitted by members of your community.

Features such as a “Why Work With Us” section; featured reviews; and the option to upload a cover photo, video, and company shared photos are only available with enhanced profiles, which are included in the Standard and Select plans.

2. 

Manage your employer brand.

2.1 

Request reviews.

With the majority of Glassdoor users reading at least four reviews before forming an opinion of a company, it’s important to have a fair number of reviews. Ask your current employees to review your company. You can easily send review requests from the Employer Center.

Go to the Employer Center.

Select “Community Reviews.”

Click on “Request More Reviews.”

You can choose between two methods of requesting reviews. Select either “Customized Emails” or “Shareable Link.”

Enter a campaign name and additional details, depending on the method you selected.

Click on “Send emails” or hit “Generate Link” and copy the link, which you can then share with employees.

2.2 

Monitor and respond to reviews.

You can view and respond to employee and interview reviews from the “Community Reviews” section of the Employer Center. You can also download your reviews in Excel format to analyze them at a later stage.

When responding to reviews, Glassdoor recommends creating a draft of your response first, reviewing it for errors, being polite regardless of the tone of the review, and acknowledging positive feedback. See Glassdoor’s detailed guide on how to respond to reviews for more guidance.

Glassdoor’s review intelligence feature, which is available at an additional cost, is a natural language processing engine that automatically searches through reviews and distills insights. This tool is a convenient alternative to the time-consuming task of manually reading and analyzing reviews.

2.3 

Post company updates.

Showcase your work culture and get candidates excited about working for your company by regularly posting updates, such as new product launches, news stories, company milestones, and events. Whenever you post a company update, users who follow your page receive email alerts, which can help drive traffic to your page.

According to Glassdoor, 75% of their users are more likely to apply for jobs with companies that are active on Glassdoor.

2.4 

Review your analytics.

Glassdoor’s free plan includes company update analytics which allow you to track followers, page views, and engagement with your content. The Standard and Select plans include more detailed analytics, including insights about your followers’ locations, demographics, and job functions; keyword analysis of reviews; and competitor comparisons.

More than simply keeping track of what people are saying about a business, Glassdoor’s analytics tools help employers to understand who their audience is and how they engage with content. It is then up to the employer to use these insights to optimize their content and target the right audience for their brand.

The Select plan is the most comprehensive one in this regard and includes items such as industry benchmark reports and audience targeting insights.

3. 

Promote your company and jobs.

3.1 

Post your jobs on Indeed.

Together, Glassdoor and Indeed present an almost seamless solution for companies to attract job seekers and build their brands. However, while Indeed famously offers free job postings, these do not appear on Glassdoor. Only paid job posts on Indeed also appear on Glassdoor.

Having your job posts appear on Glassdoor makes it easy for candidates who are already interested in your company and researching it online to find relevant job opportunities.

Read our review of Indeed with pricing information and posting instructions.

3.2 

Purchase brand advertising.

You can actively promote your company and job openings on Glassdoor with targeted display advertising. This add-on feature allows you to target top talent on the platform — even on competitor profiles — with branded display advertising.

Glassdoor vs. Indeed:

While Indeed is primarily a job search engine and posting platform, Glassdoor’s focus lies with employer branding solutions. Together, the two platforms present a comprehensive solution to help employers attract talent and manage their employer brand. See our detailed comparison of the two platforms.

Glassdoor vs. LinkedIn:

While both LinkedIn and Glassdoor are essentially employment platforms, they differ from most job sites. LinkedIn, a professional social networking site, offers employers a vast, searchable candidate database, while Glassdoor, an employer review site, offers comprehensive employer branding solutions. Read our in-depth comparison of the two sites.

Glassdoor vs. ZipRecruiter:

ZipRecruiter and Glassdoor both attract incredibly large volumes of website traffic. However, ZipRecruiter is a traditional job board with a large resume database, while job ads only appear on Glassdoor when clients post their vacancies on Indeed for a fee. Worth noting is that Glassdoor offers far more advanced employer branding features than ZipRecruiter.

Features:

FAQs:

Should I trust Glassdoor?

Glassdoor is a legitimate job posting and review site that offers job postings through Indeed, where paid job ads appear on both Glassdoor and Indeed. Despite many negative reviews, the platform remains a popular destination for job seekers to research companies. It also offers a wide range of useful features to help companies manage and grow their employer brand.

What is Glassdoor used for?

Employers use Glassdoor to manage their brand online and to attract qualified candidates. Job seekers use Glassdoor to post reviews of current and previous employers, salary information, and reviews of interviews with companies. They also use the platform to research companies and search for job opportunities.

Is Glassdoor free for job seekers?

Yes, Glassdoor is free for job seekers. Employers who want to post a job on Glassdoor are directed to Indeed which offers a free plan and pay-per-performance postings. However, only the paid posts also appear on Glassdoor.

How does Glassdoor work?

Glassdoor is a job board and employer review site that allows employers to post jobs through its partner site, Indeed. It also allows employees to post salary information and reviews of employers, and employers to manage their profiles on the site.

Can you remove a review from Glassdoor?

Employees can edit reviews that have been posted within the last 30 days if the employer has not responded to them. Employers cannot remove reviews but can flag them if they think there are issues, and Glassdoor will assess those.

How do you respond to a negative review on Glassdoor?

If you think it violates Glassdoor’s guidelines, flag it. Otherwise, be professional, thank them for taking the time to review you, and provide a response with your audience — potential employees — in mind. Be sure to review grammar and spelling before posting.

How do you post a job on Glassdoor?

To have your listing appear on Glassdoor, you have to post a sponsored job on Indeed. Only jobs you pay to post on Indeed are also posted to Glassdoor. Since partnering with Indeed, Glassdoor no longer offers direct postings on their platform.

Is a Glassdoor job posting a good choice for me?

Glassdoor’s site places a strong emphasis on employer reviews. If your company has many Glassdoor reviews, it shows that people who work for you use the website. If the ratings are positive, it makes sense to leverage those reviews and post your jobs on Glassdoor through the Indeed posting platform.

What are job slots?

Job slots were a subscription-based feature offered by Glassdoor that allowed users to advertise jobs on an ongoing basis without having to purchase separate job postings to advertise a new vacancy. Since partnering with Indeed, Glassdoor no longer offers this feature. To advertise a job on Glassdoor, you must post a paid job on Indeed.

Which Glassdoor plan offers the best value?

Glassdoor’s free plan is a great entry-level option, offering all the basics needed to manage an employer brand on the platform. The Select plan is the most comprehensive option and includes access to Indeed Company Pages Premium, which includes in-depth analytics and additional branding tools that employers can use to build their brand on Indeed.

Worth noting, however, is that Glassdoor does not disclose pricing for their Standard and Select plans on their website. Interested users should request a quote and compare features to determine which plan offers the best value.

How much does it cost to post a job on Glassdoor for a one-time posting?

Glassdoor used to offer one-time postings that started at $64.90 per post. Now, users can only advertise a job on Glassdoor by paying for a job post on Indeed. While Indeed also offers free job postings, only sponsored job ads are also posted to Glassdoor. Indeed’s pricing starts at $5.00 per day with a pay-per-click pricing model.

Does Glassdoor post a job to other job boards, too?

Glassdoor no longer offers a job posting service, but users can add their listings to Glassdoor by posting a sponsored job on Indeed. All paid job postings on Indeed are automatically posted to Glassdoor and many other Indeed partner sites.

How can I contact Glassdoor?

You can contact the Glassdoor support team by phoning 1 (888) 355-9323. Alternatively, complete the online form to contact the sales department.

What is a Glassdoor review?

A Glassdoor review is a review of a company’s overall work environment. Reviews are posted by current and former employees who can leave honest comments about compensation, work conditions, promotion opportunities, and so on.

What are some alternatives to Glassdoor?

Supernova reality of the labor market: analytics and forecasts

Natalia Danina, Head of Client Efficiency hh.ru

Not much time has passed since the countdown of the supernova reality. In addition, an active period of turbulence coincided with gender holidays, and this is a traditional time for holidays and a general calm, so during the last weeks of February and the first week of March, analysts did not observe any special “bursts” in the labor market. By mid-March, the first significant changes had already become noticeable, but it is impossible to judge global trends by them – the situation is developing according to an unpredictable scenario. The conclusions drawn in the study are based on data collected over a period that is too short for a full analysis, so we will talk more about high-level trends. Traditionally, everything will depend on further developments.

Throughout 2021, experts observed the most severe imbalance in the labor market, which should only intensify in 2022. But since February 24, there has been a decline in the activity of employers. Since that moment, the dynamics of vacancies has slowed down significantly, but job offers have not disappeared.

On the other hand, if vacancies show a clear downward trend, then the number of open or updated resumes on hh.ru is gradually growing. In addition to the numbers, there are fresh comments from companies that are also noticing the influx of applicants to the market. True, as practice shows, most of the candidates in this way are simply trying to monitor the situation and are in no hurry to change their current job. Moreover, the trend towards an increase in the number of applicants is fully consistent with the usual seasonal growth. That is, for now, there is no need to talk about the influx of candidates on the market.

If we compare the current dynamics with those observed in other crisis years (in 1998, 2008, 2014 and 2020), then analysts do not yet see an avalanche growth in the number of resumes. And this is a key difference from previous years of crisis.

By the ratio of resumes and vacancies – hh.index – one can judge the level of competition in the labor market. Over the past few years, employers have faced tensions rather than candidates. During the first half of 2021, competition among job seekers in almost all professional fields gradually decreased and by the middle of the year it stopped at the level of 3.8 resumes per vacancy, although the rate of 5-6 active resumes per job offer is considered the norm in the labor market. Of course, the tension was higher or lower depending on regional or professional specifics, but the general situation is that companies competed for the same people in the labor market.

After February 24, 2022, the picture familiar to many employers began to change: the hh.index rose to 5.3 resumes per vacancy.

It is important to note that the rise is not due to an increase in the number of resumes, but to a decrease in the number of vacancies. .

The ratio of resumes and job offers changed most noticeably from February 14 to March 20 in the areas of “Lawyers”, “Insurance”, “Administrative personnel” and “Start of a career, students”. Representatives of these professional groups, more than others, could feel the difficulties in finding a job at the moment. Employers focused on the selection of specialists in these profiles now have the opportunity to choose the most relevant candidates for themselves.

The situation in the regions also looks different now. Competition for jobs grew the most in Moscow and the Moscow Region (an increase of +2.1 points: from 4.4 to 6.5 resumes per vacancy), St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region (+1.9 points: from 4. 4 to 6.3 resumes per vacancy), as well as in the North Caucasus Federal District (+1.7 points: from 5.4 to 7.1). In other federal districts, the level of hh.index added from 0.8 to 1.3 points.

In other words, according to hh.ru’s analytics, changes are already noticeable in all significant professional areas in all regions, but they cannot be called dramatic yet.

In the regions. So far, the crisis has hit the capital cities the hardest. For the week from March 14 to March 20 in Moscow and the region, the number of active vacancies decreased by 10.5% when compared with the week from March 7 to March 13, 2022. In St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, the activity of employers fell by 9.7%. It can be assumed that the focus will gradually shift from west to east – the situation in the Urals, Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts will feel less tense or improve rather quickly.

In professional areas. Many are now interested in the fate of IT professionals, production and working personnel. The number of vacancies in these professional areas also decreased when compared with the figures for the week from March 7 to March 13, 2022: in the field of “Information Technology” – by 10%, in “Production” and “Working Personnel” – by 7-8%.

Civil Service is the only occupational group that saw a significant increase in vacancies compared to February. This is due, on the one hand, to the high need of government agencies and those associated with them for qualified specialists, who can now obviously be attracted faster and easier, and on the other hand, the interest of applicants themselves in stable work in unstable times. However, for the week from March 14 to March 20, compared with the week from March 7 to March 13, the number of vacancies in this area also decreased by 8%.

To a lesser extent, the turbulence in the labor market has now affected representatives of the security sector, medicine and pharmaceuticals – in these areas the number of job offers decreased by an average of 3%.

The situation with vacancies in the areas of Insurance (-17%), Human Resources Management (-16%), Art, Mass Media (-16%), Marketing, Advertising, PR (-15%) is much more acute ).

Foreign companies. Separately, it is worth mentioning the real state of affairs with jobs in foreign companies on the Russian market. One of the main news stories of recent weeks has been statements paraphrased by the media about the mass withdrawal of foreign companies from the Russian market. At the moment, almost no foreign business has left the country, while we are talking only about the suspension of activities. This is due to the influence of the head offices of these companies, and with the change in supply chains, many do not understand what to do with financial flows. The vast majority of companies have taken a break so far to navigate the supernova reality.

The situation described in the media is often far from reality, as well as the scale of disasters at this stage for the Russian labor market. In general, about 200 thousand people are employed in foreign companies. Accordingly, the number of people working in this segment is not so large within the Russian labor market of 70 million (less than 1%). At the moment, it is premature to say that a huge number of applicants will enter the market now. Considering the situation with which we entered 2022 – meaning a huge gap between supply and demand, which was not clear how to eliminate, the hypothesis is as follows: if foreign companies start to part with employees, then these candidates will somehow be incorporated into the current market labor to correct the imbalance. And now it is objectively too early to talk about the real reaction of companies.

In general, the behavior of applicants is in line with the trends set in 2020 and 2021. The comparison with 2014-2015 can be most revealing, when a large number of candidates were released at once, and this was immediately reflected in the analytics. Now the focus of employers is still aimed at retaining people who have been so difficult to find and attract in recent years.

By regions. As in the case of vacancies, the most noticeable changes have taken place in the labor market of Moscow, St. Petersburg and the regions adjacent to them. Over the week, the number of resumes increased by 0.9and 0.3%, respectively, if we take the week of March 7–13 as the starting point. In these regions, the situation may be more turbulent. Although in general in Russia, the increase was at the level of -0.1%. A more significant decrease in the number of resumes was recorded in the Northwestern Federal District, excluding St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region (−1.5%).

In professional areas. Professional areas with a more pronounced increase in resumes over the week were Information Technology (+3.1%), Installation and Service (+1.6%), Marketing, Advertising, PR (+0.8%) . It is worth repeating that the increase in the activity of candidates was not followed by an avalanche of responses, which would be logical to assume in the context of the unfolding crisis. There is a certain dynamics, but it is understandable and explainable.

There are also those areas in which applicants reacted more calmly to the supernova reality. For example, “Consulting”, “Banks, investments, leasing”, “Civil service, NGOs”, “Production of raw materials” – here the fluctuations were 5–8% with a minus sign, that is, the number of resumes from candidates decreased.

Will the shortage of people in the labor market decrease? This question is of concern to most employers, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. The situation can develop in different ways, it all depends on the business sector and the professional affiliation of the candidates. For example, in the IT sector, most likely, we should expect even greater competition for people not only among Russian, but also international companies. Until February 24, the deficit of IT specialists in the country amounted to 1-1.5 million people, while employment in this segment was 1.1 million people. Technically, competition may become softer, and then instead of 1 resume per vacancy there will be 2 candidates, but this is unlikely to help employers. Until April, the situation will not change significantly, nor will the problems associated with demographics disappear – they will continue to put pressure on the labor market.

The easiest way to judge what’s going on in a business today is by the status of recruitment in companies. This indicator always reflects the real position of management in relation to the development of the company and people.

According to the results of employers’ sentiment monitoring conducted by hh.ru since the beginning of March, 41% of employers evaluate the current recruitment status positively, 48% – negatively, and one in ten adheres to a neutral position. At the same time, in 38% of companies, recruitment plans do not change, and 3% even in the current circumstances plan to increase staff. Another 34% of respondents noted that hiring in their companies has stopped. Further steps are being discussed to find and attract personnel in 11% of organizations. If we talk about the future, then 12% of business representatives reported that they intend to reduce the volume of selection, about 2% admitted that they are undergoing reductions.

It is appropriate to make such forecasts only based on current analytics. Subject to the escalation of the external background, everything can change dramatically. Now everyone – both employers and applicants – is united by a paradigm of thinking: no one understands what will happen next. However, starting from point “A” in mid-March, we can assume that the picture will look like this.

• Reducing labor market imbalances: early job seekers who lose their jobs and enter the market are likely to melt into demand almost instantly.

• An increase in the number of resumes and a decrease in the number of vacancies by sector, that is, an “imbalance” in specific industries and professional groups. In some areas, the situation may turn out to be diametrically opposed to what it was at the beginning of the year.

• Migration of employees from closed businesses, as well as from those suspended due to uncertain prospects.

• Beginning of the labor market adaptation to new realities: reduction of working hours, “shadow” and “garage” economy, growing demand for part-time work, and so on.

• Unemployment growth, which technically may remain low due to flexible forms of labor market adjustment in an environment of low benefits. Here it is important to take into account the specifics of the Russian labor market: even in the most difficult times, at peak times, unemployment in the country did not exceed 14%. This, among other things, is due to an unspoken obligation between employees and business – instead of laying off people, companies use cuts in salaries, working hours, and social packages.

• Decreased income of the majority of the population and the purchasing power of wages.

The labor market is an integral part of the economy, its development is always connected with what happens to business and people. Some of the experts compare the current situation with the beginning of the 90s, someone remembers 1917, focusing on the topic of nationalization. At the same time, everyone agrees that no developed country has ever faced such a situation. Let’s try to imagine what effects can be predicted in the absence of visible shocks.

• A hard break in the global value chains that people create. Of course, Russia was tightly integrated into the world economy, and now everything that has been accumulated over decades is being sharply lost. And we are talking not only about production, but also about sales and consumption. Who and how will make up for this is an open question.

• “Dedigitization” of the economy. The reality is that Russia consumes a large number of imported products and services, and it will not be possible to instantly and fully replace them with domestic ones, especially in high-tech industries. In the current conditions, it is possible to primitivize the economy.

• Impact on primary and related industries. According to Rosstat for January-November 2021, exports in Russia are 60% higher than imports. In the context of a significant decline in external demand, the situation for this sector of the economy will be the most painful.

• Direct interconnection: with limited domestic market demand, there is no need for large-scale production, which means there will not be the right amount of work for companies and people.

• Creation of new value chains.

• Focus on Russian consumers.

• New opportunities from the East: changes in the regional structure of employment, increased migration flows – a situation in which Moscow and St. Petersburg will not be the only centers of attraction.

• Import substitution of Western goods and services, which has already begun in some areas. It is highly likely that it will be slow and extremely complex.

• Even within the same industries, there will be companies that can transform and win, and those that can’t.

• Severe turbulence that not everyone can handle. As a result, inefficient business players will leave the market. Small business now looks like the segment with the greatest threats due to the low margin of safety. On the other hand, there is an alternative scenario for the development of events, when small businesses will be able to reorient themselves and integrate into new consumption chains – into giant businesses that will not be able to reorganize so quickly on their own.

• New beneficiaries will inevitably face the challenges of breaking the chains. Questions will be relevant: how to produce, to whom to sell, how to deliver and whether there will be demand with low solvency of the population.

• The service sector will be the hardest hit as people start saving on this item of expenditure first. History will primarily affect large cities. According to the same Rosstat, more than 6.5 million people are employed in the services and services sector, not counting sellers (5.3 million) and drivers (6.8 million).

• Business will understand (if it hasn’t already) that people are the most important resource. It is they who will have to create a new value chain and build a new reality. Top management has learned the lesson of the 2009 crisis that it is extremely difficult to bring back roughly laid-off people when things get better. Respect for employees is a story of close cooperation between the HR department and the business, which has been traced over the past two years and is now manifesting itself.

• Work on the efficiency of business processes, including in HR in general and in recruitment in particular. Many companies give up this endeavor because it creates a deceptive feeling that everything is already working. It’s time to “stop throwing” and work hard with it.

• Effective managers with proven performance and crisis management skills will be needed to deal with negative scenarios.

• There will be new beneficiaries in the vacated niches of consumer products with huge recruitment potential.

• Local production could be one such new bright beneficiary. In this regard, after some time, the demand for engineering and technical personnel and for worker / service roles in production should increase.

• The largest and most technologically advanced regions/cities due to high turbulence in the service sector.

• Regions with an undiversified economic structure.

• Single-industry towns – and this is a debatable statement, since everything depends on the development of events.

• Trade (port) “windows” oriented to the West: Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Murmansk.

• In a conditional Siberian village, there will be no noticeable external changes in the labor market and major shocks, with the exception of a reduction and rise in the cost of a product line.

• Transfer of centers of gravity from the west of Russia to the east, where, in the event of a reorientation of the economy, new financial, production and logistics hubs will be formed. Cities beyond the Urals can acquire a new vector of development.

The negative effect is that wage growth will not keep pace with price increases and inflation rates. However, for companies, the share of payroll costs will gradually decrease, although this can hardly be called a positive trend for the market as a whole.

• People who work in companies that are closely intertwined with the global economy and who are at the helm of the value chain will be most affected. Basically, we are talking about white-collar workers, employed not so much in foreign business as focused on the Eurocentric market.

• Some will lose their jobs, while others will face less obvious but painful employment-related problems – downtime, part-time work, changes in the pay system, and more. Accordingly, people will try in various ways to compensate for the lack of money, that is, look for any opportunities for part-time work. As a result: the more tired employees are, the more likely it is to reduce efficiency and productivity.

• The majority of people have a low income, so the consequences of the economic shock for them will be less painful. Some part of the compensation will be assumed by the state, measures to support business are already noticeable.

• Since the beginning of the 90s, people have gone through a serious market school, accumulated professional and personal connections, as well as experience in overcoming severe economic crises (1998, 2008, 2014, 2020). It is these employees who will be the center of attraction in companies. Shifts in corporate culture are possible.

• The skills of people aged 45+ may be in demand. In the 90s, everything was possible, but no one knew how; now almost nothing is impossible, but many understand how you can/should survive.

• High turbulence in picking in the first half of 2022, when the situation can change on a daily basis.

• The recruitment funnel at the entrance will greatly expand, which threatens to increase the number of irrelevant responses from people who have lost their jobs in completely different areas.

• Expansion of the funnel among some companies can be viewed positively: some employers intend to take advantage of the situation and take the best from the market.

• Recruitment automation tools and recruitment management CRM will be more relevant than ever – recruiters will be able to hire faster and more productively.

• The ability to manage performance through recruitment analytics will be an integral task for HR — using the free service hh. ru “Analytics by Recruitment Stages” you can track at which stage the conversion rates require changes, and get recommendations to increase the conversion of applicants to the next stage.

• People have not yet recovered from the post-COVID syndrome, new stress is fraught with an additional decrease in efficiency and productivity.

• Differences of opinion in the team threaten to turn into conflicts, and this also affects both productivity and the atmosphere in the team / company.

• Outflow of line personnel in the summer out of town.

• Increased and toxic background of information that HR specialists need to work with first of all. You can take care of your employees in different ways. To navigate the situation within the company and take care of yourself and your colleagues, monitor moods, collect requests and support those who are having a hard time, we recommend using the free survey template on the kakdela feedback platform.

• Reducing churn: Employees will stick to their jobs and, like a business that recognizes the value of people, realize that the company is important.

And finally, the answer to the main question that worries everyone today – will global unemployment begin?

There are too many uncertainties for such forecasts today. Everything is very multi-layered and multi-dimensional. If the economy is going to collapse, then unemployment is inevitable. But a more positive scenario is also possible – I’m leaning towards it. I think that already in the summer we will be able to see a clearer picture of the future labor market.

hh.ru keeps abreast, you can get acquainted with the reports based on the service analytics here.

Watch recording of webinar

______________
In order not to miss useful hh.ru webinars, follow their schedule.

↩ To other articles

_____________________________
Join our communities:
⮱ Group in VK
⮱ Group in OK
⮱ hh.ru channel for HR specialists in Telegram
⮱ Main chat in Telegram about trends and technologies in HR

How the Russian labor market has changed during the three weeks of the military special operation

Varvara Grankova

Since the beginning of the military special operation, the vacancy base has decreased by 122,195 positions to 905,448 positions. This conclusion was reached by hh.ru, comparing the number of job ads on February 21 and March 11. The demand for personnel of insurance companies suffered the most (in March 2022, there were 1,151 such vacancies on hh.ru, which is 48% less compared to February), the automotive business (12,584 vacancies, minus 27%), as well as specialists by HR (19102 vacancies, minus 22%) and administrative staff (72,140 active vacancies, minus 20%). The only area that showed an increase in vacancies is the civil service (plus 21% compared to the week before the start of the military special operation), but there are relatively few such vacancies – 7764 units.

Felix Kugel, managing director of the personnel company Unity, notes that there are not so many vacancies in Russian companies and Western ones that continue to work full-time. Basically, business freezes the recruitment, as it was in 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, or greatly delays the decision-making time for candidates who have already passed interviews, he believes.

According to an EY express survey, 53% of large companies have now suspended recruitment, 41% have frozen training programs, and 31% are reducing social packages. Staff reductions were reported by 14% of respondents. The sample is dominated by respondents from the oil and gas, metallurgy, telecommunications and energy industries. hh.ru statistics are more optimistic: as of March 14, only 30% of hh.ru customers stopped recruiting and 8% cut staff hiring.

Recruitment

40% of hh.ru customers have not changed their hiring plans, and 1% are increasing recruitment. And now there are still more vacancies on hh.ru than there were at the beginning of 2022, by almost 39,000 positions. The recruitment is primarily continued by companies whose business is entirely located in Russia and is aimed at the domestic market, hh.ru notes.

According to Zhanna Volkova, marketing director of Kelly Services, the demand for procurement and logistics specialists will grow due to changes in the supply strategy. The demand for engineers will grow due to the transformation of industries due to the sanctions consequences, says Volkova.

MTS Bank announced that it is ready to consider candidates without experience in the financial sector. First of all, in the positions of branch network operators, designers, product owners and IT specialists. Recruitment of employees goes both to the head office in Moscow and to offices in the cities of the bank’s presence throughout Russia with the possibility of remote work or a hybrid format, a bank representative said. As of January 1, 2022, 4,702 people worked at MTS Bank, now there are about 5,000 of them. More than 400 positions are open in the bank, according to its representative.

MTS has not suspended and does not plan to suspend the hiring of employees, a representative of the operator told Vedomosti. VK Group is seeing increased interest in its services, all key business indicators are growing. The group continues to actively recruit employees for key areas of development, expands the list of vacancies, a VK representative said. A representative of Megafon said that the operator continues the selection in accordance with the plans and the overall strategy of the company.

13%

the number of vacancies on hh.ru has decreased so much during the three weeks of hostilities. The number of resumes has increased by 8% during this time

IBS, according to its CEO Grigory Kocharov, continues to recruit staff as usual, hiring 150–200 employees per month: consultants, project managers and directors, logistics specialists, digital transformation, finance, taxation, HR, organizational consulting, implementation, development, testing and maintenance of information systems.

Foreign software and hardware suppliers have carried out or will carry out a significant staff reduction in Russia and IBS is very interested in sales and service employees, project managers, architects, Kocharov noted. But it is difficult for a software supplier to quickly go out of business – it still has obligations for warranty support, current projects are also not so easy to quit.

Influx of candidates

The number of resumes on hh.ru increased by almost 300,000 in three weeks of the special operation, to 4.34 million. But there is still a shortage of personnel in the market, the imbalance in the dynamics of supply and demand remains, says hh.ru’s chief expert on the labor market Natalya Danina. At the start date of the military operation, there were 79 vacancies% more than at the beginning of January 2021, and resumes – 17% more, i.e. the gap in growth rates was 62 p.p. During the three weeks of the special operation, the gap narrowed to 29 p.p. – the number of resumes increased, and the dynamics of demand slowed down. Therefore, according to hh.ru forecasts, in April, if there is no escalation in the foreign policy situation, the first wave of laid-off employees splashing onto the labor market will almost instantly dissolve in demand.

In April, there will be an increase in the number of resumes and a decrease in the number of vacancies in the affected industries, Danina believes. Mass migration of employees of closing enterprises (as well as those who have suspended work due to the destruction of supply chains and uncertain prospects) to other industries is possible.

Now, due to the large-scale economic crisis, consumer goods manufacturers and retailers have begun business optimization measures that will affect auxiliary units that are not related to sales and operations, said Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-analytics. Due to the temporary suspension of the activities of international companies, the number of unemployed will increase and part-time employment will increase. Non-food retailers will accelerate the transfer of sales to online, which will lead to a reduction in the number of offline stores and their staff, Burmistrov predicts.

Employees of companies (not only international, but also Russian) that are closely integrated into the global economy will lose more than others. First of all, we are talking about “white-collar workers”, of which there are 20. 2 million people in Russia, including call center staff, according to Rosstat. The service sector, which employs 6.5 million people, will also suffer, Danina suggests.

Salaries and bonuses

According to the March survey of 602 top managers of Russian companies, conducted by Kontakt InterSearch Russia, 26% of companies have already increased the salaries of employees due to devaluation, 45% are not going to do this, 29% of respondents have not yet made a decision. Employers are stingier with bonuses: only 12% of respondents said they have increased or are going to increase bonuses, 37% said they would not revise them, and 20% would reduce bonuses or stop paying them altogether. The rest have not yet made a decision.

According to the EY express survey, 38% of large companies have already increased the percentage of salary increases planned in the 2022 budget. ) based on stock prices: options, RSU, etc. They will either increase short-term bonuses, or expand the social package, or increase salaries. 40% will not compensate for the losses, 24% are discussing an action plan. The sample is dominated by respondents from retail, construction, FMCG, the pharmaceutical industry, banks and transport.

Partner of Kontakt InterSearch Russia Yulia Zabazarnykh notes that due to uncertainty in the markets, the value of long-term payments for top managers is significantly reduced. Some companies, in order to retain the best managers, introduce additional project bonuses and expand social packages. Extending the payout period for long-term bonuses is a controversial tactic, because too long LTIs do little to motivate top managers, especially now that it is impossible to predict whether or how soon a company’s financial results will improve. Now the most balanced position is not to change anything in the motivation systems, Zabazarnykh believes.

4.8

resumes accounted for one vacancy posted on hh.ru. In the last week before the outbreak of hostilities, this ratio was 4. 0. This means that competition in the job market has increased.

According to Kugel, now job seekers are aiming for a salary increase of 30-40% compared to their previous job. Growth in salary expectations is associated with inflation. Until the end of spring, candidates will insist on an increase, Kugel said.

VK Group has raised salaries since March and expanded VHI packages, a company spokesman said, without disclosing details.

IT specialists

The Ministry of Digital Development does not expect problems with the employment of IT specialists who worked for foreign companies leaving the Russian market – the demand for developers among Russian companies is very high, said Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Development Maxim Parshin (quote from Interfax).

According to Rosstat, 1.3 million people work in the IT industry. The shortage of IT personnel is 1.5 million people, says Danina. Domestic employers will have to make great efforts to retain IT staff, Kugel said. Now, according to him, many programmers are focused on moving or working remotely for a foreign company with a salary in foreign currency, they are considering moving to Germany, Poland, Cyprus. The qualifications of Russian programmers are highly valued in foreign markets, Western companies are focusing on attracting ordinary developers from Russia, and now foreign employers have become more active, Kugel notes.

51%

Employers, according to the EY Express Survey, have now organized psychological help lines to support employees. 38% proposed alternative forms of labor organization, and 29% raised salaries

Major players, in particular in the banking sector, have already carried out bonuses and indexation in IT departments, he explains. But Russian companies cannot endlessly raise salaries to keep programmers, especially now that hardware and software have risen in price, the expert believes.

None of Vedomosti’s interlocutors foresee a significant influx of IT specialists into the labor market due to the closure or suspension of international companies and layoffs in Russian companies. IBS is negotiating with teams of software developers that are forced to leave Russia, Kocharov said.

According to hh.ru’s forecasts, the shortage of IT personnel will only get worse as state corporations increase recruitment. Danina notes that after the start of the military special operation, many developers, engineers, and product managers left the country. In the first two weeks after the start of the special operation, 70% of users searched hh.ru for offers of IT vacancies with relocation, she says.

Summer prospects

Already in the summer, the labor market will begin to adjust to new realities, reacting to them with part-time employment, the development of the shadow and garage economy, and so on. Wage growth will not keep pace with rising prices and inflation, and people will try to compensate for the decline in income with part-time jobs, and this will lead to a decrease in labor productivity, Danina warns. But the turnover of staff, according to her, will decrease: people will hold on to work, realizing that work is a value.