It’s a Candidate’s Market: Russia’s Personnel Shortage

President's Letter

A Hot Labor Market and Another Trip to Capitol Hill

AmCham made its second “Door Knock” visit of 2007 to Washington D.C. in November. The primary purpose was to continue implementation of AmCham’s Washington strategy to inform key members of Congress and the Administration of American business success in Russia. Our goal is to have a Congress better informed on American business success in Russia by the time it votes on whether or not to abolish the out-of-date Jackson-Vanik amendment and grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR).

Marketplace Volts And Jolts: What To Expect As Russia Restructures Its Power Markets Russia’s power generation industry reforms are overhauling the sector’s structure and risk profile. The changes are coming about partly through the restructuring of RAO Unified Energy System of Russia, or UES (BB/Stable/--; Russia national scale rating ‘ruAA”), the 52.7 percent Russian government-owned holding company that currently owns most Russian generation companies (gencos). Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services believes the government is strongly committed to completing the restructuring in 2008, given growing power demand and concerns for a secure power supply, which require heavy investment. read more…	Marketplace Scaling Up the Innovation Ecosystem for Knowledge Creation Innovation, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurship and venture capital (VC) are ingredients in the creation of knowledge-based economies; witness the successes of Silicon Valley in the U.S. and replicated in France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and elsewhere. Small country economies like Israel, Ireland and Singapore, with little domestic demand for technology, developed unique approaches of exporting knowledge creation with excellent outcomes. read more…
Cover Story The Bloom of the Labor Market The overall macroeconomic situation in Russia remains stable and favorable, and against this backdrop, most companies are demonstrating business growth. This results in increases in personnel numbers and the consequent development of the personnel deficit. According to the results of our latest research, 72 percent of companies plan to increase the number of their employees next year, while 94 percent will review the salaries of their employees. read more…	Cover Story Notification Procedures for Foreign Employees: New Rules, Stricter Enforcement While employers struggle to understand recent changes to the visa regime for business visitors, we thought that this would be a good time to discuss some of the notification procedures related to foreign employees working in Russia. read more…
Cover Story The Build-Operate-Transfer Model of Outsourcing Payroll, bookkeeping, and HR administration have long been processes associated with outsourcing to qualified third-party providers (Business Process Outsourcing or BPO). The outsourcing of non-core processes can result in operating efficiencies, reduced liabilities, and access to leading technologies. read more…	Cover Story Is Russia Really That Different? Walk into any Grade A business center or open-plan office in Russia and, apart from the overbearing security at DEFCON-1 levels, you could be virtually anywhere. The new breed of professionals is smartly dressed, has learned that brown shirts don’t go with grey ties, and most importantly, understands that they are the crème de la crème of Russia’s executive future. read more…
Cover Story How Some Corporate Events Work Better Than Others Off-site company meetings, strategic sessions, informal celebrations, and other corporate events have become an established practice in Russia. Can you make sure these often huge investments earn expected returns? The answer is yes. Companies that get specific results from these events use special conference solutions to produce a desired effect. read more…	Cover Story HR Challenges for Employers with Russian Nationals Working Outside of Russia It is a contemporary phenomenon that individuals and employers seek professional experiences outside their home countries; and Russia is no exception. We have seen a growing tendency for Russian businesses to be acquisitive outside the Russian Federation. Major Russian companies have a firm foothold in their respective markets overseas. With this expansion of corporate reach goes the movement of individuals, representing their head office overseas, scouting for new opportunities and swelling foreign labor forces in newly acquired subsidiaries. read more…
Cover Story The Candidate-Driven Market: Do Employers Have a Chance? How to motivate employees and how to make them stay with the company are the two major concerns of large Russian and Western companies in Russia at the moment. At present, the labor market is totally candidate-driven, while Russian business is growing faster than people are born and educated. To meet these challenges we should study them thoroughly; and in order to do this, we conduct an annual candidate- motivation survey. Here, we present one of three sections of our survey covering de-motivating job factors, job-change motivators, and employee retention methods. read more…	Cover Story St. Petersburg Survey: A New Study Reveals Trends in Blue-Collar Expectations In June, 2007 AVANTA Personnel in Saint-Petersburg launched a new project: The Blue Collars’ Expectations Survey. This survey was conducted by means of the voluntary questioning of all the candidates who came to our office within a certain period time and participated in projects of basic personnel recruitment and leasing for the manufacturing, warehouse, and retail sectors (product line operators, maintenance workers, forklift drivers, packagers, and merchandisers). read more…

Issue Contents

President's Letter
A Hot Labor Market and Another Trip to Capitol Hill
AmCham made its second “Door Knock” visit of 2007 to Washington D.C. in November. The primary purpose was to continue implementation of AmCham’s Washington strategy to inform key members of Congress and the Administration of American business success in Russia. Our goal is to have a Congress better informed on American business success in Russia by the time it votes on whether or not to abolish the out-of-date Jackson-Vanik amendment and grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR).
Marketplace
Volts And Jolts: What To Expect As Russia Restructures Its Power Markets
Russia’s power generation industry reforms are overhauling the sector’s structure and risk profile. The changes are coming about partly through the restructuring of RAO Unified Energy System of Russia, or UES (BB/Stable/--; Russia national scale rating ‘ruAA”), the 52.7 percent Russian government-owned holding company that currently owns most Russian generation companies (gencos). Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services believes the government is strongly committed to completing the restructuring in 2008, given growing power demand and concerns for a secure power supply, which require heavy investment.
Scaling Up the Innovation Ecosystem for Knowledge Creation
Innovation, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurship and venture capital (VC) are ingredients in the creation of knowledge-based economies; witness the successes of Silicon Valley in the U.S. and replicated in France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and elsewhere. Small country economies like Israel, Ireland and Singapore, with little domestic demand for technology, developed unique approaches of exporting knowledge creation with excellent outcomes.
Cover Story
The Bloom of the Labor Market
The overall macroeconomic situation in Russia remains stable and favorable, and against this backdrop, most companies are demonstrating business growth. This results in increases in personnel numbers and the consequent development of the personnel deficit. According to the results of our latest research, 72 percent of companies plan to increase the number of their employees next year, while 94 percent will review the salaries of their employees.
Notification Procedures for Foreign Employees: New Rules, Stricter Enforcement
While employers struggle to understand recent changes to the visa regime for business visitors, we thought that this would be a good time to discuss some of the notification procedures related to foreign employees working in Russia.
The Build-Operate-Transfer Model of Outsourcing
Payroll, bookkeeping, and HR administration have long been processes associated with outsourcing to qualified third-party providers (Business Process Outsourcing or BPO). The outsourcing of non-core processes can result in operating efficiencies, reduced liabilities, and access to leading technologies.
Is Russia Really That Different?
Walk into any Grade A business center or open-plan office in Russia and, apart from the overbearing security at DEFCON-1 levels, you could be virtually anywhere. The new breed of professionals is smartly dressed, has learned that brown shirts don’t go with grey ties, and most importantly, understands that they are the crème de la crème of Russia’s executive future.
How Some Corporate Events Work Better Than Others
Off-site company meetings, strategic sessions, informal celebrations, and other corporate events have become an established practice in Russia. Can you make sure these often huge investments earn expected returns? The answer is yes. Companies that get specific results from these events use special conference solutions to produce a desired effect.
HR Challenges for Employers with Russian Nationals Working Outside of Russia
It is a contemporary phenomenon that individuals and employers seek professional experiences outside their home countries; and Russia is no exception. We have seen a growing tendency for Russian businesses to be acquisitive outside the Russian Federation. Major Russian companies have a firm foothold in their respective markets overseas. With this expansion of corporate reach goes the movement of individuals, representing their head office overseas, scouting for new opportunities and swelling foreign labor forces in newly acquired subsidiaries.
The Candidate-Driven Market: Do Employers Have a Chance?
How to motivate employees and how to make them stay with the company are the two major concerns of large Russian and Western companies in Russia at the moment. At present, the labor market is totally candidate-driven, while Russian business is growing faster than people are born and educated. To meet these challenges we should study them thoroughly; and in order to do this, we conduct an annual candidate- motivation survey. Here, we present one of three sections of our survey covering de-motivating job factors, job-change motivators, and employee retention methods.
St. Petersburg Survey: A New Study Reveals Trends in Blue-Collar Expectations
In June, 2007 AVANTA Personnel in Saint-Petersburg launched a new project: The Blue Collars’ Expectations Survey. This survey was conducted by means of the voluntary questioning of all the candidates who came to our office within a certain period time and participated in projects of basic personnel recruitment and leasing for the manufacturing, warehouse, and retail sectors (product line operators, maintenance workers, forklift drivers, packagers, and merchandisers).
NGO Spotlight
Promoting the Best Care at the Best Source – the Home
Policy Watch
Autumn Door Knock Mission to Washington D.C.
AmCham St. Petersburg
AmCham St. Petersburg Addresses Hot Issues in a Booming Economy
Policy Watch
Erik Berglöf Presents the EBRD’s 2007 Transition Report
AmCham Meets with Deputy U.S. Trade Rep
FMS and MID Representatives Give Briefing on Business Visas
Maxim Medvedkov Addresses AmCham Members
General Managers Meeting Addresses Personnel Shortage
AmCham Represented at Heritage Foundation Conference
Business After Hours
Business After Hours with the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski
Sports Event
Annual AmCham Soccer Cup
Committee Briefs
Committee Briefs Moscow - September-October 2007
Committee Briefs St. Petersburg - September-October 2007
Off-The-Wire
Off-The-Wire
Welcome_aboard
Welcome Aboard