Liliia Alekseenko, founder of Educay and Executive coach ICF, conducted 10 interviews with HR leaders and T&D partners at major companies. The interviewees shared what’s happening in the labor market, whether there’s a talent shortage, and what problems exist with motivation.

In 2022, companies faced economic problems, sanctions, and a contracting market. It was important to understand what changes were taking place inside organizations and how to support clients. We interviewed representatives from retail, IT, and manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies.

Is there a talent shortage caused by relocation

The first hypothesis: companies are short on talent because people are moving to other countries. The specialists we surveyed disagreed — there is a shortage, but the reasons are different. Opinions split into two camps.

The number of candidates grew, but the quality fell. People want to start a job but aren’t ready to work. Many companies lowered the entry bar, introduced remote work, and train employees themselves — all they care about is motivation. The number of applicants grew several times over, but only a handful are ready to learn and immerse themselves in the profession. Most don’t even make it through the probation period — at some companies the share of those who don’t passes 60%. Recruiters spend time on empty interviews, search costs rise, and profitability falls.

There are problems with qualified talent as well. Job seekers’ financial demands and expectations of vacancies have risen, while the candidates’ level fails to meet expectations in 90% of cases.

What about morale and motivation

The second hypothesis concerned employees’ poor internal state. Respondents confirmed it: morale and motivation are close to zero. And it’s not only about the events of 2022. Specialists lost their inner footing back when the pandemic arrived. Since 2020 they’ve been in a state of stress, compounded by uncertainty.

Many speak of burnout at every level — from top managers to rank-and-file employees. Motivation is gone, and there’s no understanding of how to talk with the team and organize processes. Leaders have neither the strength nor the time for it.

Can you get used to stress

Organizations failed to account for the “boiled frog effect,” which is why stress reached a new level.

You can’t drop a frog into hot water — it’ll jump out of the pot. But if you place it in cold water and turn on a slow heat, it will keep adjusting to the temperature and boil to death.

While working remotely, we were slowly heating up. Workloads, leaders’ demands, and the scale of goals kept growing, while deadlines, on the contrary, kept shrinking. At some point many discovered they’d been “boiled”: it seemed stress had become the norm, and the body had already gotten used to it.

But that claim is called into question by an interesting experiment. Scientists set up two cages: in the first, a sheep; in the second, a wolf. There was distance between them and bars in the way. Despite this, the sheep couldn’t cope with the stress of the predator’s proximity and died within a month. In other words, adapting to uncertainty, stress, and heavy workloads is a myth: they don’t let you spread your wings, find inspiration, or motivate yourself.

How companies fight stress

Organizations strive to support people, give them footing, and teach them to relieve stress. You can’t solve everything at the company level, but there are effective ways to reduce the number of stress sources. For example, many employers:

  • inform staff of all changes in a timely way and maintain regular contact between employees and top management;
  • provide free access to mental health platforms and pay for consultations;
  • regularly hold team sessions that address not only work goals but the team’s values;
  • deliberately create an atmosphere of recognition and gratitude, and run awards and nominations;
  • organize shared activities: online quizzes, motivation marathons, and corporate yoga.

Alongside supporting motivation, companies also track employees’ workload: how they switch between work and home, and how they rest from their tasks.

Our research showed that the talent problem is driven by burnout, accumulated fatigue, and stress. HR understand the difficulties and are putting in considerable effort to change the situation.

An important piece of advice: sometimes you need to slow down before running on. Remember, we’re running a marathon — conserve your own strength and the strength of your employees.