Tackling labour shortages: three ways to train and retain workers

Staff and skills shortages are fast becoming a reality for employers in many EU countries. As older workers retire and new needs for digital and green expertise emerge, there’s fresh focus on meeting the training, housing and other needs of underutilised groups of local workers, from refugees to students, suggests the report ‘Company practices to tackle labour shortages’ by the EU Agency Eurofound.

In the second of two stories looking at the report’s findings, we highlight three ways businesses have made themselves more attractive to the EU workers they need to hire.

Investing in workforce training

Worker shortages often disrupt Cyprus Public Transport (CPT) bus services, resulting in financial penalties. As older drivers retire from an often-stressful job, training costs and negative perceptions discourage new recruits. CPT introduced a Bus Drivers Apprenticeship Programme in 2020, with costs reimbursed after six months in a job. At the time of research, seven drivers had qualified and 16 were close to doing so. In the future, the company plans to remove one potential barrier by paying drivers while they train.
Dutch IT company Aurai operates in a competitive market for data scientists and AI professionals. It developed a 16-month advanced traineeship in data science, engineering and machine learning. Of 65 people taking part in the scheme between 2017 and 2023, 11 have been retained.

Upskilling new types of labour

The city of Helsinki is training students, the unemployed, refugees and migrants to work as care assistants in elderly care for a programme supported by government grants. Participants can later choose to move on to train in nursing. In 2022-23, 120 students took part.
Sweden’s Ukrainian Professional Support Centre (UPSC) matches skilled Ukrainian refugees with job vacancies. The UPSC, a coalition of private sector recruitment firms, does so through networking events, job fairs and CV databases. By October 2023, it had helped 340 refugees find employment in Swedish companies, many in Stockholm, working in shortage areas, including health, social care, hospitality and ICT, as well as the professional, scientific and technical sector.

Meeting workers’ needs

Prague’s Na Františku Hospital had medical staff shortages because Czech graduates often opt to work abroad or in other industries, while nurse training interest fell when degree-level qualifications were required and qualified staff with families found shift work difficult. The government has since made training more flexible and increased salaries. Nurses are no longer leaving the sector – but wider shortages remain. The hospital provides support with affordable accommodation, from places in hospital dormitories to access to council apartments for employees with families. Flexibility means 30% of staff at the hospital work part time. Currently it is not experiencing significant labour shortages.

To find out more download the Company practices to tackle labour shortages.

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Company practices to tackle labour shortages

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EURES report on labour shortages and surpluses, 2023

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