Who to Hire When Workers Are Scarce - How Ukrainian Businesses Are Restructuring Work

The shortage of workers in Ukraine has become a long-term constraint for businesses. Companies are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit people for manufacturing, logistics, technical professions, services, and management. Demographic decline, mobilization, forced migration, and changes in the employment structure have reduced the talent pool that employers previously relied on. The problem is now recognized by both companies and the state. Overcoming the workforce shortage is included among the objectives of the government’s employment strategy through 2030. For businesses, the issue has a direct financial impact: labor shortages limit production, complicate order fulfillment, increase pressure on teams, and restrict expansion.

Time for Action analyzed how employers are changing their workforce policies and why simply increasing the number of job openings is no longer sufficient. Companies are gradually moving away from a model in which the required specialist can be found on the open market, have their experience verified, and immediately begin working. The number of qualified candidates is declining, while their skills often do not match the requirements of a particular production facility or position. Searches take longer, vacancies remain open, and competition for experienced professionals is increasing. In surveys of leading employers, more than 90% of respondents identify the development of their own employees as one of the main ways to address the workforce crisis. More than 70% of companies have expanded the range of candidates they are prepared to consider during recruitment. Most employers use several dozen workforce tools simultaneously.

The main change has been the shift from filling individual vacancies to building an internal talent pool. Companies train newcomers, create internal succession pipelines, prepare replacements, develop mentoring, and allow employees to move between departments. Training has become the most common tool. At least two-thirds of surveyed employers use it. Some companies organize internal courses, while others pay for training at professional institutions or arrange specialist preparation with colleges and universities.

Companies are establishing schools for newcomers, where candidates without sufficient experience gradually learn a profession in real production environments. The employer gains an employee trained to work with specific equipment and standards, while the individual receives an opportunity to acquire qualifications without lengthy prior education. This approach is especially necessary for high-volume manufacturing professions. There may be enough people looking for work, but too few candidates with the required technical skills. Companies are therefore taking over some of the functions traditionally performed by vocational education. The importance of internal talent pools is increasing. Employers identify workers who could eventually move into more complex or managerial positions and prepare them for new responsibilities in advance. This reduces dependence on external recruitment and allows companies to replace specialists more quickly when they resign, are mobilized, or move to another job. Employee multifunctionality has become another area of focus. Workers are trained to perform several types of tasks or work in different areas. For manufacturing, this creates an opportunity to reassign people quickly between production lines and workshops. For office teams, it helps maintain the pace of work when some employees are absent. Internal mobility also helps retain employees. A worker can try a role in another department, acquire a new profession, or move into a higher position without changing employers. The company retains that person’s experience and knowledge of internal processes.

The second major area has been expanding access to employment. Employers have begun assessing a candidate’s motivation, ability to learn, and potential instead of requiring them to meet a long list of criteria from the first stage. Companies are more actively expanding their talent pools to include women willing to work in positions previously considered male, young people, candidates over the age of 50, veterans, people with disabilities, workers without experience, and individuals who need retraining. Employers are also considering residents of frontline areas, Ukrainians living abroad, and labor immigrants.

One manufacturing employer began offering short internships to candidates over the age of 50. Within a year, three-quarters of program participants received permanent jobs. This format allowed the company to assess candidates’ practical skills, while giving individuals an opportunity to evaluate working conditions before formal employment. Another manufacturer increased the number of women in production positions and began hiring young people more actively. The share of young specialists and interns in its workforce reached 18%. This shows that the talent pool can be expanded without lowering work requirements when a company is prepared to train and adapt new employees. The employment of veterans is also moving from isolated initiatives to regular workforce practice. According to one study, 85% of employers already have veterans on their teams, while two-thirds have introduced adaptation and training programs for them. These measures involve returning to professional activity, retraining, and creating conditions for employment after military service.

Expanding the range of candidates requires internal changes within a company. Adding a new category to a vacancy is not enough. Employers need clear onboarding, mentoring, accessible training, workplace adaptation, and genuine opportunities for professional development. Employers have also begun looking for future workers before they enter the labor market. Companies cooperate with colleges, vocational schools, and universities, organize production site visits and internships, and introduce young people to different professions. For technical industries, this is critical because a short recruitment campaign cannot quickly produce an engineer, technologist, driver, equipment operator, or qualified workshop employee. Training such specialists takes time, which means workforce development must begin while they are still studying. Attitudes toward the state employment service are also changing. Companies that previously made little use of this channel are signing cooperation agreements and involving it in the search for workers for warehouses, production facilities, and regional units. Employers gain additional access to candidates, while job seekers receive opportunities for training or retraining for specific vacancies. Recruitment automation is another area of development. Companies are introducing unified systems to replace dozens of spreadsheets, conversations, and disconnected candidate databases. These systems make it possible to see a person’s entire journey from application to starting work, the duration of each stage, and the reasons vacancies are filled slowly.

Artificial intelligence is used for the initial processing of CVs, candidate searches, preparation of job descriptions, application sorting, communication, and interview structuring. The purpose of the technology is to reduce mechanical work so that recruiters can devote more time to evaluating candidates and making decisions. Companies are also analyzing recruitment data more actively. Search channels, timelines, budgets, and vacancy performance are evaluated using measurable indicators. This makes it possible to abandon methods that do not deliver results and redirect resources more quickly to channels that produce suitable candidates. Faster recruitment does not solve the problem if a company continues to lose experienced employees. Retaining the existing team has become the primary workforce task for most employers. When a specialist leaves, the company loses their experience, incurs the cost of a new search and replacement training, and places additional pressure on colleagues. Timely salary payments, a clear compensation system, and transparent rules for salary reviews remain among the basic measures. According to one survey, 94% of companies pay salaries in full. Employers are also developing psychological support, physical health programs, assistance for employees’ families, and support for mobilized workers and veterans.

Management quality plays an important role. Employees are more likely to remain where they understand their tasks, receive feedback, and see opportunities for development. Companies therefore measure engagement, conduct satisfaction surveys, and prepare action plans after receiving the results. Onboarding has also ceased to be a formal introduction to company rules. The first weeks of employment determine whether a new worker can adapt, understand processes, and build professional relationships. During a workforce shortage, losing an employee during their probationary period becomes particularly costly. Flexibility remains an essential part of workforce policy. Companies maintain hybrid work where possible, relax secondary requirements for candidates, and reassign people according to workloads. Strategies must be reviewed regularly because business needs and worker availability change rapidly.

Workforce tools alone, however, can no longer resolve the problem. Businesses are beginning to reconsider how work itself is organized, automate production, and remove operations that unnecessarily consume employees’ time. At one factory, the stacking of finished products onto pallets and their wrapping were automated. The equipment is already operating on two of the facility’s four production lines. According to the company’s assessment, automation removed the need for approximately 16 loaders and allowed productivity to increase without expanding the workforce. This example shows that technology can compensate for part of the shortage where work consists of repetitive physical operations. A similar approach is being applied to office processes by automating document management, initial communication, data processing, and routine management tasks. Restructuring the operating model involves eliminating duplicated functions, unnecessary approvals, and manual work that could be completed more efficiently. The goal is to increase the productivity of each team and reduce business dependence on continuous workforce expansion.

The workforce crisis is forcing companies to work simultaneously with people, technology, and process organization. Training without retention does not deliver long-term results. Expanding the range of candidates requires adaptation and mentoring. Automation works more effectively after outdated operations have been reviewed. Employers are therefore developing comprehensive programs that combine internal talent pools, training, partnerships with educational institutions, internal mobility, employee support, work with veterans, digital HR systems, and production modernization. There is no single set of solutions for every industry. Manufacturing requires more vocational training and automation, logistics needs new recruitment channels and rapid adaptation, while office teams require internal mobility and digitalization. The overall direction, however, is already clear: companies are no longer waiting for the market to provide the people they need. They are training them, expanding access to employment, creating reasons for them to stay, and restructuring processes around a smaller workforce.