Lubov Filin, Head of Evidence-Based Regulatory Practice Department at the Gaidar Institute, commented for Nezavisimaya Gazeta on the labor market situation in connection with the growth of unpaid vacations. The expert believes that in the context of declining economic activity, companies are increasingly resorting to unpaid vacations in order to retain valuable personnel.
“If we talk in general about the growth of unpaid leave, it is quite an expected phenomenon. In many cases, it reflects the current mood in the business environment: instead of dismissing employees during a downturn or downtime, companies prefer to temporarily send them on unpaid leave, while keeping the person’s job. This approach allows businesses to cut costs without losing valuable staff,” said Lyubov Filin.
At the same time, the expert expressed doubts about the expediency of including unpaid vacations in the statistics of part-time employment. “However, in my opinion, the inclusion of this indicator for calculating the level of part-time employment should be reconsidered, as the situation when people take unpaid vacations may be related to personal circumstances, for example, the desire to extend vacation between holidays,” she explained.
Lubov Filin also analyzed the labor market situation in connection with the transition of enterprises to a part-time working week and the growth in the number of part-time workers. According to the expert, in the context of a challenging economic environment and staff shortage, the growth of part-time employment can be regarded as a positive indicator.
“Employers, especially in the SME segment, seek to retain employees without resorting to mass layoffs with corresponding payments. Part-time employment in this case is a reasonable alternative: it allows the company to optimize its costs while maintaining work arrangements.
And in cases of staff shortage, when a significant part of the workforce now works for the defense industry, companies agree to take people who already have a main place of work, on a part-time basis to get the necessary specialist, at least for a small number of working hours per day,” expert said.
