Understanding the expectations of talents is becoming increasingly important

25/03/2019

Johanna Vallistu Former Expert of Foresight Centre

In the opinion of the future of the labour market study Project Manager Johanna Vallistu, there is a tense competition in recruiting of talents both at the international level and between companies, and the skill of understanding the expectations of talents is becoming increasingly important. “Often the company’s culture, team and the possibility of flexible organisation of work, like having no fixed working time, are more important expectations than financial motivation factors. As indirect factors, the issues relating to the host country – openness, friendliness and culture, but also, for example, the climate of the country,” Vallistu said.

International data show that it is worthwhile to make efforts in the name of talents at national level – growing and innovative companies want to settle in the regions having more talents. The experts participating in “Labour Market 2035” study pointed out that here we were not speaking of only those who come from other countries, but also of recognising and developing talents in the educational system. This means increasing of individual approach in schools.

Speaking of the developments of labour market, Vallistu said that Estonia should take into account such significant labour market trends as increase of virtual labour, spread of short-term labour migration and flexible organisation of work, and also understand their combined effect. Workers are less and less connected with one region, it is possible to work for an employer or a customer located in another country or even on the other side of the world. Being self-employed or working through employment mediation platforms is becoming a norm. It is supported by the development of digital platforms, the wish of employees to be more independent, and the wish of employers to reduce salary expenses and increase flexibility by buying in the necessary work as a service.

“The changes ushered in by new technologies, diversification and ambiguation of working relationships, the possibility for cross-border work and the structural reshaping of labour market as a result of technological developments has, on the one hand, immensely broadened the range of opportunities for making a living and seeking self-realisation, yet on the other hand, it has begun to cause insecurity among workers, employers and policy makers,” Vallistu commented.

The potential risks of artificial intelligence to the labour market also should not be ignored, even if we see them unfolding in a longer perspective. Labour market experts agree that in the future the governments will be facing broad questions caused by the development of technology, like how to organise the education system, how to reduce the polarisation of incomes, and how to organise transitions in working life?

In the opinion of the leader of the future of the labour market study of the Foresight Centre, it is necessary to think also of how to encourage creativity and value people’s skills in the algorithm world, and how to avoid the partiality of solutions using machine learning and, through it, the reproduction of inequality.

The purpose of the study “Labour Market 2035” of the Foresight Centre is to understand better the possible developments of labour market, because the developments at the labour market are the backdrop for the challenges faced by the legal and social systems of countries, the most important of which include the protection of workers in the unpredictable field of labour, legal and taxation issues in the growing global labour market, and adapting to the changed skills and expectations of the digital world.

The labour market scenarios prepared within the framework of the study “Labour Market 2035” are meant for broadening the debate on the development of labour market and economy in Estonia, and to provide material for discussion on how to act if any of the developments starts to dominate.