Work of special value - Newspaper Kommersant No. 175 (7376) of 09/22/2022

Work of special value - Newspaper Kommersant No. 175 (7376) of 09/22/2022



The mobilization, which should affect up to 300,000 Russians, is unlikely to have a strong impact on the Russian labor market as a whole. However, it creates additional risks for employers, who must notify the employees to be mobilized, avoiding fines, and make up for their losses by removing the most demanded personnel from the presidential decree or waiting for their return. Certain difficulties may arise for defense industry enterprises if they have to quickly increase output against the backdrop of rising demand.

Yesterday, a "partial mobilization" was announced by presidential decree in the Russian Federation, which will allow the authorities to call up to 300,000 reservists to the front. Most of them are expected to be men between the ages of 20 and 35 (see page 1), that is, Russians of working age. In total, the labor force in the Russian Federation, according to Rosstat, includes 75.3 million people, of which 71.7 million are employed. Of these, 38.7 million are men, 36.8 million of them work. With the full implementation of the presidential decree, up to 0.4% of the labor force and 0.7% of male workers will leave the labor market in the coming months. Most of them are employed in manufacturing (6.4 million), transport (4.9 million), construction (4.3 million) and trade (4.3 million). If mobilization does not expand, the reduction in the supply of labor will be little noticeable for the Russian labor market.

At the same time, it may be difficult for employers to comply with a number of requirements of the decree. Thus, according to the provisions of the Labor Code, upon receipt of the lists of employees to be mobilized, they are obliged to notify them of this within two days under the threat of a fine of 1-3 thousand rubles. (Article 21.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, that such lists began to come to them, “Kommersant” reported a number of Moscow companies).

According to Art. 83 of the Labor Code, if an employee is called up for military service, the employment contract with him is subject to termination with the payment of two weeks' earnings. However, as Kommersant was told in one of the state-owned companies, they plan to keep the jobs of the mobilized until they return. “Probably, we will hire people to replace them under fixed-term employment contracts,” a top manager said in a conversation with Kommersant. Another way to retain personnel can be their re-registration in other divisions - for example, a number of large employers have IT divisions in the structure in the form of separate legal entities. “If employees are re-registered to work there, they can avoid being called up, even if they are suitable for mobilization according to all other criteria,” says the HR director of one of the Russian retailers. Finally, as Kommersant was told at the representative office of a foreign company in the Russian Federation, those who “are at risk, but can work remotely or transfer to other country divisions, may receive an offer to leave Russia.”

Additional expenses for companies may also arise in connection with the need for psychological assistance and support for the remaining employees - the demand for such services, we note, increased significantly immediately after February 24 this year. “Many are in a panic because they do not understand whether labor mobilization will affect them and what will happen to them,” says an HR specialist at a Russian technology company.

Certain difficulties with personnel against the background of mobilization may arise for defense industry enterprises, since the demand for their products may grow significantly. The government has previously amended labor laws to allow them to forcibly engage employees in additional paid work (for more details, see Kommersant on July 4), but they may also need to expand hiring, and the lists of in-demand employees and specialists to be mobilized may largely coincide.

Elena Sparrow



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