Results of the DEKRA Temporary Work Report 2016

High employer satisfaction with EU staff

• The majority of companies have positive experiences with EU employees
• Majority of employers also satisfied with recognised asylum seekers
• Language barrier the biggest employment hurdle for both groups
• Personnel requirements will continue to rise over the next two years
• High demand for skilled labour and low-skilled workers Results of the DEKRA Temporary Work Report 2016

Nine out of ten companies in Germany report positive experiences with employees from the European Union, according to the DEKRA Temporary Work Report 2016, which was officially presented to members of the Bundestag in Berlin yesterday.Due to the ongoing nationwide shortage of skilled workers, more than 70 per cent of companies already rely on EU personnel, although the number of employees per company is still manageable. The majority of companies employ fewer than ten EU employees and the majority of experiences with asylum seekers to date have also been good, although satisfaction levels are 17 percentage points lower compared to employees from other EU countries.

The labour market in Germany is increasingly influenced by global factors and continues to suffer from an acute shortage of skilled workers, which is one reason why the DEKRA Arbeit Group has paid particular attention to foreign employees in its latest temporary staffing report. ‘The search for applicants is becoming increasingly difficult in numerous professional areas and regions in Germany,’ says Suzana Bernhard, Managing Director of the DEKRA Arbeit Group. ‘For us as a personnel service provider, it is of central importance to know the specific needs of our customers and to present new solutions for this, which is why we have asked around 600 customer companies about their current and future personnel situation via an online survey,’ says Suzana Bernhard.

General employee development and demand for skilled labour

Every second German company plans to increase the number of employees in the next two years (53 per cent), while 67 per cent of HR managers expect the situation on the skilled labour market to deteriorate: technical professions in particular are urgently needed, with three quarters of companies seeing a great need for more qualified employees in the near future. Demand for medical specialists (54 per cent), engineers (53 per cent) and IT specialists (46 per cent) also remains high.Surprisingly, however, it is not only skilled workers who are in greater demand.Almost half of HR managers also see a future increase in demand for low-skilled employees.

In contrast, no major change is expected in the area of temporary workers in the near future, with just over half of the hiring companies expecting the situation for commercial temporary workers to remain the same, while the planned expansion of temporary work at around 20 per cent of companies is roughly balanced out by the supposed decline at a quarter of those surveyed.

Very positive experience with EU employees

Around seven out of ten employers currently employ staff from other EU countries, with just under half of these companies stating that they employ up to a maximum of ten people from other European countries. 92 per cent of respondents with at least one EU employee rate the cooperation positively, with a good one in six companies even saying that their experience has been very positive.

According to the results, a quarter of companies would also like to rely more heavily on personnel from the European Union over the next two years, primarily looking for skilled workers in the industrial and technical fields, although employers are also keen to recruit less qualified EU personnel.

Nevertheless, HR managers also see a number of recruitment hurdles that are being paid particular attention to, with over 90 per cent of respondents citing the language barrier as the biggest obstacle to employing EU staff, as well as the high integration costs (66 per cent), the lack of professional qualifications (65 per cent), cultural and social adaptability (62 per cent) and the increased recruitment effort (58 per cent).

‘If you compare the barriers to employment that still exist in advance with the extremely positive experiences in the workplace, there is a wide gap between theory and practice when it comes to EU staff,’ explains Suzana Bernhard. ‘This needs to be addressed even more actively in the coming years and companies need to be given sufficient support in finding employees abroad as well as the necessary training and further education measures.’

Language barriers when employing recognised asylum seekers

A similar, but not quite as positive picture emerges when it comes to the question of asylum seekers who are already employed.16 per cent of companies currently state that they make use of this group of employees, and three quarters of companies also speak of rather positive (65 per cent) or even very positive experiences here (10 per cent).1 in 4 HR decision-makers have also had negative experiences, however, and reservations are even greater than with the previously mentioned group of EU employees, particularly when it comes to employment barriers.

At around 94 per cent, language barriers are at a very similar level, with 82 per cent of respondents citing cultural and social adaptability as a barrier to employment, around 20 percentage points more than for employees from the European Union, and the results for the lack of professional qualifications (80 per cent), the high integration effort (75 per cent) and the recruitment effort (64 per cent) are also clearly above the comparative figure for EU personnel.

This sceptical view is only likely to change slowly through active experience, and it is precisely for this reason that political support through flexible employment options and broad-based training and further education measures for asylum seekers is essential in order to sustainably promote positive development. around half of those surveyed assume that the labour market will continue to develop normally (48%), but more than a third of HR managers see a rather negative effect on future labour market development with regard to the professional integration of asylum seekers.

About the DEKRA Arbeit Group

The DEKRA Arbeit Group, a subsidiary of DEKRA SE, is one of the most successful placement-oriented personnel service companies in Germany.the core competence of the DEKRA Arbeit Group lies in the implementation of an innovative and business-oriented temporary employment concept that is always geared to the conditions of the labour market and the needs of the economy.its aim is to realise an employee concept that is tailored to individual customer requirements by efficiently creating flexible forms of work. DEKRA Arbeit GmbH has also been operating successfully abroad since 2002.

Files:

• DEKRA_Zeitarbeit_Report_2016.pdf  (5.3 MiB)