Companies want quality people while keeping costs under control

Orders are uncertain, labour costs are rising and people with the right qualifications are hard to find, even though there appear to be plenty of jobseekers on the market.

How do companies make recruitment decisions in these circumstances, and what should they start addressing before 2027 begins?

We asked Dominika Kopčáková, Delivery Director at SYNERGIE for the Czech Republic, and Marek Skička, who holds the same position in Slovakia:

Let’s start with orders. How does uncertainty about future orders affect the number of people companies hire?

Dominika: Companies are more cautious about planning new positions. They need to respond to current production volumes and orders, but they also want to avoid increasing their fixed staffing costs. We often deal with situations where a company needs to bring in additional workers quickly but is unsure how its orders will develop over the coming months.

What should a company do if it needs people immediately but might no longer need them in three months?

Dominika: For the rest of the year, the key factors will be flexibility, recruitment speed and the ability to adjust headcount to current needs. An approach that works well is to combine a permanent team in key roles with flexible employment models such as temporary staffing.

What is the situation in Slovakia?

Marek: Very similar. Flexibility in workforce planning is one of the three issues companies will be focusing on most for the rest of the year. When an order comes in, they need to increase headcount quickly, so clients often ask us how fast we can bring in a larger number of workers.

But flexibility does not help if there is nobody to hire. In the Czech Republic alone, labour offices registered more than 368,000 jobseekers at the end of September, around 30,000 more than a year earlier. There were an average of 3.5 jobseekers per vacancy. Shouldn’t recruitment be easier?

Dominika: More applicants do not necessarily mean companies can fill every role more easily. Many are people who have been registered with labour offices for a long time, rather than candidates with the expertise required for a particular vacancy. We still encounter a shortage of candidates with specific qualifications, the necessary experience or a willingness to work shifts. The ability to attract employees will therefore matter, but retaining them will be even more important.

What do clients most often come to you for as a result?

Marek: The mismatch between the people companies need and those available on the market continues to grow. Clients mainly want to know where else they can find candidates when the local market is not enough, and whether their pay levels are competitive.

They also ask which countries or regions make sense for international recruitment and how to manage the legal requirements and administration involved in employing foreign nationals. And they want to know how to structure recruitment so that people do not leave shortly after joining.

You mentioned pay. What happens when a company tries to save on wages?

Marek: If its pay levels are not competitive, the company will either struggle to find people or fail to retain them. That is why clients ask us about pay so often.

But do companies sometimes expect more than they are willing to pay for?

Dominika: We see requests for candidates with very specific profiles where the pay on offer does not always reflect the realities of the labour market. Clients need quality employees, but at the same time they have to keep a very close eye on costs.

It is essential for companies to research the market and understand what salaries and benefits are being offered. They should also monitor what is being said about their company and how employees and candidates perceive it. Every company has strengths and weaknesses. It is up to each business to identify what will attract quality new employees and help retain its existing people.

Pay is not the only cost, though. How can a company tell whether its recruitment has paid off?

Dominika: Companies will increasingly assess how much it costs to fill a particular role, how long recruitment takes and how well employees stay with the business afterwards. The price of the service naturally remains important, but the overall effectiveness of the solution is becoming increasingly significant.

You both mention employee retention. How should recruitment be structured to prevent people from leaving after a few months?

Marek: A great deal is determined during selection. Candidates should know exactly what they are signing up for from the outset: what shifts they will work, how much they will earn and what the job will involve. If a gap between promises and reality only becomes apparent after they start, people leave. That is why our conversations with clients increasingly focus on recruitment quality, as well as the number of people we can bring in.

Let’s return to the question clients ask most often: where to find people when the local market is not enough. Will companies be able to rely on workers from the surrounding area in the future?

Dominika: Relying solely on the local labour market may not be sufficient in the long term. Alternative recruitment channels, international workers, internal employee development and flexible employment models may therefore become more important.

For many companies, however, international recruitment mainly means paperwork and uncertainty. When do you think it makes sense?

Marek: When a company cannot find suitable people domestically. Businesses will make even greater use of alternative sources of labour than they do today, and international recruitment is one of them. However, they need to choose countries that match their requirements and manage the legal and administrative aspects from the outset.

Which countries make sense today?

Marek: It depends on the profession and what the company needs. In recent years, the number of workers from the Philippines and Moldova has grown considerably. We have had good experiences with the Philippines, particularly for skilled roles such as welders.

TIP: Our case study on recruiting welders from the Philippines explains how this works. A company that had spent a year unsuccessfully searching for 15 specialists on the domestic market secured 20 vetted welders following a week-long recruitment trip to the Philippines.

Selecting candidates abroad can be quick, but obtaining permits takes months. Does that mean companies need to be thinking about 2027 already?

Dominika: Yes. Planning workforce capacity well in advance is essential. If companies expect to expand production, launch new projects or need more employees, they should not wait until they are actually short of people to start recruiting. This applies both to international recruitment and to skilled roles, where the whole process can take several months.

Will the pressure on pay continue next year?

Marek: It will. Companies need to plan for further increases in labour costs. And as labour becomes more expensive, productivity and recruitment quality will matter even more.

What can companies do about this now?

Dominika: Above all, they should regularly check whether their offer reflects market conditions. They need to research and benchmark the market, identify the value their company offers as an employer and communicate it externally. Recruitment cannot rely on pay alone. In 2027, it will also be important to monitor forthcoming legislative changes concerning pay transparency.

Is this also changing what companies expect from a recruitment agency?

Dominika: Yes. Increasingly, our work with clients goes beyond recruitment itself to cover their broader workforce strategy: how to set pay levels, where to find suitable candidates, whether to use temporary staffing or international recruitment, and how to build stable teams over the long term.

In my view, a recruitment agency should be more than a supplier of CVs or workers. It should be a partner that helps the client find a solution that really works.

Finally, which companies do you think will be best prepared for 2027?

Marek: Those that see workforce planning as part of their business strategy, rather than simply a response to current vacancies.

Planning to hire in the coming months? We can help with recruitment and executive search, international recruitment or temporary staffing. Get in touch with us.