The number of employed people who are still looking for a job is increasing this year, employment agencies report. Although they will receive more on average more than in previous years, their living costs are also rising. The supply of work still exceeds the demand, however, it may be a problem for an already employed applicant to get a job. In addition to knowledge, companies also require time flexibility.
“Employed people have earned extra money in the past, this is nothing new, but now their demand for brigades is increasing,” describes the agency’s operations manager František Jareš.
“A large part is still considering how to do it, if it will really be needed, but given the current situation, they will most likely eventually resort to finding a brigade,” he added.
According to Randstad, employed people are looking for brigades mainly because of the cost of living. “Some companies are just planning to increase wages, others have not yet come to terms with the effects of the covid crisis,” explains Martin Jánský, director of the agency employment division.
According to Jareš, however, the question is whether they will be able to get the brigade at all due to time constraints. “Employers want to have part-time workers as flexible as possible in terms of time, and that’s what a job-seeker can’t offer much,” he said.
According to Randstad, the hourly wage for brigades ranges between 130 and 140 crowns per hour, but there are also positions with an hourly rate of 200 crowns. In Prague and the Central Bohemian Region, the hourly wage is most often from 150 to 200 crowns, in other regions it is slightly lower.
You can earn more in certain fields – for example in call centers, if the temporary worker knows foreign languages. The same applies to multi-shift production operations, which, however, temporary workers have long refused. While a worker who is in charge of sorting consignments in a Prague warehouse earns 150 crowns per hour, a part-time worker with knowledge of Italian reaches 240 crowns. A worker on night shifts in Olomouc can again earn 165 crowns, but on a day shift in Pilsen it can cost 120 to 130 crowns.
“There is the greatest demand for part-time and seasonal workers in production, warehouses and in Prague as well as in courier services and fast food, but applicants are most often interested in working in the office,” says Grafton Recruitment Marketing Director Jitka Součková.
According to her, the most attractive administrative positions are without English or working at the reception. “The requirements of companies and the interest of part-time workers have been missing for a long time,” he adds.
According to the traditional summer brigades, they traditionally appear in gastronomy, tourism and agriculture, but also at festivals. Although the offer of brigades in production or in stores decreased slightly compared to last year, according to Jiří Halbrštát from ManpowerGroup, these are the fields with the largest number of advertised positions.
According to Halbrštát, the brigade market is now partly influenced by refugees from Ukraine who are willing to do work that Czechs are not interested in. They can help some employers in the hotel industry, gastronomy, manufacturing or agriculture.
According to Součková from Grafton, however, this is not a big attack. “In connection with the strong refugee wave, we expected a significant increase in interest in short-term jobs, but so far we have not seen any fluctuations compared to previous years,” he concludes, adding that the increase in the number of job seekers has not yet affected significantly.
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