Raise or no raise, clerk and waitress hit the road

Photo: Mihkel Maripuu

Enterprises are hard pressed to find fresh staff: students are busy enough at universities and job seekers are lured away by bigger money offered abroad.

This fall, fuel seller Statoil is seeking for 15 new people in Tallinn; according to press representative Jaanus Pauts, this is because increase of night-time workloads in their gas stations, as well higher education reform. «Well, free-of-charge higher education does play its role, implying full adherence to curricula. This, in turn, makes the students study harder and fewer youth are working while they study,» admitted Mr Pauts.

According to Agnija Rikmane, Baltic personnel manager for the student-hiring fast-food chain McDonald’s, their employee turnover is higher, this year, than in 2012 – having reached 66 per cent. 

Wages lure away

«Most of our employees are students; they have come for temporary employment to earn extra money. Quite often, employees leave us as they find jobs corresponding to their educational or professional qualifications,» said Ms Rikmane. Even so, for many years a typical reason for leaving is going to work abroad.

The fact that unskilled Estonian workers are lured by foreign wages is confirmed by Külli Toots, personnel manager of  Baltic Restaurants Estonia – having 66 eateries in Estonia. On their own initiative, 85 people left them in September. According to Ms Toots, it is the hardest to find waitresses and cooks. «Often, we will have to fill the same vacancy many times over, as people have a lot to choose from and they are unable to make up their minds as to where they want to work,» confided Ms Toots. Quite often, people just work for a week, get a better offer and leave within hours.

Prisma Peremarket’s chief of staff Reet Ratas says they are most often deserted by clerks with under one year «under their belts», people characterised by the often-altered place of work. «Even so, with students that will be very logical and to be expected – working as a clerk for a while and then trying to find jobs according to qualifications,» said Ms Ratas.

According to companies, they are having problems finding fresh staff in Tallinn. For instance: in Tartu, Statoil got over a hundred applications for clerks; in the capital, however, new people are hard to find. 

«Finding good employees is not as easy as some years ago, as there are fewer candidates, and their qualifications and motivations are lower,» admitted Ms Rikmane of McDonald’s. According to her, this is a problem in all accommodation and catering establishments in Estonia. 

Ms Ratas, of Prisma Peremarket, said the labour market situation was complicated, for them, right now; even so, in near future, it would become worse still as those born in the  post-war baby-boom are retiring and, in 1990ies, birth-rate was low. «Thus, there is no new workforce in sight; in addition to that, the exodus is strong and impossible to predict. Using migrant workers in services would, however, be complicated,» said Ms Ratas.

Külli Toots said it was harder to find new employees than a couple of years back, when large amounts of curriculum vitae poured in for unskilled jobs. «Regrettably, lots of candidates are irresponsible – don’t answer the phone, don’t call back, don’t show up for interviews as agreed,» said she.

As also admitted by Ms Toots, it is getting like that with skilled jobs as well. «The candidates have the idea that they are getting paid for showing up. If you want them to work, you are supposed to pay extra for that,» she said.

As confirmed by all those interviewed, they have recently raised salaries and are trying to keep the people by offering additional remuneration or other bonuses; nevertheless, the wages are the chief reason for leaving.

«Rule of thumb: people want to get net €500, minimum. This is totally understandable, when looking at the statistics (cost of food basket), but sadly the rule cannot be followed with all jobs,» said Ms Toots.

Not the minimum wage

Prisma’s Reet Ratas says job seekers have an overly gloomy picture of the work of a clerk. «I know not whence the notion that these people are on minimum wages,» wonders Ms Ratas.

According to her, the best Prisma clerks earn almost as much as teachers; never have they been paid the bare minimum. «This has been our very principle,» said she. According to Ms Ratas, the Tallinn clerk wages come between €517–656; in Narva and Tartu €470–644.

Since June 1^st, this year, in Tallinn, Prisma started to pay intensiveness premium to employees on hourly wages. «The reasons are the tougher competition of the vicinity-of-Tallinn labour market, the heavier work-load and better economic results enabling the wage rise,» she explained. This October, the chain raised salaries for all its employees.

Regarding Statoil, Tallinn and Harju County salaries start at €580, to which are added night-work compensation and performance-related pay. 

«At the start of the year, we raised basic salaries for service-station employees; over the past six months, however, we have increased the percentage of performance pay,» said Jaanus Pauts. The last time the performance percentage was increased was at the beginning of October – regarding certain products, performance pay almost doubled. «By that, the clerks’ total salary, depending on sales results, rises by 8-30 per cent,» he promised.

In job ads by McDonald’s, hourly wages of €3.30 are offered. As assured by Ms Rikmane, this is competitive salary in the services sector. 

«In Tallinn, where the work load is harder than in other towns and the need for new employees the acutest, we pay almost 75 over the state minimum to beginners; as their skills improve, those who are motivated quickly move on to higher wage levels,» said she.

At the end of last year, Baltic Restaurants raised salaries by an average of eight per cent; even so, as admitted by personnel manager Külli Toots, the gap between the company’s ability and the people’s desires remains wide.

Employee turnover 2013

•    Prisma    25%

•    McDonald’s    66%

•    Statoil    56%