Personnel Current in Service Companies under COVID-19

Distribution on the Example of Russian Post JSC

Vladlena V. Grikhno

, Marina V. Simonova

and Sergey A. Kolesnikov

Samara State Economic University, Samara, St. Soviet Army, 141, Russia

Samara State Technical University,

Samara, 194 Molodogvardeyskaya Str., Russia

Keywords: Personnel Adaptation, Personnel Turnover, Personnel Training, Personnel, Staff, Personnel Management,

Pandemic, Covid 19.

Abstract:

During the period of coronavirus restrictions, the issue of staff stability is of particular importance, and, as a

consequence, the management of staff turnover. In the difficult economic situation caused by the pandemic,

employers need not only to keep the team, not allowing massive layoffs, but also to retain valuable workers.

We conducted a survey among the quitting employees in the branches of the Volga Macroregion of the

Russian Post JSC. Based on the data obtained, the reasons for dismissal were analyzed during the period of

restrictive government measures in connection with the spread of COVID-19 and immediately after the lifting

of severe restrictions. The main trends in changes in the behavior of employees during a pandemic and their

impact on staff turnover have been identified. In the course of the study, the following conclusions were made:

- employees of the organization, in the context of instability in the country caused by COVID-19, are less

likely to decide on layoffs, but they still occur, even in such a difficult period of a pandemic and rising

unemployment and increase sharply after the lifting of severe restrictions; - the main reasons for dismissal

are still "insufficient wages" and "high intensity of work, heavy physical activity", while the reasons of a

domestic nature that can be endured are fading into the background. Thus, an employee makes a decision to

dismiss if he/she is not satisfied with materially significant working conditions; - due to the peculiarities of

the age structure of the organization, the change in the turnover rate, both during severe restrictions and after

their relaxation, is not affected by the number of employees leaving due to retirement, which changes

insignificantly from month to month.

1 INTRODUCTION

In modern conditions, when the country and the world

are constantly undergoing economic changes caused

by the influence of restrictions associated with

COVID-19, organizations are forced to use their

resources more and more economically (Avdeeva,

Emcova, 2020). The personnel have always been one

of the main competitive advantages that ensure the

sustainable operation and development of the

organization (Grihno, Simonova, 2018). However, it

was during the period of coronavirus restrictions that

the question of the presence of the employees

themselves in the workplace arose, and, therefore, the

issues of the principle of the organization's

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functioning (Mitrofanova, Mitrofanova, Margarov,

2021). Under the new conditions, the employer needs

not only to retain the personnel, preventing its

reduction, but also to retain valuable employees

(Elsafty, Ragheb, 2020).

Personnel turnover management (Simonova,

Sankova, Mirzabalaeva, 2021) can be defined as a

system of measures aimed at researching, preventing

and reducing personnel turnover to maintain the

effective functioning of the organization and ensure

the achievement of the set goals and objectives

(Cymbal, Litvak, Wilder, Burns, 2021).

However, before taking measures to reduce

turnover in the organization, it is necessary to identify

its causes (Brusencova, Sheina, Mashkova. 2020). All

Grikhno, V., Simonova, M. and Kolesnikov, S.

Personnel Current in Service Companies under COVID-19 Distribution on the Example of Russian Post JSC.

DOI: 10.5220/0011110200003439

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference "COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals" (RTCOV 2021), pages 36-42

ISBN: 978-989-758-617-0

Table 1: Personnel turnover rate, %. Source – developed by the authors on the basis of public data of Russian Post JSC.

YEAR 2017 2018 2019 3-year average

Actual value 34.83 34.84 33.73 34.47

Distribution of fluidity by age

up to 30 years old

(inclusive)

8.54 8.54 9 8.69

from 31 to 40 years 8.13 8.14 8.18 8.15

from 41 to 50 years old 7.01 7.01 6.85 6.96

from 51 to 55 years old 3.7 3.7 3.45 3.61

over 55 years old 7.44 7.45 6.26 7.05

Sex distribution of fluidity

Men 8.08 8.04 8.01 8.04

Women 26.75 26.8 25.72 26.42

dismissals can be conditionally divided into three

categories: dismissals that can be avoided, dismissals

that are inevitable (for example, for family or

personal reasons), and desirable dismissals

concerning employees that are not quite suitable for

the enterprise.

Based on the data on turnover (Table 1) and the

data obtained as a result of a sociological study

among the leaving employees in the branches of the

Volga Macroregion of Russian Post JSC, we will

analyze the reasons for dismissal during the period of

coronavirus restrictions and immediately after the

removal of severe restrictions

Over the 3 years under study, the personnel

turnover of the Russian Post has decreased slightly,

but represents very high values, since according to the

results of numerous studies (Petrova, M., Koval, V.,

Tepavicharova, M., Zerkal, A., Radchenko, A.,

Bondarchuk, N., 2020), the normal level of turnover

shall be 3-5 %.

According to the operational study, the turnover

rate in 2020 remained almost the same as in the period

from 2017 to 2019. This situation negatively affects

many production indicators and entails additional

costs for the organization to find, train and adapt new

employees. In addition, due to the fact that highly

qualified specialists are distracted by training

newcomers who are slowly getting into the business

and are not yet able to fulfill their duties at the level

of already experienced employees, labor productivity

decreases, and, accordingly, the enterprise does not

receive possible profit.

Despite anti-epidemiological measures and an

increase in unemployment, personnel turnover at the

Russian Post has decreased slightly. It is of scientific

and practical interest to study the reasons for

dismissals, which could not be influenced by the

growth of unemployment and the unstable economic

situation in the country.

We used the following study methods: the method

of theoretical analysis, the method of statistical

analysis, the method of analogy, the analytical

method, as well as questionnaires, comparison and

generalization of data.

2 RESULTS

The results of the survey are of interest for identifying

the reasons for dismissal (Lata, L., Mohamed Zainal,

S. R., Jan, G., Memon, U., 2021). Let's consider in

more detail the results of the survey. Data on the

reasons for dismissal are shown in Table 2. The table

contains the calculation of the number and proportion

of respondents choosing one or another reason for

dismissal from the total number of interviewed

employees. The sample is representative, since during

the period of the survey, 896 and 1100 employees left

the organization, 672 and 800 people were

interviewed, respectively, which is 75 % and 73 % of

the total number of employees who quit.

Personnel Current in Service Companies under COVID-19 Distribution on the Example of Russian Post JSC

Table 2: Reasons for dismissing employees. Macroregion Volga of Russian Post JSC during the period of coronavirus

restrictions and immediately after the lifting of severe restrictions. Source - developed by the authors.

Reasons for dismissal

for 1 month during

the period of

corona-virus

restrictions,

ers.

Proportion,

1 month after the

removal of strict

corona-viral

restrictions,

Share, %

Insufficient salar

245 36.5 % 288 36.0 %

High work intensity, heavy

hysical activit

73 10.9 % 67 8.4 %

It is necessary to sell goods

and services

47 7.0 % 61 7.6 %

Inconvenient work schedule

31 4.6 % 37 4.6 %

I had a different idea of what

to do

20 3.0 % 35 4.4 %

Poor living conditions (lack

of renovation, old furniture,

and etc.)

24 3.6 % 18 2.3 %

Difficult working conditions

(hot, cold, dusty, stuffy,

cram

ed, etc.

)

10 1.5% 32 4.0%

Long working hours,

overtime

7 1.0% 13 1.6 %

Gettin

far to wor

7 1.0% 7 0.9 %

Unfair payroll syste

4 0.6 % 11 1.4 %

Lack of special clothes and

other supplies (paper,

stationer

, etc.

)

4 0.6 % 5 0.6 %

Incomprehensible payroll

stem

1 0.1 % 7 0.9 %

Arm

3 0.4 % 8 1.0%

Pension

61 9.1 % 63 7.9 %

Disease of close relatives

21 3.1 % 43 5.4 %

Changing of the living place

54 8.0 % 49 6.1 %

Health proble

60 8.9 % 56 7.0 %

Excessive red ta

0 0.0 % 0 0.0 %

Conflict with the leader,

prejudiced attitude of the

leade

0 0.0 % 0 0.0 %

Conflict with colleagues

0 0.0 % 0 0.0 %

Total

672 100 % 800 100 %

As before the pandemic, the main reason for

changing jobs during the pandemic was “insufficient

wages” - 245 employees (36.5 %) out of 672

respondents, after the restrictions were removed, 288

employees (36 %) out of 800 employees indicated it.

In second place is the reason for dismissal - "high

work intensity, heavy physical activity", it is chosen

more often during a pandemic - 74 employees (11.5

%), versus 67 people (8.4 %) after the restrictions

were removed.

In the third place in the reasons for dismissal there

are various living conditions. For example, only 10

employees chose the item "difficult working

conditions" during the pandemic, while after the

restrictions were removed, 32 employees noted this

item. Also, the item “long working hours” was chosen

less.

RTCOV 2021 - II International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference " COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

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Table 3: Analysis of the reason for dismissal "Retirement". Source - developed by the authors.

Work experience of employees in

the organization with the reason

for dismissal

"Retirement"

for 1 month during the

period of coronavirus

restrictions, people

1 month after the removing

the strict coronavirus

restrictions, people

Up to 1 month 0 0

Up to 3 months 0 1

From 3 months to 1

3 5

From 1

ear to 3

ears 12 11

From 3

ears and more 46 46

Total 61 63

Thus, analyzing the reasons for dismissal, we can

conclude that during a pandemic, an employee makes

a decision to dismiss if the reason for dismissal

significantly affects his working conditions (Tsareva,

N.A., Tyugaev, А.R., 2020). At the same time, the

employee is ready to wait for more favorable

conditions for changing jobs, if the reason is

insignificant at this stage. However, after the

stabilization of the situation and the removal of time

constraints in connection with the pandemic, we see

an increase in turnover, including for various

domestic reasons for dismissal.

The reason "Retirement" is chosen by almost the

same number of leaving employees, 61 and 63,

respectively. Analyzing the data shown in Table 3, we

can conclude that this category of employees in most

cases has been working in the organization for more

than 3 years, adjusting the length of service to the

retirement age. Pre-retirees are not inclined to make a

decision on dismissal for other objective or subjective

reasons, since, despite the state policy and pension

reform, it is difficult for employees of this age

category to get a qualified job (Brusencova, L.S.,

Sheina. A.YU., Mashkova. A.M., 2020). During the

period of coronavirus restrictions, difficulties in

finding and applying for a new job were also largely

associated with the use of online technologies by

organizations, in which workers of pre-retirement age

are poorly oriented (Bueno-Sánchez, L., Martínez-

Molina, S., Marqués de Almeida, S., Garcés-Ferrer,

J., Pérez, D., Quílez, M., 2019).

The increase in dismissals is alarming as the

length of service in the organization increases,

especially those who have worked for more than three

years, that is, people who have undergone adaptation,

who were taught to work, are quit, most likely,

training was carried out, that is, the organization

carries not only direct, but also indirect losses.

The structure of those leaving the company given

in Table 2 corresponds to the structure of the number

of employees of the organization by age. Comparing

the data on the structure of personnel by age as a

whole for the enterprise Russian Post JSC for 2017-

2019, in Table 4, it is possible to see almost complete

correspondence. The table shows the actual number

of employees in the specified period, breaks down the

number of employees by age categories, calculates

the ratio of the number of employees year to year as

a percentage, displays the average age of personnel

and the number of working pensioners.

Analyzing the organization's statistical data on

this indicator, one can draw attention to the fact that,

despite the fact that the number of employees in the

pre-retirement age category from 51 to 55 years old

decreases by an average of 4 % from year to year, the

average age of the organization's employees has

grown from 43.4 years in 2017 to 43.6 and 43.9 years

in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The share of working

pensioners at the enterprise is 16-17 %.

This indicator, in our opinion, was influenced by

the current pension reform in the country to increase

the age of pensioners retiring. This is confirmed by

the statistics of the organization. In the category of

employees over 55, there is an increase in 2019 from

64,028 people. up to 65,696 people, i.e. by 2.61 %.

Wherein, the number of working pensioners

decreased from 55,847 people up to 53,615 people,

which amounted to -4 %.

It shall also be noted that Russian Post JSC takes

part in implementation of the national project

Demography, within the framework of which, in

order to provide systematic support and improve the

quality of life of older citizens, this category of

employees of the organization is trained. Participation

in the programs made it possible to present¬ for

drivers of the target audience to get and develop a

computer¬ tendencies demanded by the Russian Post

and applied in modern production and business

processes. When implementing the project together

with the centers of population employment¬ and

WorldSkills Russia in 2019 about¬ 1,055 employees

were trained. Of these, 631 employees passed

advanced training, 332 employees professional¬

training – professional,¬ 72 employees – retraining,

20 employees – vocational training.

Personnel Current in Service Companies under COVID-19 Distribution on the Example of Russian Post JSC

Table 4: Personnel structure by age, people. Source - developed by the author based on public data. Russian Post JSC.

YEAR December 31, 2017 December 31, 2018 December 31, 2019

Russian Post JSC

Actual

number

Share of

the total

number,

people

Actual

number

Share of

the total

number,

people

Headc

ount

ratio

2018/

2017

Actual

number

Share of

the total

number,

people

Headco

unt ratio

2019/

2018

Headco

unt ratio

2019/

2017

340,772 100 % 335,921 100 %

331,011 100 %

-2.86%

up to 30 years old

(inclusive)

60,780 17.8 % 55,986 16.7 %

7.89 %

51,929 15.7 % -7.25 % -14.56 %

from 31 to 40 years 83,854 24.6 % 84,483 25.1 % 0.75 % 83,575 25.2 % -1.07 % -0.33 %

from 41 to 50 years old 86,047 25.3 % 86,713 25.8 % 0.77 % 86,625 26.2 % -0.10 % 0.67 %

from 51 to 55 years old 46,834 13.7 % 44,711 13.3 %

4.53 %

43,186 13.0 % -3.41 % -7.79 %

over 55 years old 63,257 18.6 % 64,028 19.1 % 1.22 % 65,696 19.8 % 2.61 % 3.86 %

Average age of

employees

43.4

43.6

43.9

Working pensioners 59,399 17.4 % 55,847 16.6 %

5.98 %

53,615 16.2 % -4.00 % -9.74 %

Table 5: Analysis of the reasons for dismissal "Disease of close relatives." Source - developed by the authors.

Work experience of employees

in the organization with the

reason for dismissal "Disease of

close relatives"

for 1 month during the

period of coronavirus

restrictions, people

1 month after the

removing the strict

coronavirus restrictions,

eople

Up to 1 month 0 6

Up to 3 months 3 11

From 3 months to 1

6 9

From 1

ear to 3

ears 4 6

From 3 years and more 8 11

Total 21 43

Continuing to analyze the data obtained in the

course of a sociological survey of quitting employees,

special attention shall be paid to the item “illness of

close relatives”. With the increase in the COVID-19

incidence rate in the regions, for this reason, they

began to quit almost 2 times more often – 21

employees per month of severe coronavirus

restrictions and already 43 employees after. Wherein,

as we can see from the data given in Table 5, this

reason for dismissal is indicated by employees,

regardless of the length of service in the organization.

Therefore, it can be assumed that this reason is

significant for the decision to dismiss.

The items of the questionnaire “conflict with

colleagues”, “conflict with the manager, "biased

attitude of the manager”, “excessive bureaucracy”

were not chosen by the dismissing employees. From

which we can conclude that both during the period of

severe coronavirus restrictions, and in the period after

their removal, the psychological characteristics of

interaction in the team are not a significant reason for

dismissal.

When analyzing the reasons for the turnover, one

can also draw a conclusion about the quality of staff

recruitment. The item of the questionnaire “I had a

different idea of what would need to be done” speaks

just about the quality of filling vacancies in the

organization. During a pandemic, this item was

chosen by 20 respondents (3 %), after the restrictions

were removed - by 35 people (4.4 %). The growth of

this category of quitting shows that when hiring the

candidate was not informed about the essence of the

forthcoming functions or was not fully

communicated. .

RTCOV 2021 - II International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference " COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

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Table 6: Work experience in the company of dismissed employees. Source - developed by the authors.

Work experience in the

company

Those who quit within 1

month during the period

of corona-virus

restrictions, people

Proportion,

Those who quit within 1

month after the removing

the strict corona-viral

restrictions, people

Proportion,

Up to 1 month 64 9.6 % 100 12.6 %

Up to 3 months 90 13.5 % 97 12.2 %

From 3 months to 1

171 25.6 % 202 25.4 %

From 1

ear to 3

ears 123 18.4 % 159 20.0 %

From 3

ears and more 223 33.3 % 242 30.3 %

Total 672 100 % 800 100 %

The quality of personnel selection, adaptation and

training of employees is evidenced by the analysis of

the length of service in the company of dismissed

employees (Lata, L., Mohamed Zainal, S. R., Jan, G.,

Memon, U., 2021). The largest percentage of quitting

employees, as a rule, are “newcomers”, that is, those

who came to the organization less than one month, 3

months or less than a year ago (Grihno, V.V.

Simonova, M.V., 2018), which is confirmed by our

data and calculations (Table 6). The total share of

these categories is 48.7 % of the total number of

people leaving. The issue of the formation or

improvement of the existing personnel adaptation

management system as one of the tools for reducing

personnel turnover is acquiring particular relevance.

During the pandemic, 64 employees working less

than 1 month and 90 employees working less than 3

months made a decision to dismiss. After the

restrictions were removed, there were 100 and 97

such employees, respectively. That is, even the

increase in unemployment during the pandemic does

not stop people from dismissing, and after the

removal of severe restrictions on the work of the

service sectors and holding public events, the increase

in the share of dismissals in the segment of employees

with little work experience in the organization

increased.

The most stable group of employees in an

organization is those who work from 1 to 3 years.

During the period of coronavirus restrictions, only

123 people quit (18.4 %), after the removal of strict

restrictions - 159 people (20 %). It is necessary to pay

attention to a group of employees working for 3 years

or more. In comparison with the previous group,

layoffs occur almost 2 times more often. The decision

to dismiss was made by 33.3 % (223 people) and 30.2

% (242 people), respectively. The assumption that

this group includes employees who have been

working at the enterprise for a long time and have

reached retirement age is confirmed by the analysis

of statistics due to dismissal “Retirement”, broken

down by length of service. The data was shown

earlier in Table 3.

3 CONCLUSIONS

According to the results of the study of the reasons

for the dismissal of employees during the period of

severe coronavirus restrictions and immediately after

the removal of severe restrictions, using the example

of branches of the Volga Macroregion of the Russian

Post JSC, it was revealed that employees in an

unstable situation in the country rarely make

decisions about changing jobs, however, layoffs

occur even in such a difficult period of growth in

unemployment, which, after the removing the severe

restrictions, begin to grow. If such a decision is

nevertheless made by the employee, then most often

for reasons that significantly affect his/her working

conditions. The most common reasons for dismissal

in the respondents' questionnaires are:

- Insufficient salary

- High work intensity, heavy physical activity

- It is necessary to sell goods and services

During a pandemic, the reasons for dismissal,

which are of an everyday nature, and which can be

endured until a more stable time, go into the

background.

An analysis of the structure of personnel by age

was carried out, which made it possible to identify

significant age characteristics of an organization in

which a large number of employees of pre-retirement

age work. The number of people retiring per month,

regardless of the coronavirus restrictions, is almost

the same. In addition, due to the fact that the country

is currently undergoing a pension reform to increase

the retirement age, it can be concluded that the share

of older employees is growing at the enterprise. In the

future, this may lead to a delayed effect of increased

personnel turnover due to the achievement of

retirement age by such employees. Wherein, the share

of working pensioners at the enterprise is currently

Personnel Current in Service Companies under COVID-19 Distribution on the Example of Russian Post JSC

quite high and amounts to 16 %, which is also

reflected in the statistics. As a rule, these employees

are devoted to the organization and have been

working in it for more than 3 years. However, this age

group is more susceptible to morbidity and is suitable

for restrictive measures in connection with COVID-

19, which also affects the decision of workers to leave

due to "Retirement".

When analyzing the reason for dismissal "Disease

of close relatives", it was revealed that this reason for

dismissal during the spread of coronavirus infection

began to be chosen 2 times more often. Wherein, the

choice of this reason as a decision to dismiss is not

influenced by the length of service in the

organization.

In order to study more detailed the reasons for

staff turnover during the period of coronavirus

restrictions, we plan to conduct a more detailed study

of the organization's motivation program, and it is

also necessary to analyze the quality of personnel

recruitment and training.

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RTCOV 2021 - II International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference " COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

(RTCOV )