What expenses does bear an employer?
An employer bears the employer costs, which are the expenses related to the hiring and employment of an employee. Employer costs could include:
- Employees' salaries and banks’ commissions.
- Benefits (food allowances per day), insurance, and holidays.
- HR issues, as well as accounting and judicial procedures for employees’ contracts.
- Onboarding and training. It takes 3–6 months for an employee to go under training, and during this time, an employee requires attention from colleagues and managers.
- Relocation package. Relocation is when an employee moves from one country to another to work. For example, Ukrainian IT companies spend their funds to relocate their employees.
- Renting an office (you could also rent a coworking space, where Wi-Fi and also commodities will always be provided).
- Leasing (when a company gives equipment to an employee)
How to decrease employer costs?
Our company has experience in hiring IT specialists in Europe and Ukraine, so we will share here how to hire effectively IT specialists in Europe, as well as Ukraine in order to decrease employer costs.
1. Do an internal audit of a vacancy
Have you ever witnessed a case when a job description has high and extra demands on a candidate, while half of these demands are not needed at this particular position in real life? Such demands just increase an employee’s compensation.
That’s why we recommend doing an internal audit to understand exactly what job tasks an employee has to cover. It will help you to describe requirements towards a candidate taking into account these tasks. By doing so, you will save not a small sum for your company.
The type of work tasks should not only correspond to the level of professionalism but also to motivate employees to develop. When you write out job requirements for a particular position, you should know the level of specialist needed. For example, seniors are more interested in developing new functionalities, and solving non-trivial tasks, while middles are interested in a mix of maintaining the functioning of the solution and development of new functionality. So it is good to do inventory work: analyze what level of skills and type of work this particular position requires, and then start looking for a potential employee. Sometimes this analytics could cost time and resources, but it will help reduce your company's hiring costs in the future.
2. Define wisely the amount of compensation
When you define the compensation sum for specialists, it will be useful to take into account the level of the specialist’s qualification. Clear criteria for a position and understanding what is crucial and what is desirable skills and experience for a position will help you find the perfect match.
It would be a great plus when an HR understands and knows the technical requirements a company needs, so he or she could participate in a technical interview. HR and hiring managers working here together (it also means that HR and hiring manager should be in smooth communication).
3. Stimulate your employees to look for their new colleagues
You could propose bonuses and compensation to your employees who recommend your company to their friends and people they know as potential employers, and they could get it when you hire them (it is usually done for middle and senior positions). It is quite a good practice, as people who know each other, get a chance to work together. But it also increases employer costs.
4. Develop your brand to hire your potential employees easily
Attract your potential employees before you write your vacancy announcement. The more specialists participate, the more costly the process is, and the more employer costs rise, so think strategically: develop marketing activities to attract your future employees. If your brand has a positive vibe on social media, people will have trust in your company, which could result in a high response rate to your recruiters. An effectively developed marketing strategy will help you to decrease employer costs.
Ukraine continues to be a reliable partner
As we wrote earlier, we have experience in hiring Ukrainian IT specialists, and let’s speak about the Ukrainian IT sphere in 2023. For a long time, Ukraine has been a reliable European IT outsourcing partner. When Russia openly attacked Ukraine In 2022, Ukraine stood out and demonstrated resilience.
- For example, by January 1, 2023, the amount of taxes and fees paid by the Ukrainian IT business to the budget of Ukraine was UAH 32.2 billion which is 16% more than in 2021.
- The Ukrainian IT sector exported services for $7.3 billion, demonstrating progressive growth of 6% (in 2021 export was $6,8 billion and in 2020 - $5 billion).
Earlier we spoke about what is going on in the Ukrainian IT sphere in 2023 and here we will speak about hiring Ukrainian IT specialists in 2023 and how you could decrease your employer costs.
Foremost, Ukraine is good for hiring IT specialists due to the fact that the Ukrainian tax system is beneficial for IT services. In Europe, taxes for IT employees are higher and a lot is spent on employee retention (office rent, equipment, social benefits, bonuses). Earlier Ukrainian IT companies spent a lot on employer costs but in total employer costs in Ukraine are lower than in Europe, as well as the salaries of IT specialists.
Despite the ongoing war, the productivity of Ukrainian IT specialists and their quality of services has remained at a higher level. Ukrainians continue to work under any circumstances, and they do this with initiative and high motivation.
In 2022, when there were energy blackouts in Ukraine, Ukrainian IT specialists, as responsible professionals, managed to work using all possibilities (as their Israeli colleagues) - day and night. Our company supported employees and ensured good working conditions and securing the work results: we bought electro generators and provided a connection to the cable internet and power banks for telephone and PC to our employees, and we did backup. Additionally, Ukrainian IT companies collaborated with local coworking spaces, so Ukrainian IT specialists could go there and work.
Moreover, Ukrainian IT companies have pilot projects for psychological support, as well as closer communication between the HR department and employees were established (especially at the beginning of the war such communication was crucial, when companies helped to relocate).
Ukrainian IT specialists and startups
Now there is a tendency to hire Ukrainian IT specialists for outsourcing projects instead of the previous trend of having them work Outstaff. It happens due to the economic crisis, as IT companies cut their expenses and have a modest number of vacant positions. And as startups need new engineers more than enterprises, the demand for outsourcing is rising.
Ukrainians wonderfully fit startups with their chaotic working processes and the tasks have to be done in short terms (for example, Ukrainians and their colleagues help our client's startups to go to IPO).
What are the advantages of hiring Ukrainian IT specialists?
- Ukraine is situated in Europe, so there is almost no time gap, and it allows organizing meetings with colleagues from Ukraine and other Europe in one working day. And even partners in the USA, there are always comfortable time zones to communicate in a fast and effective way.
- Ukrainian engineers and developers communicate clearly and comfortably, as their level of English is Intermediate and higher (especially those who work with foreign clients). Ukrainians have no such strong accent when speaking English, and their level of English is improving, as a lot of Ukrainians had to move out from Ukraine. And when they return, they will bring not only English but also cultural knowledge from the country they started in.
- Having an excellent education, Ukrainian engineers are proactive and initiative while working and they always step up with their propositions.
- The Europeans cherish the work-life balance: southern countries observe siesta time and special daybreak, and only in rare cases do they change this way of life. Ukrainians also respect their work-life balance and harmony in their working time, however, they often agree to work overtime to finish the work. Ukrainians are very persistent in executing their job.
How to find Ukrainian IT specialists?
If you would like to hire Ukrainian IT specialists, the main rule is that the vacancy position description should be written clearly and attractively.
Where is the best way to publish? We recommend using free and paid job websites: one could be the main source of posting (for example, Robota.ua, Work.ua, Djinni, Dou.ua), and 2 free ones could serve as additional. Job portals differ one from another: for example, general job portals, such as Work.ua are good for searching for the position of system administrator and administrative positions and specialized job websites (Djinni and Dou.ua) are effective for hiring engineers.
If you would like to know more about hiring Ukrainian IT specialists, or you would like us to help you, please contact us.
Takeaways
Here, we discussed the ways you could decrease your employer costs when hiring IT specialists. If you would like to save more, you could hire Ukrainian IT specialists who preserve their competitive advantages even in harsh conditions.
