After quarantine, thousands of workers are still in downtime.

After the quarantine, more than 13,000 people are still in downtime. workers

According to data from the State Labor Inspection (VDI), on June 19. 1,361 companies had valid downtime, and there were still more than 13,000 downtimes. workers

Total from the beginning of the quarantine until June 18. 25,192 companies submitted downtime reports to the SLI.

Businesses requesting state financial support for employees on downtime apply for the Employment Service and provide data. Such requests for the previous month must be submitted before the 15 of the current month, i. and. Companies are currently submitting employee downtime requests for May.

According to Employment Service spokesperson Milda Jankauskienė, the service has data on how many companies apply for subsidies for how many employees, but this does not reflect the entire labor market, as some companies do not apply for subsidies.

From the beginning of the quarantine until June 15. 23,246 companies requested financial assistance from the Employment Service and 23,087 companies received it.

May. According to the data, the following companies asked the Employment Service for financial support for the majority of employees who were on downtime: AB Snaigė (326), UAB Makveža (314), SE sanatorium Belorus (294), UAB Baldai Jums ( 279), and UAB Salda (272).

Delfi managed to contact representatives of four companies.

Total in May 7,552 thousand people applied for the Employment Service. companies for 43,143 thousand. workers

Say goodbye to inappropriate staff during quarantine

At the end of the quarantine, UAB Salda, one of the largest industrial companies in the Šiauliai region, which manufactures ventilation equipment, still has 52 employees out of 336. According to the Employment Service, the company in May. requested financial support for 272 employees.

Aidas Šetikas, CEO of Salda, says that after the closure of the main export markets in France, Belgium, Poland and others. countries, the company’s order flow has been cut in half. As a result, some employees had to be put into inactivity.

“Currently, the order flow is 70%. The previous number of orders. Obviously, this affects the operations of the company. We work intensively with new markets, looking for new export opportunities.

It is gratifying that even during quarantine we managed to find several new clients in Germany and the Netherlands. We are developing new products and participating in very interesting projects, which are also likely to bring benefits this year, ”says A. Šetikas.

The head of the company plans that from June 22. All employees will already be working full time. However, note that possibly some of the support staff will still be downtime.

“During the crisis, we had the opportunity to review our activities, we said goodbye to a few inadequate employees, so I hope that the rest will take on the projects that await us with renewed vigor and enthusiasm,” hopes the Salda boss.

Furniture factory: ordered in hundreds, currently in dozens

Jonava furniture manufacturing company Baldai Jums also released the employees during the quarantine. According to the head of the company, Alfonsas Meškauskas, there were few employees on downtime in March, the highest number of employees on downtime was said to have occurred in April and May.

According to the Employment Service, Furniture for You applied for financial support for 279 employees in May. old downtime. According to the manager, at the end of the quarantine, the company invited all employees to work.

According to A. Meškauskas, during the quarantine, the turnover of “Baldai Jums” decreased by approximately 80 percent, because exports stagnated, representing 99 percent. Production company.

“It just came to our attention then. Overall, the turnover in both months was approximately 12-15% compared to the same period last year.

The company exports almost all of its products. Our buyers order everything, but after a short time, which is very inconvenient for us. Hundreds have been ordered, dozens are currently being ordered. As a result, productivity falls, “says the interlocutor.

According to A. Meškauskas, it is very difficult to predict when the company’s activities will recover, because everything depends on the situation in Western Europe. Currently, the situation is extremely unstable, as buyers often change their orders.

“Everything will depend on how the markets will open, how they will be able to trade, for example, in the United Kingdom there is also a distance of two meters, it is planned to reduce it to one meter, but it seems that it will only be from mid-July.

We assume that you will buy some things, for that we do them. We are doing work that will really move in the future. However, it is still difficult to predict what it will be like. The situation is very uncertain and changes: buyers order one, change it in a few days, cancel, after a while they return all or part again.
When we receive an order for a few days, we do not start executing it, we check if there will be no fluctuations, if they will not change their minds, if the order will remain stable, “the head of Furniture for You talks about the situation and the company’s forecasts.

According to him, currently all the employees of the company have enough work, but due to the decrease of the parts, the intensity of the work has decreased.

“Before the quarantine, four new buyers arrived, samples are being produced, they will be the first lots. There is an agreement with the buyers on the prices and quantities that those orders will be, but it is difficult to say whether the forecasts of those buyers, that today they are more or less optimistic, will remain for some time or if those sales will be successful. The buyer comes with new products or products; it is not clear if the market will accept that product or not. There is not as much stability and certainty as before the pandemic, ”says the interlocutor.

I don’t want to lay off long-term workers

He claims that a small number of workers had to be dismissed during quarantine due to disciplinary violations, and some of the older workers withdrew. R. Meškauskas does not rule out the possibility that if sales drop sharply and sales do not recover, more employees will have to fire.

“If we cannot provide work, we do not earn, we cannot pay wages. Of course, we do not want to fire the employees with whom we have been working for many years. The company is now 26 years old, it wants to continue its activities with the same team” , indicates the head of Furniture for you.

According to him, exports are a great competition: the price of a product is established by the market: “We have been selling for the same price for many years, although wages have increased considerably and the prices of materials have also increased. We are just modernizing jobs at the expense of increasing productivity, otherwise there would be no prospect. We are looking for ways to continue living. (…) We are not standing right now, we are looking for new buyers, we are also taking non-traditional things that we have not produced before, we are looking for various opportunities. “

The company is on the COVID-19 victim list, so it has received downtime subsidies. Supposedly they saved this period extremely.

“We received benefits in a very short time. Without those benefits, it would be very sad. They were the only effective form of support for large companies. Tax deferrals are an advantage, but those taxes still have to be paid.

If the state had not applied these measures, many, especially those who were in downtime, would have a sad situation that would lead to the closure of the company and business, “he says of state support.

Snaige: we produce less than what we have orders

According to data from the Employment Service, the Snaigė refrigerator and freezer factory also applied for subsidies for 326 employees who were inactive in May. According to the head of the company Mindaugas Sologubas, currently all employees have returned from downtime.

“During quarantine, especially in March and April, we work at a slow pace. To limit contacts between production employees, we have closed separate production units from time to time. Of the nearly 500 employees, more than half of them They had downtime at different times, “he says.

At the time, Snaigė administration employees reportedly worked remotely during quarantine, although the slow pace of production was maintained.

“The fight was particularly difficult as soon as the pandemic was declared and the physical stores and the borders between the states were closed.” The movement of freight transport between the countries of the European Union has also been affected. There were huge traffic jams at state borders, there was a lack of carriers, making it especially difficult to export products. The supply of some raw materials was delayed for the same reason. Some countries have closed their factories, so the supply of some materials has stopped, “says M. Sologubas about the greatest difficulties during the quarantine.

The interviewee points out that summer is the working year for refrigerator manufacturers: “At this time of year, we both produce and sell most of our products. When the refrigerator breaks down in the summer, you need to urgently buy a new one, without taking products to the balcony or terrace, as you would in the cold season.

Also, in the summer, people are more likely to renovate or buy new homes, establish homes, and need new refrigerators. Snaigė’s turnover in the warm months of the year is double that in the cold months. Unfortunately, sales lost due to the pandemic will be impossible to restore, even in the hottest summer. “

According to the Snaigė boss, the suspension of production and activities, albeit partial, and the lack of working capital prevented the company from accelerating and achieving the required production rate.

“We produce less than we have ordered, which is very sad. We are having difficulties with materials and ingredients that are still delivered too late. Our suppliers, especially in a country like Italy, have been affected by the pandemic for much longer. time, “he says.

Mr. Sologub says that due to the pandemic, the company did not fire any of its employees, all of whom are currently working. He notes that today’s downtime payments are the only viable support measure for larger companies during the COVID-19 pandemic that has helped save workers.

“Unfortunately, the promised liquidity support program is still not working and it is unclear when it will start working.” And they are most needed now that companies are moving out of quarantine, trying to increase profits and at least partially compensate for lost revenue during quarantine. Other measures do not really apply to large companies, “said the interviewee.

Moki-veži released some employees in downtime, some had an inability to work

Makveža, which operates the Moki-veži construction materials trading network, also had difficulties during the quarantine. After the government announced quarantine in March and banned non-food stores and pharmacies, Moki-veži was forced to temporarily close 24 stores in 20 Lithuanian cities.

“Each of Moki-veži’s 750 employees is important to us, so one of the biggest challenges in the quarantine, preserving all the jobs created, has become especially important to us.” We temporarily disappointed some of the staff, and some of our colleagues stayed home to babysit after the schools and kindergartens closed.

We are pleased that after easing the quarantine conditions in mid-April, we canceled the downtime for more than half of the staff working in the stores and returned the working conditions to the stores after organizing the working conditions of safely, ”says Eglė Berteškaitė-Gružauskienė, Marketing Manager at Moki-veži.

The interlocutor assures that all the employees were returned to the stores in early May, and that the administration staff, both in downtime and childcare, returned to work in late May after the opening from schools and kindergartens.

“In June, we relied on the full range of colleagues working, organizing shifts in stores and meeting all security requirements, and giving management staff maximum opportunities to work both in the office and remotely,” he says. the company representative.

According to data from the Employment Service, UAB Makveža applied for financial aid for 314 employees who were inactive in May.

According to the interviewee, the company did not fire employees due to quarantine or financial difficulties. “Even if there were changes, they were organic or related to the newly opened store in Vilnius,” says E. Berteškaitė-Gružauskienė.

The Employment Service contributes to job preservation by administering state financial support to employers who have declared employee downtime during the emergency and quarantine period.

The subsidy can reach 90 or 70 percent. of the employee’s salary.

Until 15 June. The Employment Service paid 94.4 million. Euro grants to Lithuanian employers who applied for financial aid for employees in idle times.