Ukrainian refugees can be a boon to working life

– We believe that there could have been more Ukrainians in work without the tightening in hiring and staffing agencies, say NHO director Nina Melsom and Spekter CEO Anne-Kari Bratten.

10,000 Ukrainians are looking for a job in Norway right now. Going forward, thousands of new people will leave the introductory course and register as jobseekers. At the same time, companies all over Norway are crying out for labour.

Nav has asked employers to “ask themselves what they can do to get as many people as possible employed”.

– Many companies have already employed Ukrainians, but the potential is greater. It demands a very good collaboration between various actors such as companies, Nav and municipalities to find out where there may be problems, says NHO’s employment director Nina Melsom.

– The employers are positive, even enthusiastic. This can be a win-win for everyone. There are 1,000 vacancies in Helse nord alone. But there may be something to gain from a closer dialogue between Nav and the Directorate of Health to ensure the fastest possible qualification, says Bratten.

She points out that it takes 11 months to get doctors and nurses with education from Ukraine approved.

– It is unclear to me why it is taking so long. It is a very cumbersome procedure. I think there would have been a lot to gain from faster case processing in the Directorate of Health, says Bratten.

– Should the authorities relax the requirements?

– The requirements must be the same regardless of which country you received your education from. So society must ensure that they quickly get the additional skills needed.

– For our member companies, the competence requirement is not as absolute. We are positive that more of the training can take place in companies, says Melsom.

Hidden criticism of the government

NHO and Spekter believe that the following actions in cooperation between employers, municipalities and companies can lead to success:

• Create physical meeting places where businesses and refugees meet.
• Language training during work in companies.
• Qualification requirements must be met, but approvals of education must happen more quickly.

At the same time, the two believe that the Støre government’s restrictions on access to hiring from staffing agencies and temporary work are hindering integration.

– Working life policy must play on the same level as integration. Job security and permanent, full positions are the starting point. But we have to be honest with each other and say that when you tighten up, there is a cost. Staffing companies have a unique competence to contribute to integration, says Melsom.

– Must dare to talk about

Increased access to temporary employment would lower the threshold for taking in all kinds of labor who may not be fully up to date in terms of skills or language, Bratten believes.

– Norway has invested in you having to know the language before you get a job. Perhaps we need to use new tools so that you are both in training and learning languages ​​at the same time. The hospitals are open to that.

– You must be authorized to have these jobs. But as a doctor and nurse, you can work as an assistant, get to know working life and learn languages ​​at the same time as the application is being processed, says Bratt.

– Can working life accept all the refugees?

– We can accept a great many as long as the language is in place and we get confirmation that the competence satisfies the authorization requirements in the public sector. This could be a blessing, says Bratten.

The NHO director agrees, but points to the working life rules:

– If you tighten too much, it will be difficult to get in. We must dare to talk about it. We believe that there could have been more Ukrainians in work without these austerity measures, says Melsom, without specifying figures.

LO: Risk of exploitation

LO warned in a consultation statement last year against “exploitation in working life” and that work training can “be exploited by the employer as free labour”.

LO secretary Trude Tinnlund says that language and competence are the key:

– We are keen not to have a dual working life. Those with poor language skills and lack of skills can easily end up in the more frivolous and poorly organized parts of working life, she says.

Several Liberal representatives have put forward a proposal for faster integration of refugees. They are asking the government to create a fast track to get foreign education approved in Norway.

– It is a problem that we cannot use labor at a time when there is a great shortage of it, says Venstre leader Guri Melby.

She has met Ukrainian nurses who are struggling to find work.

– Perhaps we can, for example, approve everyone with a nursing education from Ukraine. If you have first approved a nurse from Ukraine, it should be possible to approve everyone, she says.