Evgen Lyashchenko, the Chairman of the Board of JSC ‘Ukrzaliznytsia,’ considers a shortage of qualified personnel to be one of the serious problems for UZ, as reported by the railway portal Railway Supply.

UZ signs

He mentioned this issue at the Kyiv International Economic Forum.

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‘If we compare the critical professions’ personnel with the normative numbers, we are lacking 30% of the staff, and in some areas, it’s as high as 50%. This creates a peculiar situation. On one hand, we need to reduce staff to alleviate the financial pressure because 50% of our total expenses are personnel costs, which is substantial. On the other hand, we need to retain at least 85,000 people in deficit professions at any cost,’ explained Evgen Lyashchenko.

According to the head of UZ, nearly 190,000 people are currently working on the railway in UZ itself, and up to 5,500 in affiliated companies. The staff’s planned number is 220,000.

Another problem that the head of Ukrzaliznytsia mentioned is the low level of salaries within the company.

‘Despite the existing financial pressure, our salaries are not very competitive. Only at Ukrzaliznytsia, it’s currently around 14,500 UAH, while the average salary in Ukraine is 18,000 UAH. The most underpaid are the same deficit specialists: fitters, power engineers, electricians,’ explained the head of the company.

As reported earlier, railway workers will continue to receive bonuses for key performance results.

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