Shift Workers: From Blue-Collar to Market Elite

Shift work is a topic of much discussion: some see it as grueling labor, while others have managed to rise through it and provide their families with a solid backup in the form of a good salary, an apartment, and seaside vacations.

Olga Valeryevna Khlebnikova, founder of Business Resource LLC, spoke about the inner workings of this business in an interview.

— Shift work still attracts residents of small towns and rural areas. The main motivation is the search for higher wages. Of course, each worker has his own circumstances: some have personal vehicles, some don«t, but the key factor remains the prospect of decent earnings.

However, it is important to understand that shift work is not only about low-skilled labor. There are also highly qualified specialists, and their story is completely different.

Take, for example, NAKS-certified welders — such specialists are worth their weight in gold, they are sought after specifically for individual projects. Their stories are radically different: exceptionally high salaries, special demands on working conditions, and, of course, a personal approach from HR managers who understand the true value and rarity of such masters.

Not so long ago, when everyone aspired to become accountants and lawyers, the profession of a welder seemed less prestigious, and people simply did not go to study or work in it. Today we are reaping the fruits of this imbalance, experiencing an acute shortage of skilled personnel. The cyclical nature of the labor market is an inexorable phenomenon. We can already foresee that in the near future we will see a shortage of completely different specialists. History repeats itself, only the heroes change.

CNC operators, welders — these are expensive professions; they literally have to be hunted down. Even a manager interacts with such specialists quite differently. If a laborer can be handled in 10 minutes, then finding and onboarding a high-class shift worker can take two to three months.

— Of course. For me, for example, it was a real revelation when we were building the Kerch Bridge (over the Kerch Strait, connecting Russia and Crimea). It was announced that welders were needed, but it turned out that underwater welders (those who weld underwater) were needed. I didn«t even know that such a field existed.

This is not just welding; it is a completely different area requiring specific skills. And when we started looking for them in 2016, I realized how valuable these specialists are. You should have seen what cars these specialists drive! Not every director has such opportunities!

Another interesting specialty worth paying attention to is a geodetic surveyor. Their salaries can reach one million rubles per month ($10,500 at current rates). The reason is their rare certification and huge demand. At large enterprises where geodetic surveyors are scarce, construction simply stops. No global construction project begins without them. They may even be kept on the payroll and paid a salary while waiting for work to start on a site, just to avoid losing the specialist.

There is often a misconception that any construction site has modern dormitories, game rooms, Ozon and Wildberries (Russian e-commerce platforms). This is not so. Take, for example, the high-speed highway from Moscow to St. Petersburg. We go to the site to build the road — what kind of dormitories and urban conditions are we talking about? The road doesn«t even exist yet; that»s why we«re going. The conditions will be a tent camp or trailers and a field kitchen — we»ll bring a cook.

We try to give our workers the best possible conditions, but we also have to consider reality. The situation with factories, such as food production facilities, is somewhat different. The conditions for shift workers there are usually comfortable dormitories. If living conditions are important to a worker, they should first consider where the site will be located.

We deal with situations where employees, after completing a shift, leave for a couple of months to Thailand or China.

Because during their work period they incur virtually no expenses. Food, accommodation, work clothes, travel — all covered. There are, of course, personal expenses, but the lion«s share of what they earn remains with them. They either send this money to their families or save it. Previously, this sum often went toward vacations; now it increasingly goes toward buying apartments and real estate.

The average salary for a worker today reaches 150,000 rubles ($1,600 at current rates) per month. Even the simplest workers, with no experience, will get 90,000 rubles ($950). There are specialists with salaries of 1,000,000 rubles ($10,500) — it all depends on skills and degree of demand.

— We take an integrated approach and test a variety of tools. Specialized online platforms work great, for example Raberu. This site focuses on line and blue-collar staff, which gives high conversion: we have already had a successful experience where this platform helped us fill up to 30 vacancies in just one day. In addition, we also attract people through our internal database.

Time moves forward, but the shift work method remains unchanged. It is still a story about harsh working conditions, long separation from loved ones, and longing for home. However, today this market is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of personnel. As a result, specialists« incomes are growing rapidly. While some sectors are undergoing waves of layoffs and regular salaries sometimes only cover basic needs, shift work offers financial stability.