LITIKO participated in the HR RAU Conference 2025
On March 6, the second specialized event from the RAU HR Conference for HR directors, recruiting teams, top managers, and CEOs of companies from various retail sectors took place at the Parkovy Convention and Exhibition Center.
Our team presented a new solution for automating HR processes — LitDocHR.
LitDoc.HR is a customized product from the Ukrainian developer LITIKO, capable of adapting to the individual regulations of a company and can be quickly integrated into the company’s current HR processes.
LitDoc.HR is a comprehensive solution from a Ukrainian company for creating, approving, and storing HR documents. Let’s look at some of the features this product offers.
HR document management can significantly optimize the work of the HR department, as it simplifies the management of all employee-related documents, from hiring to termination.
Here are the capabilities included in this solution:
- Centralized storage of HR documents related to hiring, transferring, or terminating employees, with the ability to differentiate access rights for different types of users.
- Functionality that covers the entire process of interaction with personnel (including numerous templates for quickly creating applications, orders, and their signing).
- Scalability along with the company using this solution.
As a result of implementing this solution, HR employees receive convenient tools for managing HR documentation, reducing the risk of errors associated with manual data entry.
Learn more about LitDoc.HR – convenient and secure HR document management – LITIKO. Get a consultation with a LitDoc.HR implementation specialist.
The main topic of the event was: “Transformation of the labor market in wartime conditions: challenges and strategies for workforce reproduction.”
Discussions included the demographic crisis in the country, which began before the major war and has now intensified, the economically inactive population and the importance of involving them in work, as well as retaining staff, creating kindergartens on company premises, raising wages, reducing employee workload, and much more.
About 250 participants attended the event, interested in the qualitative and consistent establishment of retail’s reputation as the most desirable industry for employment.
The first panel of the conference was dedicated to the topic “Impact of military actions on Ukraine’s human capital in the short and long term.”
Participants in the discussion included: Tetiana Berezhna, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine (online), Daryna Marchak, First Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Yulia Pokholyuk, Head of Development Department at the Military School “Borivyter”, Serhiy Poznyak, owner and CEO of FGK Financial Group, head of the Association of Veteran Entrepreneurs, member of CEO Club, and moderator Oksana Prykhodko, CEO of RAU.
Tetiana Berezhna, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, reported that about 800,000 women in rural areas are unemployed due to the need to care for children or sick relatives. She also noted that there are two categories of unemployed in Ukraine: those ready to start work immediately and the economically inactive, who need help adapting to modern labor market requirements. One solution is retraining, which the state is ready to support. On the website of the State Employment Service, you can find information about training vouchers, grants for starting your own business, programs for veterans and their families, and employer compensation.
First Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Daryna Marchak reported that approximately 4.5 million people will be lacking in the Ukrainian labor market. She noted that the demographic crisis in Ukraine began long ago, and the full-scale invasion has exacerbated it. According to her, there are several main factors affecting the demographic crisis: very low birth rates in Ukraine, premature mortality, and migration.
Serhiy Poznyak, owner and CEO of FGK Financial Group, head of the Association of Veteran Entrepreneurs, and member of CEO Club, stated that there are currently 520,000 entrepreneurs on the front lines.
According to him, entrepreneurs who went to the front lines at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, then became veterans and continued their business, face significant challenges. One factor is that while they were absent, other companies successfully developed in their niche. When they return, it becomes difficult to compete. He added that veteran status in business is a discriminating factor. Considering how many veterans there will be after the war, it is not they who need reintegration, but society that needs to reintegrate.
The results of the analytical study “Challenges and Dynamics of the Labor Market in Retail” were presented by Yana Yermakova, Head of the Analytics Department at the Retail Association of Ukraine, and Yulia Dalibuk, Marketing Director at robota.ua.
As of the end of 2024, the number of vacancies is 4% higher than the pre-war level. However, it is forecasted that growth rates will slow down in the coming years. Despite the increase in vacancies, the number of candidates ready to fill them is decreasing. The number of job seekers has significantly dropped compared to 2023 across all regions, with 129,032 resumes as of December 2024. For comparison, in January 2024, the number of resumes on the market was 163,149, compared to 176,979 in January 2023.
Employers will face increasing challenges in retaining employees and attracting candidates.
Despite staffing difficulties, more than 40% of Ukrainian businesses in 2024 were focused on expanding their staff and launching new products. Key investment areas also included advertising and marketing, employee training, and expanding sales geography. About one-fifth of the surveyed companies invested in digitalization and automation.
Second Block: “Experience Sharing and Discussion of Challenges”
In the panel discussion on “Investing in Business Development vs. Investing in People Development,” participants included Alina Kiptyk, CEO of Tasty Food Ltd, KFC franchisee, Yulia Kuzmenko, HRD at ANC, Yevheniya Kuzminska, HRD at OKKO, Natalia Baidyk, HRD at Podorozhnyk, and moderator Anna Tolmachova, HRD at Metro.
Yevheniya Kuzminska, HRD at OKKO, shared that OKKO Group encompasses over 10 different business areas, including 410 gas stations. Last year, the company paid 36% more in taxes than in 2023, totaling over 21 billion UAH.
She emphasized that the main priority for the business is retaining personnel. The direct cost to find a gas station operator is 12,698 UAH. For top positions, the amount is even higher. Previously, it took an average of 18 days to fill a vacancy; now, it takes 24 days.
Natalia Baidyk, HRD at Podorozhnyk, highlighted that in 2024, the Podorozhnyk pharmacy chain opened 435 locations. They also launched new formats: the first training pharmacy (with plans for five more) and the first mobile pharmacy unit.
The pharmaceutical business had staffing issues even before the war, and the crisis has only worsened. According to Natalia, the Podorozhnyk network has 81 partnerships with educational institutions in Ukraine, and 15% of the team are students. The referral program has also been effective, bringing 1,600 people into the company. Podorozhnyk is also investing in AI to improve staff performance.
Alina Kiptyk, CEO of Tasty Food Ltd, KFC franchisee, shared that despite the challenges of wartime, the network expanded by 17 locations in 2024.
According to Alina, due to quantitative growth, the staff increased by 15%. One investment area is service automation. For example, last year, 82% of orders were made through self-service kiosks. The payback period for one kiosk is about two to three months. They are also testing exoskeletons to provide physical assistance to staff.
She also noted that three new locations are currently under construction, several are in the design stage, and in 2025, they will enter new regions. Regarding recruitment, they have only two criteria: the person must be willing to work and fit the company’s values. The company then trains and invests in the individual.
Yulia Kuzmenko, HRD at ANC, shared that last year, the network opened 278 new locations. The main focus is not on the number of locations but on becoming a Lovemark for customers.
The main turnover at ANC is not due to salary but due to fatigue and workload. However, they understand that to become a Lovemark for customers, they must first become a Lovemark for their employees. If the company demands top-level service, it must automate it as much as possible for pharmacists. Therefore, the head office often “dives” into the work of pharmacists to understand how to improve and simplify their work.
Yulia noted that the current average monthly turnover in the company is less than 2%, and the staffing level is 95%, which is not very good for the pharmaceutical business.
Third Block: “The Future of the Labor Market”
Anastasia Shevchenko, General Manager of Global HR Solutions, began her speech with key theses from Davos 2025. These include technology and AI, the shift from hiring based on education to hiring based on the speed at which a person can retrain, the importance of reskilling and continuous learning, the battle for talent, and how to attract, integrate, and retain employees from around the world.
Anastasia presented key figures from the Future of Jobs Report 2025: 39% of skills will become obsolete and transform by 2025-2030, 59% of people will need to retrain by 2030, 63% of employers cite a skills shortage as the main problem for 2025-2030, and 85% of employers prioritize upskilling and reskilling strategies.
Among the most important skills, the expert named analytical thinking, resilience, agility, leadership skills, social influence, AI, big data, cybersecurity, and technological literacy.
Svitlana Kompaniiets, CEO of Sumisni, spoke on the topic “Sumisni – AI Technology for Assessing Personal Qualities.” She explained that hiring people intuitively is a big mistake that can be very costly for a business. Polygraphs, test tasks, tests, and intuition are illusions of deception. Therefore, they developed AI technology to assess personal qualities – Sumisni.
Conclusions:
In 2025, the staffing crisis will intensify, so both companies and the state need to encourage the activation of the economically inactive population of our country. The main focus for businesses is working on retaining people. This includes raising wages and caring for their emotional state – avoiding excessive workload and burnout. Additionally, investing in training and retraining is essential.