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Russian Post admits personnel shortage in Moscow, some other big cities

“Problems occur in big cities where more than one million people live,” Russian Post HR Department Director said

MOSCOW, August 5 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian Post has a personnel shortage in Moscow and some other big cities but says the problem will be solved by fall. Russian Post HR Department Director Yevgeny Stepanov said they would ask assistance for the Moscow government and might hire labor force from other regions.

Stepanov said it was difficult to recruit personnel. “The personnel deficit in Moscow is 20%. The situation is difficult in Magadan and Murmansk. Yet regions have no problems in general. Problems occur in big cities where more than one million people live,” he said.

An average monthly salary of a post office worker is 14,000 rubles, and Russian Post is unable to increase the salaries because they amount to 65% of its total expenditures. “We shifted to piece-rate pay lately to encourage employees to earn more,” he said. As a result, salaries of key post office workers, such as postmen, operators and post sorters, have grown by 20-30% in certain regions. Personnel in Moscow rejected the new terms and quit.

Stepanov admitted that low salaries kept off young Muscovites and pensioners. The reason is that post jobs do not preserve city bonuses to pensions. “We are interacting with the Moscow government and will send a letter to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin soon for paying pension extras to our employees,” he said.

Russian Post is also considering the possible recruitment of personnel from other regions, but housing is the problem, Stepanov said. “Still, the situation at post offices in Moscow is under control and there is no threat of closure of city post offices,” he said. The situation varies from one Moscow post office to another and depends on the post office head, he said.

“Our task is to solve the problem because the autumnal season starts, and we can do that,” he said.

The Russian Post development strategy in the period until 2016 implies the growth of revenues with broader activity, which means it will become possible to pay more to post office employees, he said.