The company LMC wants to help people who have been laid off find potential employers through a website to be launched in February. The project has yet to be assessed by lawyers to ensure if it is legal.
Libor Malý, the owner of LMC, a company that specializes in helping employers find employees online, is clearly tired of seeing his clients stop recruiting new people.
As of mid-February, he wants to launch an online project that could be called something like “the market of human souls”. LMC’s clients will be able to list the positions of people who have been laid off and their qualifications, as well as other details, in a database in such a way that would not infringe upon the employees’ privacy. Companies looking for someone with similar qualifications will be then able to get in touch with the people who had just been fired.
“Right now we are trying to resolve whether the companies will be able to rent out or lend employees to one another. But we are not an employment agency, so we can’t directly provide employees for companies,” said LMC’s media manager Jana Skálová.
LMC has been testing out this project since November. According to information available to HN Letiště Praha is one the companies involved in the pilot project. In preparation for its planned privatisation, Letiště Praha has begun laying off some 240 people, which is about 10% of the company’s employees. The company will spend about CZK 1 million on the so-called out-placement program that should help those who have been laid off find work. According to Letiště Praha spokeswoman Eva Krejčí, some 50 employers have contacted the company asking for more information thanks to the project. “It is still too early to evaluate how successful the project is. But it looks like it could be a very effective method to help people find new work,” said Krejčí.
The new project could also bring employers a host of problems however if they are unable to sufficiently protect the privacy of the people listed in the database. “Employees are not the property of a company. Every company will need to have the permission of all employees included in the database,” said Svatava Baďurová, spokeswoman for an employment office in Ostrava. ¨
LMC is right now letting lawyers evaluate under what conditions the project could be launched. “The database will not include the CVs of specific people,” said Skálová. One way of helping a laid off employee get in touch with a potential employer could happen through employment offices that could help out in case of massive layoffs, experts say.
“The private company could provide someone seeking work with a more individualised approach. That person would then arrive at the employment office equipped with information and a clear idea what he is looking for,” said Baďurová.
Up until now, laid off employees were only able to rely on a law that dictates that big companies must tell employment offices how many people have been let go in case of massive layoffs.
Translated with permission by the Prague Daily Monitor.
