Executives from various industries claim: people refuse to return to work from unpaid leave

Senior executives from various industries claim that in the last month the trend has intensified in which people refuse to return from unpaid leave or start new jobs, leading to a shortage of employees. The blame, they say, lies in promising the government to pay unemployment benefits by mid-2021 or until the unemployment rate in the economy falls below 10%.
Rami Levy, owner of Rami Levy Sycamore Marketing says that "long-term unemployment benefits are the worst thing the government could have done." He said, "The state had to give money to employers so that they would pay it to workers, similar to what they did in Germany.
Avi Shomer, CEO of Tzomet Sefarim and one of the company's owners, says: "The state thinks it solves a problem, but in fact it perpetuates it." He adds: 5% of workers who were taken to the hospital in March preferred to stay home and not return to work, for various reasons such as that they are afraid of getting sick in Corona or they prefer to stay home with the children.
Not only in the retail sector are people talking about the phenomenon, but also in marketing and sales companies. Nir Shmol, CEO of Snir, a company that markets real estate projects and employs more than 20 people, says: "I have already encountered inquiries several times from sales managers who wanted to stay in Khalat or receive a letter of dismissal. Because in the world of sales the base salary is relatively low, and a large portion of the salaries of salespeople and marketers come from commissions, so in the weak months the motivation to stay at home grows - and get an amount not far from what you would earn if you kept working.
"Unemployment is contagious, and there are quite a few workers who see their friends spending time at sea and receiving unemployment benefits, and their motivation is hurt. I would rather get the money from the state and continue to employ the workers, while giving them the necessary supplements."
Like the other interviewees, Opposite refers to the German model, according to which employers continue to employ workers part-time while workers receive part of their wages from the employer and part from the state. This model maintains the relationship between the employee and the employer, and guarantees the employee an income that allows him to continue consuming and driving the wheels of the economy.
Even among food companies, which were less affected by the crisis and even sometimes enjoyed increased sales, there are reports of difficulties in recruitment. "We have a hundred open jobs in the company that we find difficult to fill - from customs, ushers and gatherers to engineers," says Avi Ben Assayag, CEO of Osem. Only for a few months. Once they have decided that the economy has opened up, and at the same time given people an income guarantee for long months - this does not encourage a return to work.
Tnuva also tells of about a hundred vacancies that the company is unable to fill, and distinguishes between the behavior of the public in the first wave and the second wave. The group's vice president of human resources, Gabi Weizmann, says that "in the first wave, there was a very large increase in the number of resumes the company received, and this was due to panic and uncertainty about the future. In the second wave it no longer exists, because the public has seen that entitlement to unemployment benefits is repeatedly extended, and for quite a few people it is convenient. We are in the summer and there are no educational frameworks for children - people just make the calculation that for another NIS 1,000-2,000 it is better to stay at home and be with the children. "
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of unemployed in Israel increased in the first half of July by 27.1 thousand, reaching 511 thousand people - which is 12.3% of the labor force. In the second half of the month, another increase in this rate is expected.
Receiving unemployment benefits is especially worthwhile for relatively low-wage earners. Thus, the unemployment benefits that those who earn NIS 4,000-3,000 will receive at a rate of 80% of the salary, while those who earn NIS 11,000 gross per month will already receive less than 60% of their regular salary.
The VP of Human Resources at one of the largest industrial companies in the economy says that "the effect of preferring unemployment or unemployment over physical work clearly exists in field positions, such as manufacturing, operations, warehouses, drivers, etc. In professional positions, coming from the worlds of technology, finance and sales. "No decrease in the number of job seekers was observed."
According to her, in field positions, which are characterized by low wages, there is a decrease in the number of unemployment claimants alongside bargaining on wages, on the grounds that it is not profitable to go out to work. In professional positions, where the salary is higher, the number of resumes she receives has doubled: “Many resumes come from self-employed people who want to join as employees, but most of the applicants are unemployed and work on unpaid leave.
Manpower company Manpower also says they have begun to spot a growing trend of people avoiding work and preferring to receive unemployment benefits - and not just among low-wage earners. "Because the state allows for long-term unemployment benefits, at least until 2021, people can plan ahead. Some prefer to stay at home," says Michal Dan-Harel, CEO of Manpower Israel. Of those they can find in the current ‘corona economy’ prefer to stay at home for now.