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Attraction of young and talented specialists to the railway sector is decisive for the development

Employees form the main driving force and promoter of growth in every company. Mr. Edvīns Bērziņš, President of LDz, stressed this on Monday, 29 October, at the conference “Attraction of New Talents Under the Circumstances of Growing Competition and Open Labour Market”, organised by the SJSC (VAS) “Latvijas dzelzceļš” (LDz) and the International Union of Railways (UIC).

Attraction of labour force and development of new talents is one of the most topical issues in today’s changing conditions of labour market, when innovations and challenges created by the changing market play a growing role. Railway sector is not an exception, and it must be able to change and attract young specialists. “Even the companies with the most up-to-date equipment needs employees, who are able not only to do their daily work, but also to see the opportunities for innovations and development, which is crucial to enhance the company’s competitiveness and provide its operation in the future,” stressed E. Bērziņš, when addressing the participants of the conference.

Attraction of young specialists and development of their talents is decisive for every company, because achievement of the set goals without talented people will be difficult, added President of LDz. “I can assert with confidence that employees – this is the greatest value of LDz. There is a saying about our company: “Iron rails, golden people.” This designation shows without doubt our company’s attitude towards the employees,” said E. Bērziņš.

Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General of the International Union of Railways (UIC), stressed at the conference that the UIC is also convinced that today attraction of young and talented employees to the railway sector is one of the most crucial global problems.

He stressed that today the railway sector must face several challenges. Attraction of the sector has reduced to some extent in the eyes of the young generation, and this leads to serious considerations on how to attract young specialists. In this context, the UIC sees itself as a significant platform for the implementation of various projects and initiatives, so that young people were able to see career opportunities just in this sector. Several projects have been already implemented, including development of online training, thus enabling access to knowledge anywhere in the world.

During the presentation of the experience of LDz in attraction of talents, Ms. Lolita Smiltniece, the company’s Human Resources Director, stressed that from the two options – to attract employees from outside or develop talents within the framework of the company – LDz prefers the latest one. Thus, the company provides opportunity for the current employees of LDz to gain knowledge and improve their competencies, and find new career opportunities. This, in its turn, enhances motivation of these people to continue employment with the company, which positively affects the company’s growth in the long-term.

LDz academy of the middle level managers is one of the most successful projects, which led to the creation of the LDz Bank of Ideas – platform providing opportunity to discuss about both possible and seemingly impossible ideas, which are to be implemented to improve the company’s daily operation and promote growth, stressed L. Smiltniece.

Representatives of railway sector from Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, Belarus, Great Britain and even from Cameroon and Morocco participate in the conference “Attraction of new talents under the circumstances of growing competition and open labour market”.

SJSC (VAS) “Latvijas dzelzceļš” is the manager of the of the public use railway infrastructure and the governing company of the group of companies “Latvijas dzelzceļš”. The group of companies includes six subsidiary companies – JSC (AS) “LatRailNet”, which operates in the field of setting of infrastructure fee and division of capacity of railway infrastructure, LLC (SIA) “LDZ CARGO”, which provides railway freight traffic and international passenger transport; infrastructure construction and maintenance company LLC (SIA) “LDZ infrastruktūra”, rolling stock repair and maintenance company LLC (SIA) “LDZ ritošā sastāva serviss”, security company LLC (SIA) “LDZ apsardze”, as well as logistics company LLC (SIA) “LDZ Loģistika”.

The International Union of Railways (UIC) is a global organisation, which promotes growth of railway transport at global level and cooperation for the development of railway system. It groups together 200 organisations in all five continents – including railway operators, infrastructure managers, railway service providers and other. UIC maintains close cooperation with the participants of the field of railway transport across the globe, including manufacturers, railway associations, public institutions and interested parties of other sectors, the experience of which may provide contribution to the improvement of railway. Main tasks of the UIC are – to form understanding about needs of the railway sector, and develop innovation programmes to identify solutions for the satisfaction of these needs.