International BiCAB Conference at HSBI: How Can the Skills Shortage Be Addressed?

Bielefeld (hsbi). Companies and institutions are already experiencing massive difficulties in finding sufficiently qualified specialists and workers. This development will be further exacerbated by demographic change – the number of young people from Generation Z is not enough to compensate for the baby boomers leaving the labour market. The third “Bielefeld International Conference on Applied Business” (BiCAB) organised by Bielefeld School of Business at HSBI offered a platform during the International Week to discuss the challenges associated with the acquisition, integration and qualification of international workers. More than 70 participants from international universities in eight countries and representatives from regional companies had accepted the invitation to the conference under the motto “Skills Shortage – Approaches and Solutions from Universities, Companies and Politics”.

Strategic HR management at HSBI

Prof. Dr. Natalie Bartholomäus, Vice President Sustainability, People & Culture at the university, opened the conference and highlighted that HSBI, too, is affected by the skills shortage. According to her, recruiting new talents and retaining existing ones is the primary goal of HSBI’s strategic HR management, which includes employer branding measures such as the development of a model to increase the attractiveness of a professorship at HSBI, an “upgrade” of the job advertisements, HSBI’s new careers page and the successful application for the German Employer Award for Education 2023. “Strategic HR work is one of the pillars ensuring HSBI’s long-term competitiveness,” said Professor Bartholomäus.

Company perspective: Böllhoff is planning an education campus

In his keynote, Eike Krull, Head of the Corporate Human Resources of the Bielefeld-based company Böllhoff, emphasised the need for more intensive cooperation between companies and educational institutions. Böllhoff plans to establish an education campus on the company premises – a central learning facility where employees have the opportunity to enhance their “future skills” and thus prepare for the working world of tomorrow. At the same time, the company plans to reduce red tape. “My goal is to bring people together,” Krull said.

Demographic challenges and immigration

Wido Geis-Thöne from the German Economic Institute presented the participants with statistics that showed the large discrepancy between the number of people entering the labour market and those leaving it. “Large demographic gaps make immigration necessary,” Geis-Thöne explained, subsequently stressing that the number of international students coming to Germany from outside the EU is increasing and that we must redouble our efforts to educate these students.

Awards for the best papers

At the conference, six papers on different aspects of the skills shortage were presented by researchers from HSBI and international universities. Topics included the mitigation of the skills shortage through artificial intelligence, the readiness of Turkish students to migrate, the impairment of talent acquisition through organisational cynicism and the attractiveness of job offers abroad using Turkey as an example. The connection between digitalisation and the skills shortage was also discussed.

Once again this year, a scientific jury selected the two best papers together with the audience. The 500-euro prizes went to Prof. Dr. Jan Schilling (HSBI) with his paper “If you can’t get new people, at least don’t snub the ones you have” on the topic “Organisational cynicism of employees in times of a shortage of skilled professionals and workers” and to Prof. Dr. Tim Kampe (HSBI) with his paper “Digitalisation as an answer to skills shortages? Changing processes and requirements in accounting and auditing and the impact on university education.”

 “The conference has shown very clearly that the recruitment of skilled professionals from abroad, the use of digitalisation to relieve the burden on staff and the improvement of the conditions for existing staff are indispensable for maintaining and securing prosperity in Germany. The conditions for this must be created at all levels, enhancing Germany’s attractiveness for immigrants, improving the working atmosphere and increasing the willingness to use technical aids,” Prof. Dr. Riza Öztürk, Dean of Bielefeld School of Business summed up the conference. (nka/abo)