Corporate Youth Policy: The Approach of Russian Industrial Enterprises

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which social support is provided to the young employees of companies in Russia. Through analysing the data of comparative monographic research, the purposes, priorities, tools and effects of corporate policy toward young people can be revealed. The authors arrived at the conclusion that the increased interest of the Russian business leadership toward their younger staff can be explained not only within the general context of modernization. It also is a response to the overall ageing of company personnel and the specific challenges of reproducing labour in the industrial sector of economy. The latter point can explain the selective character of corporate youth policy and its preference toward solving more pressing and current staff shortages. The most serious obstacles to the effective realization of young people’s potential in corporate social policy are weak communication and the lack of effective support mechanisms for innovationon the part of workers and specialists, which could create a link between innovation and the desire for professional and career growth.