In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses in many industries in Europe face severe challenges when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. The reasons for the aggravated war for talent are manifold: the emergence of a more fluid and global labour market for many skilled professionals, generational attention to work-life balance, shortage of high-level STEM profiles on the market, labour market intermediaries and their critical role in selection and recruitment, mobility-hampering regulations, to name just a few. A new paradigm shift for talent attraction and retention is clearly underway.

This webinar will address some recent legal HR regulations and case law that have surfaced – both opportunities to attract talent and challenges to retain it. We will discuss mobility issues that play an increasingly important role in attracting talent. We will briefly outline the opportunities of life-long learning, the relevance of incentives programmes in attracting talent, and the opening of the EU market for third-country professionals. We will then look at the defensive side (or the ‘stick’ part), with regulation and case law on restrictive covenants protecting businesses from competition, solicitation and poaching, and lost investments in vocational training costs. We will briefly run through some recent developments in the regulation of such covenants.

We hope this overview will help businesses navigate the intricate relationship between a free and fluid labour market, individuals’ professional ambitions and the required level playing field for businesses including the protection of their legitimate business interests.