In Irkutsk, from April 22 to 24, 2009, the first Baikal HR Forum will be held, devoted to labor market and personnel management issues in economic instability. The program includes a regional conference, an HR organizations exhibition, master classes by leading HR specialists, a student olympiad, and a scientific conference. Participants will discuss survival HR strategies, automation of HR processes, staff development, and the legal aspects of layoffs during the crisis period.

In Irkutsk, from April 22 to 24, 2009, the first Baikal Personnel Forum will be held
As its organizers report, the forum is planned to discuss labor market issues and human resource management in economically unstable times. The forum is organized by the Ministry of Economic Development, Labor, Science and Higher Education of the Irkutsk Region, the Irkutsk city administration, Baikal State University of Economics and Law, with the participation of the East Siberian branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Research Institute of Labor and Social Insurance” of Roszdrav, the personnel management corporation, the personnel consulting center “Alliance,” and the recruitment agency “Professional.”
As part of the forum, on April 22 at the “Khudozhestvenny” cultural and leisure center, an interregional scientific and practical conference, “Human Resource Management: New Problems and New Solutions,” will be held. It will feature an information exhibition of recruitment agencies, business education centers, and other organizations working in the field of personnel management. Participants in the conference will include HR managers, employees of recruitment agencies, representatives of the administrations of the Irkutsk Region and Irkutsk, the Employment Center, teaching staff and graduate students of BSUEL and other universities in Irkutsk, Chita, and Ulan-Ude. The conference will address labor market issues in the Irkutsk Region under crisis conditions, as well as personnel management issues in organizations, including the economic justification of personnel decisions, problems of automating personnel management processes, staff development and adaptation, and much more.
From April 22 to 23, master classes will be held by leading HR specialists and business leaders of Irkutsk. The topics of the master classes are: creating and implementing a system for staff training and development, investments in staff training, determining training performance indicators, legal aspects of staff reduction under economic crisis conditions, problems of optimizing staff numbers, and the development of young specialists within an organization.
In addition, on April 23, as part of the forum, a regional student olympiad in personnel management will take place with the participation of 3rd- to 5th-year students from universities in Irkutsk, Chita, and Ulan-Ude studying in the specialties of “Personnel Management,” “Labor Economics,” and “Organization Management.” The next day, the 4th scientific student conference, “Problems of Human Resource Management in Modern Russia,” will open. The conference will present the results of students’ scientific research devoted to pressing issues in labor economics and personnel management.
On the same day, the seminar “Crisis and the Labor Market: Personnel Strategies for Survival” will take place. Its program includes: an overview of the labor market situation, a presentation of the results of a study on changes in the social package, and personnel management practices under crisis conditions.