Сhallenges in managing the labor potential of enterprise under conditions of war and uncertainty in Ukraine

Abstract

The article examines contemporary challenges of managing the labor potential of enterprises under conditions of war and uncertainty in Ukraine. The relevance of the study is driven by profound structural transformations of the labor market, the growing labor shortage, disruption of established labor relations, population migration, and the need to adapt personnel management systems to wartime and crisis conditions. The purpose of the article is to identify and systematize the challenges of managing enterprise labor potential while considering the interests of both employers and employees. The research employs general scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, and a systems approach, which made it possible to comprehensively assess the impact of external and internal factors on the formation and utilization of enterprise labor potential. As a result, demographic, economic, organizational and managerial, social, psychological, legal, and strategic challenges of labor potential management under conditions of wartime instability are identified. Differences and points of intersection between the interests of employers and employees are substantiated. The findings indicate that under wartime conditions, strategic management of enterprise labor potential is significantly constrained and acquires reactive and short-term characteristics. For employers, wartime uncertainty makes full-scale long-term planning of labor potential development and the formation of HR strategies impossible, leading to the dominance of operational decisions aimed at ensuring business survival. At the same time, issues of retaining key employees and rethinking motivational and value-based foundations of personnel management in the context of post-war recovery become increasingly relevant. From the perspective of employees, strategic challenges manifest in the loss of clear professional and career guidelines, uncertainty regarding future employment, and increased requirements for individual adaptability under limited resources. This complicates the full realization of labor potential and creates risks of declining workforce competitiveness in the post-war period.