March the 3rd, 2023 - One thing I noticed when Croatia first joined the Eurozone, was that when my salary landed in my current account, it made me look twice. Gone are the days of kuna-dominated sums expressed in the thousands, and it's causing quite the psychological phenomenon. The illusion of money is affecting as many as two thirds of Croatian employees, who now feel ''poorer''.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, challenges with getting used to the euro as this country's new currency are partly due to a psychological phenomenon called the ''money illusion'', which isn't uncommon when changing currencies.

This year, at the moment when the clock struck midnight on the night of December the 31st, 2022, to January the 1st, 2023, Croatia officially got a new national currency. The kuna, which has served us more or less successfully for the past thirty years, gave way to the euro, and since then we've all been receiving our salaries, bonuses and other monetary items expressed in euros. Although essentially not much has changed - in most cases Croatian employees continued to receive the same amounts in terms of value as before, just expressed in a different currency - there was some dissatisfaction.

The above was confirmed by a survey conducted by the MojPosao/MyJob portal, in which almost 900 respondents shared their thoughts, according to which as many as two-thirds of Croatian employees feel poorer since receiving their salaries expressed in euros.

The psychological phenomenon of money illusion

Challenges with getting used to the euro are partly due to a psychological phenomenon called the money illusion, which is not uncommon when countries change their official currencies. As psychologists explain, this illusion occurs because numbers are more important to people than the value of money itself, and this results in a sense of dissatisfaction when nominally smaller amounts start arriving in our bank accounts than before. This is exactly what happened with the switch to the euro.

Challenges with getting used to the euro are partly due to a psychological phenomenon called the money illusion, which is not uncommon when changing currencies.

Namely, almost two-thirds of Croatian employees (63% of them) state that they feel poorer since receiving their salary in euros instead of kuna. Now, they explain, they receive their salary in "hundreds of euros, while it used to be thousands of kuna, which has a negative effect on their satisfaction". Additionally, as a result of inflation, the cost of living has increased, so the salary itself, apart from the nominal amount, has also fallen in real terms compared to before, say the interviewees.

"At first it seems smaller, but it's the same"

On the other hand, a third of Croatian employees (32%) point out that they haven't felt the effects of the money illusion for themselves and feel the same as before the currency change. They state that they were afraid that they would be made to feel that they had suddenly become poorer, but that in the end it was a peaceful transition.

Although in the minority, some people (5%) feel richer since January the 1st than before. According to their thinking, the euro is a stronger currency than the kuna, and thus money expressed in euros has a greater value.

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February the 24th, 2022 - The Great Resignation, or as it is also often referred to, ''The Big Quit'', is a trend among employees who, in large numbers, leave their jobs voluntarily to find their places elsewhere under the sun. Is this affecting Croatian workers, too?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, this has been stated by the MojPosao/MyJob portal, which investigated whether this phenomenon had reached Croatian workers yet. The survey was conducted on 800 employees and 26 employers, who asked if they had thought more about stepping down in the last year than before the coronavirus pandemic which altered life as we knew it completely.

Poor interpersonal relationships are the main reason for saying goodbye among Croatian workers...

As many as half of the respondents (51%) who had a job in the last year in that period resigned and changed their work environment. Only every third person (36%) had a secured second job at the time of them leaving, while two thirds of respondents left a secure job without having a "Plan B" at all. In the same period, as many as 88% of surveyed employers said they noticed an increased rate of Croatian workers leaving under their own steam. Men (54%) appeared to be more likely to resign than women (49%).

In addition, Croatian workers with a university degree (51%) are more prone to leaving their employers than those with a higher (46%) and secondary (48%) education, and respondents with less years of work experience. Namely, as many as 84% ​​of those with one year of work experience resigned in the last 12 months and only 18% of those with up to 10 years of work experience did the same.

They most often resigned because of bad interpersonal relationships, that is, because they felt that the company didn't appreciate them enough. In third place is too low a salary, followed by the bad impact of work on health and the impossibility of professional advancement, ie the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.

Job saturation and feelings of underestimation also have a role to play for Croatian workers...

On the other hand, employers are convinced that the main reason for the departure of their employees lies in low wages, feelings of underestimation/unappreciation and better offers from other employers (although this reason was stated by only 16% of Croatian workers).

Compared to the pre-pandemic period, employees were increasingly considering quitting due to feelings of underestimation/unappreciation and job saturation, while once the most important factors in deciding to leave a company such as receiving a better offer and low pay fell very much into the background. Women resigned to a slightly greater extent than men did citing poor interpersonal relationships, while men appear more likely to leave employers due to job saturation, large amounts of overtime and dissatisfaction with the company's management.

Observing the level of education, Croatian workers with a university degree leave more often because of burnout and poor management than those with higher and secondary education do. Although slightly more than half of the respondents (53%) stated that the pandemic didn't affect their decision to resign, a large number of people (47%) have just started thinking about a career change in the last two years, primarily due to the changed situation in companies (working conditions, interpersonal relationships, etc).

What does the future hold?

Half of the respondents (50%) intend to change jobs within the next year, and men (53%) are slightly more inclined to this decision than women (48%). One in two people think more about quitting now than they did two years ago (51%), a fifth (22%) do the same as before, while 27% of respondents today are less likely to juggle with that thought in these current circumstances.

Although in the past, Croatian workers typically didn't leave their employers solely due to dissatisfaction with their wages, most employees can be attracted by a new employer offering a higher income. In second place is the company's image (they would move to a company they believe is more caring for its employees), followed by a better financial benefits package, more flexible working hours, the chance to work from home, a better position within the company and a better non-financial benefits package.

The MojPosao portal concluded that The Great Resignation has not yet reached the proportions with Croatian workers as it has across the Atlantic in America, however, it is definitely visible that employees have begun to question their own values, the company's values ​​and think more about what is better for them than they did just two years ago.

Poor interpersonal relationships, a company that doesn’t value employee efforts, low pay, and poor working conditions are what will drive Croatian workers to reconsider their employment relationships.

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