September the 15th, 2021 - The new Croatian Staff.hr ''worker booking'' platform has been created by footballers, and it's the first such booking site to exist in Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, meet the brand new Croatian Staff.hr service for workers and employers launched at the beginning of the summer by a pair of amateur football players, economist Toni Adzic and psychologist Ivan Abramovic.

Their goal is to speed up and simplify the processes on the labour market as much as possible, and Adzic got the idea in London, where he lived before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

“It was there where I came across this system of ''booking'' workers through a platform on which labour is hired across various industries as needed, and it works very simply and quickly. As we also have a serious problem of finding labour in Croatia, and so far there's been no such service, we decided to develop our own platform. We started working at the time of the pandemic and it was challenging, but we managed to get the Croatian staff.hr platform up and running this June,'' Toni Adzic explained.

Although they are also registered as a platform for job advertisements, unlike other employment agencies and portals, a database of clients as well as workers who are interested in the job is created, and clients then go there to "hire" them. The system is similar to how delivery services work, except that it is not the products that are delivered but the workforce, and it primarily regards operatives.

"Everyone who wants to work applies to us, passes certain security checks with us, leaves their data on their previous experiences, and stays in our database of workers, then they go off to work wherever they want, depending on the needs of clients. We aren't their employers, they're a partner of the company and the workers can choose for themselves, and we take a certain fixed fee for advertising from the clients and that's how we earn. Everything is very transparent and pre-arranged, so that both employers and workers know what awaits them,'' said Adzic.

He pointed out that it is very important for them as intermediaries on the Croatian Staff.hr team that both clients and workers are satisfied, and that unpleasant experiences can occur on the labour market, so they have introduced a system of reviews, the evaluation of both workers and clients.

Since June, when the Croatian Staff.hr platform started, their base of workers has been constantly increasing. The interest is currently greatest among students, but there are other age groups in a variety of industries, from catering to events, promotion and sales. As the platform was launched only in June, this year there was no opportunity to significantly penetrate the labour market in terms of tourism, which is certainly expected in 2022.

There will certainly be work to be done, as the shortage of workers in tourism will be one of the sector’s biggest challenges for next season. This year, the sector has entered the season with at least 5,000 workers less than needed and ads for maids and waiters are still circulating today.

It is precisely the acceleration and simplification of the employment process not only of foreigners, but also of the domestic workforce that is what the Croatian Tourism Association is most loudly calling for. In addition, in their proposals for measures that will soon be sent to the Government for consideration, HUT is asking for tax relief for the employment of students, a large pool of potential workforce in the summer season, which is currently not well motivated due to tax levies.

That would be a small expense for the state compared to the income that can be generated if that group is motivated to work, they stated from HUT.

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