The Republic of Croatia is in a group of four European Union member states with a lower uncovered demand for workers when compared to one year earlier. The Croatian paradox of staff fighting over workers who either don't exist or don't want to work, while would-be staff complain about there being no jobs continues.

As Ana Blaskovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 19th of March, 2019, the workforce problem is rapidly becoming one of the most burning issues not only here in Croatia but across the European Union. In the last quarter of last year, Croatia ranked among the four EU member states with a lower uncovered demand for workers than was recorded during the same period last year, Eurostat figures show.

At the Union level, as well as at its very core in which the euro currency wains, the rate of vacancies grew to 2.3 percent during the fourth quarter of 2018. Just for comparison, this rate, which shows uncovered demand for labour, was 2.1 percent in the previous quarter, and 2.2 percent in the Eurozone.

The availability of labour in the last year has become the top theme for domestic employers. While a few years ago this issue was only mentioned from time to time, in the last surveys answered by business owners, it emerged at the very top of the list. In Poslovni Dnevnik's recent interview with AmCham, Andrea Doko Jelušić pointed out that when the last survey was taken, their members underlined this topic as the main constraining factor in 2018, while back in 2017, it was placed on the list for the first time ever.

Reflecting on the workforce as an inevitable issue of the competitiveness of the domestic economy, CNB/HNB Governor Boris Vujčić said on Monday that Croatia is specific in the EU because as many as 40 percent of working-age citizens don't work. "When looking at the employment rate, Croatia is the second worst in the European Union after Greece, which means that everyone else has to work harder to maintain the same level of living standards," said the governor.

The key to the mobilisation of this population, Vujčić believes, is to evaluate the positive changes in pension regulations which extend the working life. The EU and the Eurozone are currently experiencing the most problems with finding workers in the service sector, with the job vacancy rate standing at 2.6 percent. Industry and construction account for 2.1 percent in the EU, and 2 percent in the Eurozone. In Croatia, the vacancy rate in the fourth quarter fell to 1.4 percent, which was the lowest level in just over a year. The highest jump in labour demand for the same period last year was in the fourth quarter in the Czech Republic, Austria, Malta, and Germany.

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Click here for the original article by Ana Blaskovic for Poslovni Dnevnik

Companies competing for this prestigious global recognition go through a very rigorous assessment process that includes a comprehensive overview of employers' practices in several categories. British American Tobacco, which operates here in Croatia, has come a cut above the rest yet again.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 7th of March, 2019, British American Tobacco (BAT), otherwise one of the largest private investors in the Republic of Croatia, was nominated for the second consecutive year as the best global employer (Global Top Employer). The award is given by the Top Employers Institute, an independent organisation that studies the working conditions of the largest global employers.

Companies competing for this prestigious global recognition go through a very rigorous assessment process that includes a comprehensive overview of employers' practices in several categories: from education and employee development through to business culture and salaries. The Global Top Employer's prestigious award was received by only fourteen companies this year.

BAT employs more than 50,000 people in more than fifty countries and provides very high quality working conditions on all markets where it operates. Business culture, social engagement and innovation is also developing right here in Croatia

BAT is rightfully recognised as a quality employer in the Republic of Croatia. Employment with BAT offers career development in a quality international environment that provides opportunities for acquiring new knowledge and progress within not only Croatian organisations, but also on regional and global levels. In addition to employment, BAT has readily signed cooperation agreements with many faculties and universities across Croatia to provide students with the opportunity to gain experience in a dynamic and challenging corporate environment.

"We see the best global employer certification as a confirmation of our efforts across the entire BAT group to provide a quality work environment for our employees. We encourage employees at all levels to develop their careers to fully achieve their ambitions and expectations,'' said Vera Čubranić Bocak, Human Resources Director of the BAT Adria region.

Last year, BAT employed more than 200 people in Croatia, and the acquisition of TDR increased the total number of employees in all parts of the business by seven percent.

Today, in the Croatian part of the BAT Adria cluster, more than 1,700 people are employed, of which 80 new employees have become part of the global product development team which works on procuding potentially less harmful products. Last year, on the Croatian market, a glowing, combustion-free tobacco heating system was introduced, making Croatia one of the first countries in the world in which BAT introduced its innovative product.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 7th of March, 2019, well known Split entrepreneur Jozo Parčina, perhaps best known to the wider public as the owner of the beautiful Luxe Hotel in Split, could soon become the owner of the "Kaštela Riviera".

Not even three full years after the launching of bankruptcy proceedings over the defunct Kaštela company, they acquired the conditions for the sale of their property, which is largely under a mortgage, among which the most prized is the hotel "Palace".

The interest in buying was confirmed to Slobodna Dalmacija by Parčina himself, who in the meantime redeemed the receivables of the Austrian HETA agency, a successor to Hypo Bank.

''I have redeemed the HETA receivables because I want to buy a complex in Kaštela, invest 40 million euros in its renovation and upgrading, put the hotel in order and employ 150 people,'' said Parčina when discussing the plans, adding that it would be a four or five-star hotel, and would boast up to 350 rooms.

The renovation refers to the only remaining building, the old "Palace" building with 230 rooms, protected as a cultural monument, and another new building. Since the surface areas of the complex in Kaštel Stari, located on the shore, is about 38,000 square metres in size, a building larger than the existing one will be permitted.

''I'm already in the hotel business. With "Luxe", which has been in operation for ten years, another hotel in Split is being prepared, where works are going to be finished soon, so I'd like to expand this activity by buying a complex in Kaštela,'' added Parčina, who in the meantime has invested in some real estate which he now rents out.

In earlier years, Jozo Parčina was known to the general public as the owner of a company which dealt with various gambling machines located across Dalmatia and Istria, this business was eventually shut down by tax collectors and by the Croatian Government in 2016.

If he succeeds in purchasing the "Kaštela Riviera" property, Parčina estimated that from the moment of everything being ready for work, it would take up to three years for the investment to be realised. Assets will be sold in bankruptcy proceedings through the Financial Agency (FINA) so it's clear that the real estate will go to whoever is willing to pay the most.

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As Adriano Milovan/Novac.hr writes on the 4th of March, 2019, the situation on the Croatian labour market is all the more alarming: despite the significant number of registered unemployed people, there are numerous activities for which a labour force must be imported. With regard to the further trends on the labour market, as well as the challenges that Croatia is facing in terms of a digital revolution, Novac sat down and talked to the leading man of the consulting house of the EC in Croatia, Berislav Horvat. Berislav Horvat has good knowledge of the trends on the labour market, as well as on entrepreneurial scenes across Croatia.

We're approaching the 6th anniversary of EU membership and the 28th anniversary of independence. While we have achieved our main political goals as a country, it's a general belief that we've left it a bit late when coming up with an economic plan. How do you assess the current development of entrepreneurship in Croatia, especially compared to the countries we're usually compared to?

Unfortunately, we have not yet completed the transition process. On the other hand, our entrepreneurs don't yet enjoy the status in our society that they enjoy in other transition countries. In our country, entrepreneurs are still looked at with skepticism, they're still the black sheep in a way, and realistically, they don't deserve such a status. The EC has therefore launched the ''EC entrepreneur of the year'' program, through which we want to show that there are also successful entrepreneurial stories in Croatia.

I personally think that the situation in Croatia and the attitude towards entrepreneurs in the last five years has changed significantly. In that sense, it's enough to say that five years ago in Croatia, practically nobody spoke about startups, funding, and so on. Moreover, these terms weren't even being used. Nowadays, the situation is different: we're talking about that, we look at who started a startup, who invested what, what entrepreneurial incubator was used and the like... So, the focus of the public is slowly changing and turning towards entrepreneurship, but it's not as fast as we'd like it to be.

Exactly. We do have all this Croatia today, but there's still very little of it. Even the many start-up companies belong to ''emergency entrepreneurship'', ie, they're not a real statement of the desire to start a business in order to engage in entrepreneurship, but are driven for the sake of employment...

I think there's far more entrepreneurship in Croatia than we can see. Media attention loves to highlight the negatives and it's difficult for some of the entrepreneurs to become a star in such a situation.

In Estonia, for example, it's different. Their stars were also once football players, athletes, and starlets, but they systematically worked to change that. Today, after twenty or more years, Estonia's main stars are entrepreneurs, which, of course, doesn't mean that their media doesn't highlight lifestyle [sections] and that jet set type people aren't stars. There's enough space for everyone.

But we have not yet reached that level. In our public domain, the best still don't dominate [the scene], those who have created something from nothing and succeeded in life with their own work and effort. We've gone too deeply into the negativity and now we can't get out of it, even in the conditions that in recent years the situation with the economy is much better, as is evidenced by the growth in income and profit of companies. That's why we have the impression that everything is bad, and that's just not the case. You can be successful in Croatia.

When you talk to clients, especially those from overseas who want to invest and start a business here, what do they complain about most?

The main problem over the last few years is the lack of workforce. Mass emigration from Croatia resulted in a shortage of workers. Before that, you could feel a lack of workforce in tourism, hospitality and construction, and now that's the case in almost all sectors. This will surely be a major obstacle to the further development of Croatia. An example is the construction industry, which even for a secure job constructing something, you can no longer find people to do it.

Once, our main problem was unemployment, and now it's a shortage of workers. According to some estimates, even among those who are officially registered as unemployed, there are only actually 10,000 to 15,000 who really are unemployed, while others have remained registered as such for other reasons.

On the other hand, this year we've got a quota of 65,000 foreign workers we can import. This is the record for now, and it's quite certain that this quota, and thus the number of foreign workers in Croatia will grow in the next few years.

Apart from tourism and construction, which sectors lack a workforce the most?

Definitely the IT sector. Practically every IT company I know would hire 100 developers tomorrow because there's a lot of work. Most of them work on foreign markets, where the demand is higher than the supply.

Do you expect bigger waves of emigration from Croatia? Let us not forget that next year the doors of to the Austrian labour market, the last in the EU [to keep restrictions on Croatian workers] will open...

Emigration will still continue. True, Austria could attract a part of our workforce because it's close and workers will be able to come and go virtually from weekend to weekend. So, emigration will continue, but there will be returns, especially as salaries in Croatia are rising. Estimates for the future are difficult to give, but it's clear that the shortage of workforce will remain the number one issue for Croatia in the next few years.

How do we solve the problem of the lack of workforce?

We will have to turn to the import of labour, in the long term. But let's not forget that because of this shortage of labour in Croatia, there's a rise in wages, which means that some of the Croats who have left will come back in time. They will simply begin to calculate whether it's worth living abroad or here. Let's be realistic, many of our emigrants, especially those who are paid less, don't live in the best conditions in the countries they've moved to, so we already have cases where people are returning. The salary increase in Croatia will bring back some of those who left the country.

There is also the problem of education, the programs of which should be adapted to the needs of the labour market, just as enrollment quotas should be.

What could the state do to reduce emigration and boost returns?

The state could intervene in tax policy measures. Further reductions in personal income tax and the abolition of the highest tax rate would greatly help people increase their net salaries. This would lead to less people leaving and some former emigrants returning.

But, how usefeul are such efforts when taking into account the state of public finances, especially the pension and health system?

These measures can be implemented, but the only way to do that is to reduce the spending of the state, on both a central and a local level. This implies reforms. There is also a need to increase the base of people who pay taxes, or more people bring to the labour market.

Now the situation is almost ideal for some action to be taken: in the real sector there is a lack of people, and in the public there is a surplus of employees. The economy is growing, and the government is stable, so there should not be many problems and the solution is obvious. So, we just have to implement the reforms we're talking about. This is a historical moment that this government has and it must use it.

The world is undergoing a new digital revolution, but we're lagging behind. Moreover, we're still dealing with ''classic'' industries. What are the perspectives open to us?

Digitisation opens up a large area, and a large number of companies that are opening in Croatia are IT companies, so we can't say that we're not following trends in the digital world. Existing, already established Croatian companies invest heavily in digitisation. For many Croatian companies, the EC helps in the introduction of software robotisation. While, for example, Gideon Brothers produced real autonomous robots, which instead of forklifts drive pallets by warehouse, and our domestic companies, such as Atlantica, Orbica and Tokić, are already piloting projects with this new technology. Or, let's say, Mate Rimac, our EC entrepreneur of the year, who, besides producing cars, works hard on the development of the use of digital technologies, and all this is happening in Croatia.

You are in contact with investors. What is the current interest in Croatia from investors?

We are a world leader in auditing and consulting services. We have 270,000 employees worldwide, and in Croatia there are more than 220. Among our clients, we have a lot of investors who want to invest here, especially private equity funds. Still, the problem is that they are looking for big investments, those of 20 or 30 million euros, and there aren't many like that in Croatia. In the case of Croatia, it would probably have helped us to have venture capital funds, which would aid startups. Otherwise, HBOR and EIF have recently launched a venture capital program, which is good for entrepreneurship development in Croatia, but, it's also necessary to have a network of business angels, venture capital funds and private equity funds, so that the system can accommodate and enable funding at all stages of entrepreneurship development.

How does the digital revolution reflect on the EC?

The EC is doing a lot of work on digitalisation. We have digitised our internal talent management system and now we have ''click'' solutions. Numerous processes have been robotised. One digital marketing company joined us last year, so now we have a rounded service - from tips to accessing a buyer, to the performance of the app or website. Customers want less advice, they're now seeking complete solutions, and we can offer them that now. This also allows us to work on innovations. We're also investing hundreds of millions of dollars in audit tools and technology so we can carry out EC digital audits worldwide. I can say that a lot has changed since I started doing this job sixteen years ago!

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Click here for the original article/interview by Adriano Milovan for Novac.hr/Jutarnji

As Goran Jungvirth/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of February, 2019, just like in the case of many other industries and categories of workers across the Republic of Croatia, the student population also poses a major challenge to employers when it comes to hiring employees, which is why new web portals and applications are being launched with a view to better connecting the supply and demand markets.

At the end of October 2018, a new law on Student Affairs was finally adopted in Croatian Parliament, with the aim of introducing changes that should provide more ease and significantly better conditions for the country's many students.

The move foresaw that the payment of a contractual fee be guaranteed within fifteen days, the introduction of a digital system was introduced, minimum times and their various accompanying payments were introduced, with an increase for working on Sundays, as well as for working at night and during holidays, as well as some other more than welcome student benefits.

Legislators made the changes justified by the desire to put an end to the exploitation of Croatia's students as little more than cheap labour for greedy employers in numerous different sectors.

Out of about 160,000 students in the Republic of Croatia, about thirty percent are extraordinary students, therefore it is expected that they will also work on student contracts, further strengthen the market for the country's potential student workforce, and more easily meet the needs of the demand market and of their respective employers.

However, it seems that such ''high-quality'' students are hard to come by and all but unavailable, because they're either simply not interested or they're already engaged in some sort of other work.

Labour market agents only noted the initial higher response of these so-called extraordinary students after they too were permitted to work through student contracts, but that situation, like many others, soon became a ''lethargic'' one.

"The problem is also a student's time and availability is limited to their university commitments, and employers of course want the same commitment as full-time employees, but students naturally don't want to lose their often beneficial student rights," stated Saša Jurković of Jazavac's management, an application which seeks to better connect students and their would-be employers.

"Jazavac was created to allow students to find work faster and for employers to reach students as quickly as possible through matching and merge apps," said Jurković when speaking about the project which has been co-financed by the European Union via the European Regional Development Fund.

In addition to increasing immigration and the concerning and accelerated departure of young people from Croatia seeking (among other things) better economic conditions elsewhere, statistics also show a worrying and fairly intensive decrease in the total number of people studying in Croatia at all.

Despite the increasing number of private faculties, polytechnics and colleges across the country, in the last five years alone, the number of students has decreased by more than fifteen percent. Additionally, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics for the academic year 2012/2013, there were 188,285 students actively studying in a facility in the Republic of Croatia, which is nearly 30,000 more than there are currently.

In order to maintain the dynamics of the market between students and employers, it's necessary for them to not only be better connected, but to be more informed in general.

"For now, we have over 900 undergraduate students and over 100 employers who use the search engine and periodically publish their ads. We're growing quickly but we need more students and companies and want to connect with the Student Center (SC) to help them be even more successful. As the oldest source of student affairs, SC has not achieved satisfactory results for a long time for those students who require employers, so employers are forced to use different social networks, portals and pages to find students,'' Jurković described the issue, giving an example of how to create a much better connection between students and their potential employers.

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Click here for the original article by Goran Jungvirth for Poslovni Dnevnik

Most of Croatia's biggest entrepreneurs are located on the northern Adriatic islands, and Croatia's biggest employers are still in the tourism and trade industries.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 6th of February, 2019, according to the analysis of the Financial Agency (FINA), which included details on entrepreneurs operating in the Republic of Croatia, there are 4,322 of them across 51 cities and municipalities in total who work as classified entrepreneurs, and in 2017, the largest number of entrepreneurs were in the field of providing accommodation and food preparation and serving - 903 of them. This tourism sector has now achieved its highest total revenue (almost 2.7 billion kuna), which is 25.6 percent of total income of island entrepreneurs.

Following those in tourism are entrepreneurs in the field of wholesale and retail trade - 656 of them. 2.2 billion kuna or 21.3 percent of total revenues and entrepreneurs are in this field. Construction is ranked third with 472 entrepreneurs and 1.4 billion kuna in revenues, which is 13.7 percent of total income of entrepreneurs from island areas.

In the case of tourism entrepreneurs, these were the highest in terms of the number of employees, with 6,585 employees or 30.6 percent of the total number of employees in all activities. This group of entrepreneurs also earned the highest revenues, and among them, according to the criterion of total revenues, the best are the hotel and tourism companies from Mali Lošinj, Hvar and Rab, or Jadranka hotels, Sunčani Hvar, and Imperial.

When looking at the ''size'' of these entrepreneurs, the largest number of micro entrepreneurs with 92 percent of the share in the total number of entrepreneurs are registered in the observed island areas. In addition, the same group have the largest share in profits, 42.7 percent, and employ the largest number of workers, making up a significant 33.8 percent of the total number of employed people in island towns and municipalities.

There are nine big companies based on islands in the Republic of Croatia, one in the area of ​​trade, Trgovina Krk from Malinska on Krk, one in the field of construction, GP Krk from Krk, one in the processing industry, Sardina from Brač and one in the area of ​​passenger transport, Autotrans from the island of Cres, while the remaining six are in the area of the ​​provision of accommodation and food preparation and service.

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Click here for the original article by Darko Bicak for Poslovni Dnevnik

With the firm support of the Croatian Trade Union, since the 1st of January this year, Konzum increased the salaries of its employees by a net amount of 350 kuna.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of February, 2019, this wage increase from Konzum refers to employees who are being paid on the basis of coefficiency and will be paid permanently, in addition to their usual monthly salaries, in an amount that is entirely non-taxable, starting with the first such salary from January this year.

"I'm glad to start this year with some good news for our employees. Their satisfaction is high on the list of our priorities, and with this move we want to show them once again how much we appreciate their daily work and efforts to contribute to stable business and good business results,'' stated Slavko Ledić of Konzum's management board.

This income increase is a continuation of Konzum's policy of improving and increasing its workers' rights and benefits. Due to the formerly enfeebled company's successful business results, from the beginning of 2018 to today, salaries have increased by a total of six percent. With the increase of the paid Christmas bonus in the amount of 1,500 kuna per employee, throughout 2018 there were also numerous other benefits which were secured, such as Easter bonuses, a bonus for children, and paid private health insurance.

Despite Agrokor's ups and downs that have continued to rock the Croatian economy over the past couple of years, Konzum has employed more than 1,300 new workers over the past year, mostly in the retail and logistics sectors. All employees are readily offered flexible working hours, a convenience that is of particular interest to parents, students, and henceforth to retirees to whom half-time employment is open, in accordance with the new statutory provisions.

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One Labin factory goes from the worrying signs of closure to contracting brand new jobs in a dramatic yet welcome turnaround.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of January, 2019, back in October last year, the Syndicate of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia warned that after five years of successfully dealing with mobile homes for camps, there would be a possibility of shutting down the CR Abitare factory in Labin, Istria.

Instead of getting the sack from the company, which at one point looked like an unfortunate yet very likely option, the workers of the Labin-based company CR Abitare, who produce mobile homes for camps for some of the largest tourist companies in the Republic of Croatia, received a higher salary.

The reason for the rising levels of anxiety which began back in 2018 when the possibility of the factory's closure arose, was that the production hall had gradually begun to empty, and the workers, twenty of them permanently employed and thirty seasonal workers, had no information.

But the formerly enfeebled company, according to a report from Glas Istre, has continued to operate, and unlike other large companies that have made headlines lately for all the wrong reasons, its workers have been being continually paid their salaries all the time, and the amount has risen by nine percent since the 1st of January, 2019.

In November last year, several new orders for mobile homes were contracted by the Labin company, which are now in the process of production, with delivery expected over the coming days. According to reassuring employer announcements, further orders are also expected.

Although there are currently no new jobs on offer at the Labin factory as it gets back on its feet remarkably quickly, it is to be expected that an increase in the production plan will naturally create the conditions for that at some point or another.

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The Days of jobs in tourism events across three Croatian cities, both in continental Croatia and on the coast, are set to offer new employment opportunities for many seeking to enter into the world of tourism, which is by far Croatia's greatest economic asset.

While jobs in Croatia might appear to be few and far between for many of those seeking opportunities elsewhere across the territory of the European Union, tourism remains by far the strongest sector in Croatia, with numerous positions available up and down the coast, and doors opening even in the previously overlooked continental part of Croatia as more and more tourists 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of January, 2019, the Days of jobs in tourism event will bring together many Croatian employers from across the tourism sector to get both currently unemployed people and those seeking a career change interested in working in Croatia's booming tourism sector this upcoming summer season.

The ''Days of jobs in tourism" event will be held for the third consecutive year this year under the official organisation of the Ministry of Labour and Pensions, the Ministry of Tourism, the Croatian Employment Service and the Croatian National Tourist Board.

The aim of this event is to enable employers and the currently unemployed to connect with each other, gain important information on employment opportunities and engage in tourism career development in one place.

According to the estimates of the event's organisers, this year, "Days of jobs in tourism" will bring together more than 120 employers and more than 17,000 visitors seeking seasonal employment from three cities - January the 18th in Osijek, January the 25th in Zagreb and February the 1st down on the coast itself in Split.

Minister of Labour Marko Pavić and Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli paid a visit to the Zagreb event which start at 10:00 today at the Zagreb Fair (Velesajam).

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The Varaždin-based Croatian company Varteks has been producing dresses, coats, jackets and other clothing for specialised purposes, including uniforms for the Croatian Army, the police and the like for 101 years now.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of January, 2019, in three production plants in a complex of red brick buildings in the centre of Varaždin, several hundred workers are working daily in one shift on quality garment collections. In Varaždin's Varteks, 24sata journalists were welcomed and hosted by Nenad Bakić, president of Varteks' administration. He took them through all three production facilities. That day, designers who came to Varteks presented Bakić and his associates the new women's collection - business elegance.

''First, we do prototypes of the clothing, then after consultations they go off for additional finishing should that be necessary. After that, we make a collector's sample, a hand-made version that is produced in a small number of copies. If there are no more changes to be made, we make and launch the product,'' explained Bakić. Currently, Varteks is launching its latest elegant collection made with younger people in mind, called Varteks Young.

''We can split production into several phases. Everything begins with the tailor, from the threading and onwards. There, the machine cutter does almost everything itself according to the instructions on the screen. After that, sewing begins. All the parts from the cutter are picked up and people connect them in smaller segments. Then everything is shifted into the assembly, the middle part of production, where some segments are assembled and come to the end with finishing and the final ironing. After that, what's most important to us is quality control. If everything is fine, the goods are sent to the warehouse and are made ready for shipping, to our stores or to our customers,'' explained Miljenko Vidaček, production manager at Varteks. He adds that it takes about four hours to make a suit.

Varteks produces a very wide range of merchandise, its production manager emphasises the fact that Varteks is among the most flexible companies in this part of Europe as a whole.

''We were coming to the end, pre-bankruptcy. We're incredibly grateful to Mr. Bakić for the fact that we're still here,'' Varteks' grateful employees conclude.

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