May the 9th, 2022 - With Eurozone entry rapidly approaching and due at the very beginning of next year, just what will the average Croatian wage and pension be? It seems an increase is on the cards.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, when Croatia introduces the euro at the beginning of 2023, the average Croatian wage (net salary) will stand at around 900 euros, and an average pension will stand at around 320 euros, considering the fact that due to ongoing inflation, personal incomes and pensions across Croatia could increase slightly before the changeover from the kuna to the euro anyway.

If we take in some information and consider it relevant data on the average net salary across the EU back in 2021, which amounted to 1916 euros per month, it means that the average Croatian salary needs to be about a thousand euros to reach the EU average. In nearby Austria, the average net salary last year was 2053 euros, and in Belgium - an impressive 2091 euros.

In Bulgaria, the average net income last year was 413 euros, and the average Croatian wage was 797 euros, while the neighbouring Slovenians received an average of 1,038 euros per month back in 2021, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.

The Czechs were doing slightly better than the Croats were with a typical net salary of 813 euros, and the Danes were much better, with 3,100 euros, placing them at the very top of the European Union (EU). They are closely followed by the Swedes with a salary of 3062 euros.

The Estonians are also better paid than Croats typically are, with an average salary of 958 euros net, with the Latvians and Lithuanians being weaker with 648 euros and 645 euros respectively. The people of Cyprus receive an excellent 1,658 euros, and Malta also earns well from the Croatian perspective, with an average Maltese wage being about 2261 euros per month.

They are followed by rich EU countries: Finland with 2509 euros, France with 2157 euros and Germany with 2270 euros as an average salary.

The average Greek earns 917 euros, a Portuguese worker 846, a Pole 736, a Slovak 690, and a Hungarian 683 euros. Over in Romania, the average net salary is only 522 euros, meaning that only the Bulgarians are the poorest in the EU.

The average net salary in Italy is 1,762 euros, and in neighbouring Spain 1,718 euros. The real "heavyweights" are the Icelanders with 3435 euros and the Luxembourgers with 3009 euros, followed by the Irish with 2479 euros and the Dutch with 2263 euros.

For more, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

May the 7th, 2022 - The continuing issues faced by the Croatian labour force (or lack of it, to be more precise) could be solved by altering a current law and increasing the limit on how much students are allowed to earn without them, or usually their parents, facing tax issues.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, irritated employers have rightly pointed out that the income threshold after which the right to tax relief is lost for students is much too low, and that raising it would encourage students to not only seek out employment, but to be willing to work more. Therefore, they've suggested that the threshold be raised to 30,000 kuna, with different treatment if the taxpayer (their parent) has more children. This could solve the problems faced by the Croatian labour market, particularly when it comes to seasonal and tourism employment.

According to tportal, this initiative from the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) is also being strongly supported by the president of the Croatian Tourism Association, Veljko Ostojic, who very formly believes that the greater engagement of students in seasonal jobs in the tourism sector would reduce the need for the import of foreign labour, and the administrative issues and ridiculous waiting times for work permits that come with that.

''We've proposed to the Government that the non-taxable income limit for dependent members be raised to 30,000 kuna. We believe that in this way, a significant number of people would be activated on the Croatian labour market,'' Ostojic said.

Student work is otherwise regulated by the Student Affairs Act, and the current law on that has been in force since November 2018.

Students are employed through authorised intermediaries, which can be student centres or higher education institutions that have a centre for student standards, provided that they have received approval from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to conduct mediation activities. The law also regulates the minimum hourly wage, which is calculated by dividing the amount of the minimum gross salary by 160. The hourly wage is adjusted once a year, and for 2022 it amounts to 29.30 kuna.

Altering this and increasing the amount students are free to earn without facing issues from the tax man would not only put a gradual stop to importing non-resident staff, but put the Croatian labour market in a far better position when it comes to the height of the summer season, when good staff are increasingly difficult to come by for would-be employers.

For more, check out our dedicated business section.

May the 5th, 2022 - MP Katarina Peovic believes that in order to comfortable cover all costs of living, from rent to loan repayments to food, utility bills and everything else that might come up from month to month, the minimum Croatian wage should be 10,000 kuna per month.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Workers' Front MP Katarina Peovic was a guest in the Newsroom on N1 television recently, where she commented on the changes made to the Labour Law.

"It started all being talked about because at the beginning of the pandemic, the Government wanted to suspend a good part of the Labour Law. Various unions from across Europe reacted to that, so Plenkovic instead decided to do it step by step and Minister Aladrovic was given the task of coming up with a new Labour Law which would include suspensions under the justification of regulating work from home,'' said MP Katarina Peovic, adding:

"This has been being done in secret and in non-transparent conditions for a year and a half now. What comes out of it isn't good - to have more flexibility in terms of working hours, the workplace, but to the detriment of the employees themselves. It's criminal that we received the draft law without the Government ever having made it public. I'll state without hesitation what we've seen. If an employee is unable to meet something introduced in the draft (such as having to deal with unpredictable working hours), then they will be allowed to switch to part-time work, especially if they're in a situation like needing to care for a child, an elderly person or someone who isn't well,'' Peovic said.

"We suggest shortening the working week down from 40 to 35 working hours"

Asked what the most important emphases we can take from this are, and what the changes that will bring better conditions for workers about are, MP Katarina Peovic said: "First, the most important thing is to arrange the institute of temporary work. We were the first in all of Europe in terms of having rather precarious and non-standard employment contracts, now we're in second place. This is a plague in this country, about 21% of people are working on fixed-term contracts. We've proposed that the three-year limit be reduced to one year. Secondly, we propose shortening the working week from 40 down to 35 working hours. Croats work more than the European average, around 10 hours more than the Dutch do per week.

"The definition of a basic salary is important. Workers working for minimum wage work overtime and even on Sundays in order to reach the minimum wage, which is completely unacceptable," she added.

"Our average salary is at the level of the Slovenian minimum"

She pointed out that she often agrees with the ruling party when it comes to detecting the problem, but not when it comes to proposing a proper and working solution: "If there is one topic that should connect the left-leaning parties, then it's the topic of work. We've been following Croatia's race to the absolute bottom for decades. We have over 800,000 able-bodied people who are unemployed. We're a country that has no solution for almost a million able-bodied people. Such a country cannot prosper. We cannot reduce ourselves to tourism alone. Our average salary is at the Slovenian minimum level, and our cost of living is no higher than that of Slovenia.''

MP Katarina Peovic also revealed what the Croatian minimum wage according to the research should be:

"The new union conducted an in-depth research and stated that the minimum wage that could cover all living expenses should be over 10 thousand kuna."

For more, make sure to check out our politics section.

April the 12th, 2022 - Ever fancied getting away for a bit to somewhere isolated and idyllic and just collecting your thoughts? Becoming a Croatian lighthouse keeper may offer you all of that, and the ability to not go totally insane by being able to spend some time at home, too.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the company “Plovput” from Split has announced a competition for the position of a Croatian lighthouse keeper at the position of Sveti Ivan na Pučini, close to Rovinj in Istria. Although many would like to find themselves in this role today, one should know that this is actuallt really specific and distinctive profession, and that there are only about thirty people qualified for this job left on the Adriatic today.

The salary paid to a Croatian lighthouse keeper is between 6 and 7 thousand kuna per month, according to Morski.hr. It's also quite convenient that the successful applican't won't have to spend months at a time looking after the lighthouse, but will instead be there at their workplace for 15 days, and they can then be at home for another 15 days.

However, the lighthouse keeper will have to take care of all their necessities and will have to prepare well for their stay on a lonely cliff out on the Croatian Adriatic, counting on the fact that they might have to stay a few days longer due to the nature of the job. Not to mention the unpredictable elements.

In the description of the Croatian lighthouse keeper's workplace, Plovput, among other things, states the control of the nautical characteristics of the lighthouse, the main light and the backlight, the fog siren and control of all maritime signalling objects in sight, as well as the manual activation of the fog siren in case of automatic failure in visibility less than 1000 metres.

On top of that, they'll have to be in charge of the maintenance of all of the devices and equipment for navigation safety, they'll need to participate in search and rescue operations at sea, record for the Radio Journal of meteorological data of the State Hydrometeorological Institute for the purpose of correct invoicing, and prepare and submit meteorological reports to both DHMZ and Plovput.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

April the 1st, 2022 - Croatian wages paid per hour rather unsurprisingly fall short of the European Union (EU) average, even with state benefits included in the final sum.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the price of an hour of work, which includes state benefits, stood at a mere 11.2 euros back in 2021, according to a report which looked into the matter by Lider.

The survey, conducted at the level of the European Union, showed just how below Croatian wages paid by hour are when compared to the general European Union average, given that the average cost of labour in the EU stood at 29.1 euros, and 32.8 euros in the Eurozone.

It isn't remotely encouraging that the Republic of Croatia has found itself in an extremely unimpressive fifth place on the list. As in fifth from the end, not from the beginning. In the EU, Latvia has lower labour costs than Croatia does, with costs of 11.1 euros, in neighbouring Hungary, the same costs stand at 10.4 euros, in Romania, the somewhat infamous 8.5 euros remains so, and last on the list comes Bulgaria, where the cost of an hour of work it costs a mere seven euros.

At the same time, Western countries, with which Croatia often likes to (rather unrealistically) compare itself to, are somewhat different.

The highest labour costs can be found in Denmark, where an hour of work costs a far, far higher 46.9 euros. Right behind it are Luxembourg, with 43 euros, Belgium, with 41.6 euros, and then France, the Netherlands and Sweden, with just under 40 euros per hour.

Austria, Germany and Ireland, countries where Croats often head to with hopes of a more stable economic situation and better prospects, are among the best in the European Union when we look at how much employers have to spend in order to have workers.

In Austria, the price of an hour of work stands at 37.5 euros, in Germany it is negligibly lower - 37.2 euros - and Ireland follows them closely with 33.5 euros per hour of labour.

For more on Croatian wages, the domestic economy and working in Croatia, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

March the 26th, 2022 - Ridiculous Croatian red tape, for which this country has become infamous, is continuing to be a thorn in the side of would-be employers seeking to hire foreign workers to fill in the gaps in the labour market. With the situation in Ukraine causing many Ukrainians to flock to Croatia, the situation has become even more pressing.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, out of about three and a half million Ukrainians who fled to the EU due to the war in their country, more than 8,600 have arrived in Croatia so far. That number will certainly increase. How long and for what period they'll choose to remain in Croatia is difficult to estimate. So far, about four hundred people have expressed a desire to get a job and settle in Croatia.

"About 40 percent of them have a college or university degree. We'll try to enable the recognition of their diplomas, as well as enable them to learn the Croatian language at the expense of the Croatian Employment Service,'' said Minister Josip Aladrovic after a recent meeting of the Economic and Social Council.

The issuance of temporary residence permits by the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) to Ukrainian citizens should be accelerated, and the CES has already formed mobile teams who, together with social welfare centres, are touring the places Ukrainians fleeing the war in their homeland are coming to.

Among other things, Minister Aladrovic said that about a hundred companies have already expressed their readiness to employ Ukrainian nationals. He doesn't expect disturbances and abuses in the labour market, and there is currently high demand, especially in regard to seasonal work as the summer tourist season approaches.

However, both the Minister and the unions expect greater involvement of the State Inspectorate in the control of possible abuses of labour relations in order to ensure equal rights and obligations as for all others in the labour market.

On behalf of HUP, Ivan Misetic emphasised that there are a significant number of medically educated women and that he hopes that there will not be too much bureaucratisation and Croatian red tape to trip them up on their roads to stable employment.

The issue of administrative procedures in this emergency situation is clearly being emphasised by employers based on their shared experiences, as Croatian red tape, long waits and rudeness from clerks are commonplace when hiring foreign labour from outside the EEA.

"Eight to ten weeks is too long to process applications for work permits, and it isn't uncommon for foreign workers to just go and find work elsewhere during that waiting time," explained Petar Lovric, the owner and director of the Kadus employment agency. When it comes to previous experiences with Ukrainian workers, they are recognised in Croatia as a desirable workforce, he added.

"However, after a solid 2019 in terms of that pool of labour and 2020, which was marked by the global coronavirus pandemic, last year we lost the game with the Poles in connection with the Ukrainian workers," claims Lovric.

Partner agencies from Ukraine cited complicated procedures as one of the main reasons for this “loss of competitiveness” (including, for example, obtaining so-called apostilles by which resident countries confirm the authenticity of the required documentation). In addition, Croatia (primarily the Adriatic) is perceived as expensive to live in given wage levels in some of the most sought-after occupations.

Since the beginning of last year, Croatia has been implementing a new legal framework for the employment of foreigners (non-EEA nationals and British nationals who aren't covered by the Withdrawal Agreement), which was introduced with the aim of facilitating it, as certain activities in recent years have had to rely more heavily on the import of workers from the likes of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, neither of which are EEA countries.

The former annual quota for the employment of foreigners in 2021 has been replaced by a system involving labour market tests, which are ''needs assessments'' with regard to deficit occupations, for which the CES is in charge. For some occupations, you don't need to take a test, but immediately go to the process of issuing a work permit, but for some you still need to.

The number of work permits issued to foreigners last year recorded a double-digit percentage increase (by the end of November, 75 thousand permits or 12 percent more than the year before had been issued) and for the state administration this is a confirmation of the improvement of the system in general. That being said, if you ask Croatian employers and employment agencies, there is still too much administration to deal with and it takes too long to finally get a valid work permit for a foreign employee.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that Croatian employers often don't systematically deal with the planning and projection of their needs for workers, including foreign ones. Recruitment and selection processes generally take time, but in recent times this lack of planning can be partly explained by the unpredictability and uncertainties of the business environment.

Lovric said that better managed companies in the tourism sector today are systematically engaged in recruiting and selecting labour, but that most employers in neighbouring Slovenia who are focused on looking for labour and imports still pay insufficient attention to global trends that include less "multifunctional" workers.

He also believes that in a few years, the north of Croatia could face a serious problem of industrial unskilled workers if they don't turn more strongly to attracting ideas such as the construction of workers' settlements. Because of all this, he added, Kadus also plans to offer cooperation to local communities in terms of workforce planning for, for example, the next five to ten years.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 21st, 2022 - Have Croatian tourism companies finally begun to engage in a little self-reflection and started learning from their past mistakes following the last two unprecedented years dominated by a global pandemic and now a war in Europe? It seems so, and just in time for Easter.

As Novac/Jutarnji/Barbara Ban writes, the currently great uncertainty all over Europe over the war raging in Ukraine has slowed bookings down, but that doesn’t mean the summer season this year will be bad. Moreover, the latest global analyses presented this week at the Berlin Tourism Fair ITB show that the demand for holidays and travel is higher than last year and of course higher than it was back during 2020, and that tourist traffic across Europe this year will be at 90 percent of what was recorded back in pre-pandemic 2019.

The Germans, the British, the Americans and the Dutch will more than likely travel the most. Croatian tourism companies and some of the largest hoteliers in the country are sticking to this idea, noting that due to the situation currently playing out in Eastern Europe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, booking has been slowed down, but there have been no cancellations. They have already started hiring staff earlier so that they don't have the same dire situation with the workforce as they did last year, and now there are struggles for every worker. They raised salaries by 15 percent, and for some deficient occupations, by up to 50 percent.

No cancellations

Marina Cvitic from the Trade Union of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, says that they are preparing for the upcoming tourist season as if it would be a normal one, especially in the more northern part of the Adriatic, since it is a destination many people drive to.

''Regarding the war in Ukraine, for now, no one is too worried when it comes to booking. It's true when they say that booking has slowed down for now, however, there are no cancellations and that's good. It's obvious that last minute bookings will be even more pronounced this year. That's why employment started going very well in March because everyone is preparing for Easter, which is just around the corner now.

Employers in Croatian tourism companies don't want the same situation that happened last year to happen again, when chaos ensued due to high levels of caution when hiring in the peak season. Just by looking at the media and the Croatian tourism companies in the network, it's clear that there are issues being experienced by companies in the labour market. Every fifteen days or so, companies advertise and repeat the conditions under which workers will be employed. From this it can be concluded that they haven't yet secured a sufficient number of employees for the peak tourist season. Although the agreed wage increases for this year are more significant than in the years before the pandemic when the maximum increase was 2 - 4 percent, and during the pandemic wages stagnated, due to the impact of inflation reaching a record 6.3 percent, wages will not significantly affect the standard of the workers. Despite the fact that in most companies, the price of labour has been agreed upon and despite the fact that costs are rising for companies too, I'm afraid that employers will have to tighten their belts further during the season if they want to work it all and settle for less profit than what they're used to,'' Cvitic pointed out.

Old mistakes

She added employers in Croatian tourism companies and the overall hospitality industry could pay a high price for repeating tired old mistakes. She explained that, except for the last two pandemic-dominated years, all Croatian tourism companies have achieved very good results, had a profits reaching the millions and that the owners "pulled out" that money through dividends and that investments were made in raising the quality of facilities and new acquisitions.

''There was money for everything, but not for the workers. Not to mention that there was no higher employment for an indefinite period of time at all. On the contrary, the number of full-time employees only decreased as older workers retired by natural outflow. Not to mention that incentive severance pay has stimulated older but still able-bodied workers to leave companies. In such conditions, our experienced tourism workers, and even full-time workers, who are highly valued, left Croatia and unfortunately, although we warned of it, nobody was worried about that,'' Cvitic added.

She explained that now the situation is completely different and that after two years of the pandemic, Croatian tourism companies have drastically lower profits, the results are much weaker than they were before the pandemic, and salary increases and other material rights being offered to employees as a lure are much higher.

''So, now that there isn't much money, much more is being allocated for workers than was allocated when there was room to do so. On the other hand, employees are now aware of their roles and often set conditions they never thought of before, such as their desire for two days off a week, one-shift work, and, of course, unions now see the opportunity and are trying to direct wage policy, as well,'' Cvitic stated.

Salary increases

She noted that this year's salary increase is up to 15 percent, and for some deficient occupations, that increase rises up to as much as 50 percent, and that the maximum non-taxable amounts are planned for the amount of 5,000 kuna. There is also free food, a tax-free Christmas bonus of 3,000 kuna and a gift of 600 kuna.

If employers had treated their workers like that ten years ago, if they'd hired workers for an indefinite period of time as they do now, if they'd hired permanent seasonal workers as they do now, if they'd rewarded seasonal workers even after the season was over as they are doing now, we wouldn't be experiencing any of the issues we now are. With all the increases in wages and income, they would have a Croatian workforce that is of better quality, but also cheaper, and there would be no need to try to import foreign workers,'' Cvitic believes.

She believes that the situation we experienced during the last summer season will not be repeated, when due to the lack of workers, some Croatian tourism companies, hotels and restaurants didn't even bother to open their doors.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 10th, 2022 - Without an increase in Croatian tourism sector employee wages, the very existence of some companies and businesses could well be called into question, especially following two years of coronavirus-induced stagnation.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, after two years of stagnation in the material rights of workers in the Croatian tourism sector, this year, all major domestic tourism companies have decided to make a significant step forward in increasing the material rights of their workers.

Valamar, Plava Laguna, Aminess, Maistra, Jadran and LRH will all pay their employees the maximum non-taxable amount as allowed by current tax regulations, and their salary increase will be from 5.5 to as much as 50 percent for certain jobs.

The main reason is the chronic shortage of workers who began to threaten the survival of this sort of business, as was pointed out by the unions in the Croatian tourism sector. Although the unions welcomed the decisions of these employers in the announcements that have been being made over recent days, they still made sure to note that they were forced to take this route, and it isn't because of some deep desire to do so.

They also noted that last year, due to the uncertain tourist season until the summer arrived, accompanied by a lack of workers, workers' rights were violated on a large scale.

The unions and the inspections were biting their nails often because that year was difficult for everyone, but this year there will be no procrastination, Marina Cvitic, president of the Trade Unions of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, explained.

"We do need to be honest and say that this increase in wages is primarily the result of the situation on the labour market. From 2010 to 2019, salaries increased from 2 to a maximum of 4 percent. At that time, all companies operating within the Croatian tourism sector achieved very good results with a profit of millions, acquisitions were made, investments were made in facilities, there was money for everything except the employees. As such, there was no major employment for an indefinite period, on the contrary, the number of permanently employed workers only decreased as the elderly retired,'' recalled Marina Cvitic.

All this drove these workers out of Croatia, not only seasonal workers, but also permanent, very high quality workers. At the time when the migration of workers within the EU was made possible, many workers emigrated.

"At the end of last year alone, it could be sensed that employers intended to be much more generous this year compared to the years before the pandemic. So today we have a situation in which companies within the Croatian tourism sector have poorer results than they did before the pandemic, and yet employee salary increases and other material rights are much higher. The attitude towards workers in most companies has changed significantly. Back at the end of 2021, the number of workers on permanent contracts increased significantly. The number of permanent seasonal workers who are allowed to have an employment relationship and certain incomes throughout the year has also increased.

As a rule, a contract is no longer concluded with seasonal workers for a month or two, but for a longer period of time. One-time non-taxable awards are usually given in the most intense seasonal months,'' explained Cvitic.

The union attributes a significant role to itself in creating this wage policy, including an initiative to provide free meals to local workers, and to make adjustments to transportation fees. However, violations of workers' rights are still almost normal among small employers.

For more, check out our business section.

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.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

February the 12th, 2022 - Could the Croatian minimum wage finally be forced into an increase under increasing pressure from the European Union in Brussels? Things might have to dramatically alter by June with yet another EU directive.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, a new directive on an adequate minimum wage across the European Union could come out of Brussels' ''kitchen'' by June and force the Croatian minumum wage upwards.

Although its pillar is the introduction of the institute of the minimum wage, which, unlike here in Croatia, is not yet available to all EU member states, the domestic labour market could be shaken by the additional demand it will bring, which is that the member state must actively strive to cover at least 70 to 80 percent of its workers with collective agreements.

The directive seeks to strengthen the European Union's idea of ​​social security and it has strong political support, as could be heard recently coming from the Belgian capital.

The topic is on the table of the convocation of the European Parliament in the continuation of this mandate and is being additionally pushed by the current President of France. On the eve of the April elections, President Emmanuel Macron's trump card is an ideal opportunity to strengthen France's leadership position in the European Union after the departure of the very well known and long-standing German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Although here in Croatia there are regular spears about the amount of the minimum wage that the Government adopts by decree (it isn't enough for workers and is always a question of competitiveness for employers), Croatia is among the 21 member states that already know and are quite well acquainted with this institute.

The exceptions are Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden. By raising the Croatian minimum wage to 3,750 kuna in 2022, Croatia has approached the goal set by the new EU directive, which is that the minimum wage must be 60 percent of the gross median and 50 percent of the average gross wage.

Therefore, the directive does not exclude the instrument of minimum wages, but provides a clearer calculation of how to calculate it and provides for a mechanism for testing the adequacy of its national level.

"We hoped that the directive would be passed during the Portuguese presidency, but some countries made a number of remarks, and Croatia doubted whether the goal of at least 70 percent of workers covered by collective agreements would be too difficult to achieve," said Kresimir Sever, the president of the Independent Croatian Trade Unions.

It's worth noting that the proposal of the European Commission is that it should be 70 percent of the workers covered by collective agreements, while the MEPs are proposing 80 percent in their amendments. "The aim is to ensure that every worker in the EU is paid for their work so that they can live with dignity, and nothing less than that. Croatia is close to the aforementioned minimum wage target, but hasn't yet reached it in gross terms. The problem in Croatia is low wages, so naturally the Croatian minimum wage is also low,'' the trade unionist added.

The trade unions themselves have a hard time estimating how many workers are actually covered by collective agreements in this country. Sever estimates that about 50 percent of employees in Croatia have a collective agreement in addition to an employment contract, but with the caveat that there is no data on "home" contracts.

In this context, it is important to note that the European Union as a whole is moving towards strengthening the role of trade unions, not only as workers' representatives, but also as bodies that collectively negotiate with employers.

It should be noted that the directive isn't binding, but it does work to further encourage member states to achieve a high percentage of coverage of their workers by collective agreements. The setting of benchmarks and modalities is still being negotiated, as are the timeframes within which each member state should achieve these goals.

Although in practice collective agreements are often perceived as clashes between employers and workers, their prevalence carries wide social consequences.

"The wide application of collective agreements is a way of coordinating wage policies that can ensure greater transparency and certainty of workers' incomes at the national or sectoral level, but also the stability of the workforce and the control of labour costs for employers, without harsh, generally universal legal interventions," said a senior research associate at the Institute for Social Research, Teo Matkovic.

He also mentioned that the legal instrument of the Croatian mininum wage has existed now for just over a decade, and it has been growing significantly for several years since. It is the opposite of collective agreements, the use of which has decreased significantly in the last 20 years or so.

"In this country, the coverage of collective agreements is modest, and the content is thin, especially outside of the public sector, so this coordination mechanism will need to be worked on if the adequacy of income in Croatia is to be relied on," explained Matkovic. He believes that a significantly larger area for collective bargaining, provided by the directive, "would strengthen the position of work across the EU, and in Croatia is likely to reduce emigration and encourage investment in skills and productivity."

For employers, the cost of labour is a calculation of competitiveness, especially emphasised in the circumstances of accelerating inflation and rising costs of raw materials. "Any increase in the Croatian minimum wage has significant consequences for employers, especially in the situation we're now witnessing when there's inflation, the rising cost of living and rising energy prices across the market.

If we take into account the consequences of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, it's clear that employers can hardly bear the new increase in costs, without these costs being accompanied by a reduction in the workload,'' they said from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), also pointed out that they're aware of the need to increase the living standards of citizens, "but it is necessary to apply a rational approach that will not lead to new layoffs."

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