Integration of foreign workers into the Croatian collective - an inevitable prerequisite for business success

Your foreign workers have finally arrived in Croatia and started working - you must have been relieved. Now your positions are filled and you can take on more work or realize earlier ideas and plans. Are you sure that this is all and that something is not missing? The most common answer to this question is - successful and quick integration of workers into your team.

A significant influx of foreign labor into the Republic of Croatia began in 2018. However, the numbers only began to grow sharply in 2022, after the recovery from the corona crisis, and there is still no end in sight to this wave. Today, almost every Croatian company that is not micro-sized employs foreign workers, mostly from more distant countries on other continents. As a result, employers have mostly gone through all the experience needed to resolve the administrative steps and hire foreigners. But once we have acquired these basic skills, what is our next step? The Croatian government has already started to take certain steps in regulating the labor market, especially when it comes to foreigners. Therefore, it is natural, even at the level of private entrepreneurship, to ask ourselves: does it matter to me where and what kind of foreign worker comes to work for me? What can I, as an employer, do to help them adapt to the new environment as easily as possible and thus contribute to themselves, their employer, and, ultimately, our society as a whole?

Filip Gospodnetić is one of the few experts in the field of integration of foreign workers in Croatian companies and society. He has been engaged in this activity for several years, and his goal is to strengthen Croatian companies and make a contribution within our society, facilitating mutual cooperation, better understanding and tolerance between Croatian and foreign workers. He helps companies maximize the productivity of foreign workers by scanning the current challenges of the company, based on which he develops integration strategies and monitors their implementation. By educating foreign workers and mentoring managers in managing multicultural teams, foreign workers adapt better to processes in companies. In addition, financial losses are reduced and better cooperation between domestic and foreign workers can be observed.

Filip is a graduate psychologist who has worked on EU-funded projects on migrant education. During the 2015 refugee crisis, he volunteered at an asylum reception center where he taught asylum seekers the basics of the Croatian language. He is currently completing his PhD in social psychology on intergroup relations between different cultural groups.

One of the most important segments of the socio-cultural integration of a foreign worker into our society is knowledge of the Croatian language. To make this easier for you, we have connected with Diglossia, our reliable partner for language services. With many years of experience in written and oral translation and language teaching, their translators and language teachers will facilitate the integration of foreign workers and managers. Personalized programs help participants to speak Croatian quickly and confidently, and the teaching method can be adapted to your needs and held online or in person. With Diglossia, language stops being a barrier and becomes your bridge to success.

Are you interested in hiring foreign workers, and at the same time want to successfully integrate them into your team and our society? Contact us via the contact form or by email: info@fortitude-recruitment.com and take your company to a new, even more successful chapter of your business with the Fortitude Recruitment agency!