The introduction of the permanent seasonal worker category would alleviate the problem of labor shortage in tourism, as it would motivate the unemployed to retrain and have permanent seasonal employment and income throughout the year, the Chamber of Commerce (PKCG) estimated.
The Chamber said that the lack of seasonal workers is one of the business barriers in tourism, and in order to alleviate this problem, the Chamber of Commerce initiated the introduction of the permanent seasonal worker category at the competent institutions.
"In this way, the unemployed would be motivated to retrain and have secure permanent seasonal employment and income throughout the year in accordance with the positive experiences of the EU countries," PKCG told the Mina-business agency.
Representatives of the Chamber assessed that, although the tourism industry is permanently committed to creating an environment in Montenegro in which local workers have priority in employment, the current supply of professional staff in the tourism sector is not satisfactory.
"That is why it is necessary to enable employers to provide the appropriate workforce for their needs in the shortest possible time and with simple procedures. This can be achieved, among other things, by better promotion of the possibility of seasonal employment and through competent institutions to manage this process and arrange the business environment and mechanisms in which employers will have an additional interest in hiring domestic workers, as well as systematically make seasonal work more attractive to domestic workers", they believe. in PKCG.
The system, as they said, provides financial support and payment of contributions to seasonal workers and in the period when they are not working, in order to ensure the necessary workforce for employers from all industries who have periods of reduced workload during the year due to the seasonal type of business.
"These are people who have worked continuously for at least six months with the same employer and who will work with the same employer for at least another season, that is, at least six months," said the PKCG.
The legislative framework, as they assessed, should enable more flexible engagement of the domestic workforce, especially students and other segments of the workforce for which it is determined that there is a potential for engagement during the season.
"By the next summer season, through an adapted legislative framework, we are in time to create the conditions for the introduction of the permanent seasonal worker category and motivate the local population to tie their professional engagement to work in tourism. The aforementioned solution would significantly encourage young people to study for jobs in tourism, but also the unemployed to retrain for tourism occupations", according to the PKCG.
In order to do as much as possible to overcome the problem of labor shortage, the Chamber of Commerce is also an active participant in the project, which is being implemented with the support of GIZ, called Increasing opportunities for employment of seasonal workers in South-Eastern Europe, and the second phase of that project is being implemented. .
"Through the first phase of the project, a comprehensive analysis of seasonal employment in Montenegro, a technical specification of the software and a policy document (current situation, proposed reform and expected results of the reform) were prepared." In order to improve the current practice in relation to seasonal employment in tourism, through the project it is intended to apply the best experiences gained through the implementation of earlier projects in the region, above all the improvement of existing procedures and the development of software for the electronic registration of seasonal workers", stated PKCG.
As they said, the proposed reform would contribute to simplifying and shortening the procedures for registering workers, i.e. improving the efficiency of the seasonal workforce engagement system in tourism, increasing the number of formally engaged seasonal workers in that sector, as well as increasing budget revenues based on paid taxes and contributions.
"The unified electronic registration of seasonal workers, through the creation of an electronic web portal, will serve as a means of communication between the institutions and the applicant (employee or employer). This implies that the applicant will fill in all the data necessary for the procedures that must be completed in order to finalize the worker's application process in one application", the PKCG concluded.
Bonus video:
