Serbia was recognized by the European Training Foundation as an affordable outsourcing market with great potential. This started with IT specialists around 2005 and spread across diverse industries due to a highly skilled workforce. Consequently, Serbia has become a recruitment pool for many international companies. Apart from affordability, there are other extremely important features that drive individuals and companies in the professional sphere and make Serbia a great market to do business in. As these features are deeply rooted in the local culture, they equally reflect on relationships between companies and their clients, employees and employers.
Leading the Serbian branch of a business and growing it to 100 people in the last eight years has enabled me to see the factors businesses coming from outside the country need to know.
Intrinsic Motivation
One of the defining traits of Serbian people is our sense of pride for everything we create in our personal and professional lives. This shows in the workplace through the need to know if we have done a good job or not.
In my experience, most people in Serbia are not afraid to receive negative feedback when it is provided in a respectful and constructive way. Rather, issues arise when there is no feedback at all or when it is not clear enough. Therefore, adequately provided feedback can be a great generator of motivation. Additionally, to many Serbian employees, a lot of motivation comes from the intrinsic need to feel accomplished about a job well done. External motivators through company incentives are, of course, valuable, but in many cases, not primary drivers.
Trust And Dedication
It is of the utmost importance for doing business in Serbia—both on the individual and company level—to build trust. Having a trust component between two parties is an essential component when trying to form a partnership or establish any kind of working relationship. For example, although other markets tend to be more price-sensitive, in Serbia, a client company often will not change its service provider simply because there is a somewhat cheaper alternative if it’s less familiar.
When it comes to relationships between employees and their employers, I believe it is exactly because of this trust factor that the Serbian job market has responded extremely well to remote work. As people in Serbia have the intrinsic motivation to do the job well and feel appreciated in the workplace, many work equally as hard when working remotely and without strict supervision. In general, people want to justify the trust placed in them by their employers.
No Nonsense Approach
When presented with a problem or a dilemma, most Serbians have a no-nonsense approach. We are very direct in identifying the problem and the necessary resources to solve it. Serbians tend to be direct, prompt and efficient when it comes to problem-solving.
The unique thing, though, is that the no-nonsense approach does not mean that we are not looking to create long-lasting relationships. On the contrary, people appreciate such an approach as a way to communicate and build relationships.
Less Ambiguity
It is my experience that Serbians thrive when there is no ambiguity in the workplace. By observing how other companies in the market function, I realized that many local companies did not have a developed HR strategy or a clear structure of job responsibilities and relationships. When the employer maintains clarity within the workspace, it is easier for employees to consistently perform and improve over time. I believe it is because of this that large international companies have been more successful than local ones since they often have clearly defined processes in the workplace and, therefore, are more successful in recruiting talent.
Job Mobility
Now, as opposed to thirty years ago when most worked in state-owned companies, young people in Serbia tend to change their job very often. This is not only in relation to the employer but also the type of work they do. According to the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, most people change jobs to gain personal development and become more employable as well as to ensure economic survival. Some leaders see frequent job changes as an issue; however, I think this recent trend is great as it indicates more freedom in the job market and a newfound confidence in the Serbian workforce.
In my opinion, the desire for a focused career and long-term employment with one employer is still very present. However, the insufficient support from the HR community makes it more difficult for people to find a job they are completely satisfied with. Some change as many as 10 jobs before finding a suitable one. According to an article in The South East European Journal of Economics & Business, in most Serbian companies, as in those in other former socialist countries, human resource management usually meant more administrative duties as opposed to core HR activities—recruitment, career planning, performance appraisal, among others. In contrast, in developed markets such as the U.S., people receive support directly from employers and indirectly from places like headhunters that offer job opportunities. This allows people to find a suitable job without as many transitions.
The increased mobility in the Serbian job market is now driving companies to support employees more in terms of work-life balance and professional development. Such a transition should enable the younger generations to have more focused careers, become experts in their fields faster, and job hop less. This in turn will lead to prompt individual and company growth, consequently boosting the Serbian economy overall.
Conclusion
There is a huge potential to be unlocked through developing the right HR practices in Serbia; its skilled workforce is dedicated and productive when supported in the right way. Because of all the specificities of the professional environment in the country, international companies that wish to do business or hire in Serbia can benefit from having an intermediary or a guide who will ensure an adequate approach to the endeavor, Forbes writes.
