Three prejudices and three truths about employees from Eastern Europe

ISSUE 1: Insufficient qualifications

This workforce is more cost-effective, but is it also sufficiently skilled?

On the one hand, employers from Western Europe find the employees more advantageous in terms of wage requirements, but on the other hand they have doubts about their expertise and qualifications. This prejudice is understandable, as it automatically follows from the fact that Eastern Europe is still lagging behind Western Europe in general development.

It is also possible to look at the prejudice from another angle. Historically in Central and Eastern Europe, craftsmanship and manual work have a significant tradition. These workers are really skilled and have a deftness in their hands. Especially in areas such as manufacturing, production, engineering, construction, warehouses…

Another fact is that many of the workers who travel to countries like the Netherlands or Germany are willing to ‘relax’ their demands and do jobs that do not match their qualifications. There are several causes. Firstly, many do not have sufficient command of the local language. This prevents them from fully exercising their qualifications. Second, these workers are willing to take even low-skilled jobs with lower pay because they hope to get a better job later in the future.

PROBLEM 2 : Poor level of language

What about language barriers, will the employee understand what his job is ?

Communication in the workplace with the supervisor is really important, even within the team it is better when employees understand each other and work as a team, which can bring better results for the company.

It goes without saying that if you want to travel abroad for work, you should be able to communicate in everyday situations. People from Central and Eastern Europe are also aware of this, and their language literacy is improving every year. They are simply aware that with at least one world language they have a much better chance of finding a job abroad, in this case in Western Europe, which is a very attractive job destination.

For example, workers from Romania. They are aware that they can only get along with Romanian in Romania, so knowledge of the world language automatically becomes a matter of course. In general, the more central the CEE country, the greater the English proficiency. English/German is already compulsory in primary schools and is increasingly being introduced even in kindergartens. Priority knowledge and compulsory instruction in Russian is a survival in post-Soviet countries, or for older generations a nostalgia…

PROBLEM 3: Lack of discipline and a different mentality

Are the workers from these countries disciplined, will they not be problematic ?

This prejudice is in almost all cases the opposite of reality. If we look at it again from history, it is the people from post-Soviet countries who are exceptionally disciplined. This stems from the former strict political-social regime, based on the fulfillment of plans, norms, goals. Employee discipline in the workplace was paramount.

It is also important to remember that most people don’t go thousands of miles away from family to make trouble. They leave to get a chance at a better life and to make their employer happy. They want to enrol well so that they can have as much job security as possible and be an asset to the company that has given them the opportunity for a decent-paying job.

And now some facts about the people we are looking for jobs in Western Europe

1. HAVE GREAT MOTIVATION

Frankly, they earn more abroad than they do at home and provide for their families. So they really care about the work, they try to make sure they get good grades. So they are really motivated to do their best.

2. THEY WORK EVEN WHEN IT DOES NOT SUIT THE HOSTS

Holidays, holiday season, overtime. The local employees are rejecting them ? People from Eastern and Central Europe are happy to take them on, so they have the opportunity to earn more and thus cover labour shortages at critical times.

3. EDUCATION AND TRAINING

In the previous political-social regime, there was a strong emphasis on education, and this tradition continues. The university system in Central and Eastern Europe is significant, affordable and specialises in engineering and science. In Ukraine, for example, a bachelor’s degree in computer science requires four years of training, which is more than in other countries.

4.ENRICH THE COLLECTIVE

When employees start talking about their culture and traditions, it’s the start of a new relationship. Even if the employer is initially concerned about differences, he soon finds that these differences and human curiosity rather unite, enrich and strengthen his team. The differences in culture are not that great and in general we can talk about cultural similarities between Western and Eastern Europe. We are all Europeans…