A uniquely Croatian invention.
What TripAdvisor is for people travelling around the world, the Ocijenime.hr website could become for everyone who travels from counter to counter, from door to door of Croatian local and state administration offices, reports Index.hr on September 27, 2018.
The rating service for civil servants has been initiated by Viktorija Knežević, a lawyer from Dubrovnik, after an unpleasant incident which she experienced with an “uhljeb” – that same experience is shared by everybody else in Croatia. An administrative employee was exchanging cooking recipes during the working hours of her office while a citizen had to wait for her to finish the conversation.
“I am a lawyer and I live in Dubrovnik. Just like all the citizens, I often have to wait in lines. About two years ago, I needed some information from the state administration. First, they started forwarding me from one office to the next. I had to go through five or six different offices to find the right one. When I finally found the ‘correct’ official, she was in the middle of a phone call and just waved to me to wait. After about ten minutes, it was enough. I heard her phone conversation and heard her exchanging cooking recipes with her daughter. I have had it. These are your working hours for which you are being paid by the taxpayers, and you have left me waiting so that you can discuss recipes.
Then it occurred to me that it would be great if there was an official website where I could write a comment about their work and give them a rating. I thought that would give the users of their services at least some power. They would not be able to behave the way they behave. Why is the employment in public services so appealing? Because the only one you are responsible to is your boss. And if you are good with your boss, you can behave as you wish, no matter what the end users think,” says Knežević.
The project is in the initial phase and contains the names and surnames of town administration officials of four towns – Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Varaždin and Pula. There are plans to expand the project to other local government units, as well as to the state administration.
Employees can be rated with grades 1 through 5, and you can also comment on their work. Users can leave their marks and comments anonymously if they want. To use the service, it is necessary to register, for which you will need an email address or a Facebook profile.
Translated from Index.hr.
