Even though the timing for this measure is a little off since the elections are in 25 days, it is definitely a decision that was a long time in the making.
During its cabinet meeting on October 14th 2015, Government lead by Zoran Milanović accepted a document which sets the criteria for the employment within state owned companies of strategic importance. The decision itself is a result of recommendations from the European Commission on greater transparency and responsibility when it comes to companies of public interest with a special accent on experience and expertise of candidates for managerial positions. The Government decided that hiring for all high positions in state owned companies will be done through head hunting agencies, and they have also raised the bar in terms of conditions candidates will have to meet for managerial positions in the largest state companies, so instead of five years of managerial experience which was the requirement set ba in 2012, all new candidates will need to have at least 10 years experience in similar positions.
So, in the future, all CEO and directors in more than 50 companies effected by this measure will have to prove they have at least 10 years managerial experience in the corporate sector. They will also have to be acquainted with finances and accounting, international and domestic market and they will have to know at least one foreign language to a B2 level.
It all sounds good on paper, but why did it take 4 years to come to this decision? If this government (and we won’t even mention previous ones) followed their new directives, half of the current managers in state owned companies would not have a job since they just continued to fill these positions with people who were loyal to their parties, just like every government before them, and experience and expertise had very little or nothing to do with their final decision.
According to Poslovni.hr, Headhunting agencies welcomed this decision but they also warned things will probably not go as smoothly as the decision itself will make us believe since there will always be both political and media pressure involved:” Until now, headhunting agencies were not specialised for this particular activity because state owned companies never showed any interest, and this kind of cooperation is more or less standard in the EU and the US” Martina Jurković, Managing partner at Talentor Croatia commented. She also warned that companies should clearly define the area of responsibility and tasks of each future manager and define competences: “This will be followed by a very extensive evaluation process. In the beginning, we expect most candidates to show some objections towards the evaluation process but they will get used to it. These kind of extensive evaluations are beneficial for candidates as well, since they will receive information that can help their personal development”.
Experienced head-hunters reminded us of several cases where they were hired by state owned companies and they all failed because of the involvement of politics. The latest example is the case of the Board of ZG Holding where the members were selected by Pedersen & Partners and Zagreb Mayor Bandić fired every single one of them to replace them with more “suitable” candidates.
