Incentives for employment of young people

The team at the enterprise Optiweb consists of project managers, marketing associates, designers, office heads, software engineers and the new addition, computer programmer Sebastjan Rechberger. The enterprise received employment subsidy from the Employment Service of Slovenia for hiring him on a permanent basis in the scope of the programme ‘Incentives for permanent employment of young people’.

Optiweb CEO Miha Lavtar admits that the financial incentive the enterprise received made it easier for them to decide to hire a new colleague. ‘’Whenever we sign an employment contract we need to be sure that the newly employed person will hit it off with the other members of the team, that their knowledge and skills will bring added value to both the enterprise and the team and that they will bring in profit.  Sebastjan excelled in all these segments during the trial period – he nailed it at the job interview, he was willing to learn, he passed all the tests, successfully completed a task he was given and also fit in perfectly with the rest of the team’’. Sebastjan admits how important it is for him to have a stable, permanent job, particularly ‘’in this period of my life when I’m trying to become independent and strike it out on my own’’. ‘’Sebastjan is undoubtedly a valuable asset to our team, we hit it off well; I’m glad to say we were lucky to pick someone like him,’’ adds Miha and underlines that they are considering expanding their team in the future, with profiles like software engineers, computer programmers and marketing associates.

The programme ‘Incentives for permanent employment of young people’ aims to encourage employers to hire unemployed young people aged up to 29 years on a permanent basis by giving them wage incentives (usually amounting to EUR 5,000). The measures increase both work and social activation of young people and reduce the mismatches in labour demand and supply.