Slovakia has a long way to go to reach the level of other European countries in terms of labour conditions for employees hired by companies from employment agencies. “Everywhere, agency employees are more expensive than in Slovakia. Companies here are trying to find ways to keep agency employees as cheap as possible,” said KOVO metallurgy trade union head Emil Machyna.
While companies seek agency employment in other EU countries in order to have flexible staff, Slovak companies use it only to squeeze labour costs, says Machyna. He claims the bad social situation of people in poor regions is being misused by agencies that recruit them, adding that these people often only receive the minimum wage, while the rest is provided in cash outside legal methods. According to the KOVO survey, this may be costing the state as much as €7-8 million a month in taxes and payroll deductions. At the moment, there are as many as 50,000-70,000 such employees in Slovakia. Last week the Labour Ministry introduced an amended legislation improving the status of such employees. One of the changes is that salary conditions for staff hired from employment agencies should be the same as for internal staff.
