AmCham Serbia Home Page

I. Focused Meetings

1. The role of HR in the transformation of the organization
2. Working arrangements with foreigners
3. Insurance of employees
4. Sales performance management
5. Grading
6. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI standards) & HR Reporting
7. Organizational culture
8. Evaluation of employees
9. Social networks/business (as collaboration tool for employees)
10. Employers branding
11. Employees’ benefits

II. Regulatory challenges & Briefing Sessions related to labor legislation (i.e. Labor Law, staff leasing, flexible work, personal data protection etc.)

III. Qualify to be qualified (Kadar da budem kadar program)

IV.Soft Skills Academy for AmCham members

The HR Committee was actively engaged in the education of youth through AmCham’s Qualify to be qualified program, in which 16 members of the Committee held 12 different workshops on soft skills for the students of the Belgrade University. The Committee also initiated cooperation with the Belgrade Youth Office, thus creating another channel for contributing to development of young people.

Sharing experiences on HR topics was one of the most practical and useful activities that the Committee undertook in 2012. Specifically, representatives of various companies hosted several topic-based focused meetings, exclusively for Committee members, providing insight into their corporate cultures and best-practice discussions.

In 2011, the HR Committee continued with its activities in several areas: facilitating cooperation between the private sector and relevant state authorities, mainly through organization of seminars with the representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy aimed at better law implementation, hosting focused meetings and sharing experiences sessions on HR topics between Committee members and further developing of the soft skills program for students and young graduates, “Kadar da budem kadar” (Qualified to be qualified).

The Task Force Agenda for 2010 was comprised of the following activities:

• Advocating for amendments to Labor Regulations, specifically the Labor Law and the General Collective Agreement

• Exchange of experiences within our membership; focused meetings on specific topics such as: rewards for good performers, work/life balance, succession planning and talent management, situational leadership and the Y generation.

• Discussing implementation of regulations, specifically: the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Disabilities and Anti-Mobbing Law

Advocacy towards improvements in the Labor regulation in 2010 was thwarted by the lack of political support to changes in the Labor Law. Given such a conclusion at the meeting with Minister of Labor and Social Policy Rasim Ljajić in early September, AmCham representatives enquired about the possibility of addressing suggestions for reducing the excessive administrative burden through by-laws. Minister Ljajić invited AmCham to submit a list of such issues, which was done immediately, as well as comments on the first rough draft Amendments to the Labor Law. The latter, which encompassed the majority of AmCham comments from 2009 and further suggestions, were shared predominately with regards to the draft regulation on staff leasing.

An important focus of AmCham’s HR Task Force for 2010 was sharing knowledge and best practices within the HR community in order to broaden the exchange of knowledge and provide better support for corporate goals.

HR/Workforce Development Task Force specific accomplishments include:

• Compiling comprehensive comments on the General Collective Agreement (GCA) and Labor Law from member companies;
• Joining forces with the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce to present problems with the GCA in correspondence addressed to Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković;
• Submitting AmCham comments on the GCA and planning a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Labor and Social Policy;
• Through cooperation with USAID's Competitiveness Project, conducting a survey on internship programs currently implemented by AmCham member companies and obtaining formal support for internships from the Ministry of Sports and Youth as an activity that furthers their efforts related to the recently adopted Youth Strategy.