Nikolina, Antonia, and Jerka welcomed the move of the owner of the Split Shipyard when, two years ago, he introduced internal demographic measures in a decision to contribute to improving the overall demographic structure to save jobs and attract new workers. Statistical data show that fewer and fewer inhabitants of the Republic of Croatia are deciding to expand their families, except for the example of Brodosplit, where 144 new “boy and girl shipyard members” have been born in the last two years since the introduction of measures, and their number will soon increase.
“Brodosplit's demographic measures are being successfully implemented and provide us with a great sense of security. I am extremely grateful that my employer supports me during maternity leave, so I can enjoy motherhood carefreely. I and my 19 colleagues are currently on maternity leave, and we are looking forward to having our babies. Once more, it should be emphasized that Brodosplit is not only a generator of development and increase of job opportunities but also a pro-natalist company”, says Antonia Radović (36), a lawyer in Human Resources and mother of a six-year-old Bepo.
All DIV Group employees are paid a net amount of HRK 5,000 for each newborn child, and in case both parents work in the company – the amount is doubled. Parents of three or more minor children are given a special monthly allowance of HRK 200.00 for the third and each subsequent child, which, in the period of growing up and being raised by parents, amounts to a total of about HRK 40,000 per parent, i.e. HRK 80,000 if both parents are employed at Brodosplit.
Also, in the case of a full-time study of a child, the age limit for this measure is not 18 but 22 years or until the end of the full-time study. Each year, for St Nicholas fest, Brodosplit provides a gift to children up to the age of 15in the largest non-taxable amount. Also, at that time, there are usually gatherings with gift-giving to make that time of year as special as possible. Sick children of employees are donated the necessary funds to cover additional costs related to their treatment.
Over 2,200 workers work in Brodosplit daily, and the introduced measures have had a positive effect on many workers opting to expand their families. In the DIV Group, we try to keep all existing workers by encouraging pro-natalist policy. We are the only company in Croatia to immediately give every fixed-term employee in any of the companies in the DIV Group a permanent contract in case of pregnancy or maternity leave, to eliminate the postponement of the decision on parenthood for this possible reason.