Romania starts importing Asian workforce for HoReCa, industry, agriculture (survey)

Romania-based companies operating in sectors such as HoReCa, processing, light manufacturing, agriculture, construction and services have hired in recent years foreigners from non-EU states, most of them hailing from countries with a standard of living below Romania's, shows a Smartree survey. 

The foreign employees' countries of origin are the Philippines, Nepal, Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Thailand. 

"In order to hire foreign workers, Romanian employers must go through several stages: obtain the hiring approval, a long-stay visa and the right to reside on the territory of Romania, the release of a residence permit for work or posting purposes, and the hiring approval. The latter is issued by the General Inspectorate for Immigration through its territorial branches and the company requesting it must fulfill certain conditions that include having no liabilities to the state budget in the quarter prior to the submission of the application, or not having exhausted the annual quota by categories of newly admitted workers to the labor market," the cited source said. 

The foreign employee's benefits package may include the flight ticket to Romania, shared accommodation and in some cases transport from the dormitories to the workplace, and a flight ticket to the home country at certain intervals of time. Foreign workers can also get meals and chefs cooking cuisine specific to their region. In order to facilitate their accommodation, employers can provide the group with a representative who speaks a world language. 

On the other hand, the major disadvantages coming with the hiring of foreign workers are the high costs entailed by the international employment process, along with the relatively long duration of the projects' completion. Another disadvantage are the differences in culture and spoken language, the integration of foreign employees into a new culture, a long hiring cycle starting with the paperwork and procedures to obtain all the necessary approvals from the state institutions, and the volatility of the incoming workforce.

However, the countries where foreign employees live and work gradually turn into multicultural, cosmopolitan centers with a wide range of newly formed skills that can contribute to the progress of society through innovation and creativity. 

The first foreign recruitment initiatives appeared in Romania 2 - 3 years ago. The reasons why Romanian employers resorted to this strategy are diverse and include the migration of certain social categories to more developed Western countries, the falling birth rates, changing demands for various jobs, changes dictated by new technologies, and the inability of the education system to meet the needs of today's employers. 

Smartree, one of the major providers of payroll and staff management outsourcing services, employs more than 90 people at its offices in Bucharest, Craiova, Pitesti and Timisoara.