Are foreign workers really better than Hungarian employees?
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A recent statement by Sándor Czomba, Hungary’s State Secretary for Employment Policy, sparked significant debate within the Hungarian labour market. Czomba claimed that foreign workers “outperform” their Hungarian counterparts, igniting discussions about the implications of such a statement. Melinda Mészáros, President of LIGA Trade Unions, acknowledged some truth in the claim but stressed that Hungarian workers should not face threats from their employers because of this.
The context of Czomba’s remarks was positive experiences with Filipino workers, who are described as diligent, committed, and often overqualified for the manual labour roles they occupy. This led to questions about whether foreign workers indeed contribute more to Hungarian production compared to local employees.
Company perspectives: Foreign workers perform better
According to Pénzcentrum, recent research highlights that although workplace turnover has decreased, many companies still rely heavily on foreign workers. Respondents in the study did not deny that guest workers often outperformed their Hungarian colleagues. Companies cited a lack of sufficient and high-quality local labour, lower and more predictable turnover due to fixed-term contracts, and the superior performance and resilience of foreign workers as reasons for this preference.
However, employing guest workers is not without challenges. According to Katalin Csikós-Nagy, fluctuation management expert, Managing Director of HR-Evolution Ltd., language barriers necessitate translators and multilingual materials, complicating processes and organisation. Cultural and religious differences also require training for leaders and integration programs for employees. Moreover, employing foreign workers can be costly due to the need for housing and catering provisions.
Threats to Hungarian workers
Melinda Mészáros of LIGA Trade Unions explained to Pénzcentrum that companies often prefer guest workers because they work long hours, frequently overtime, and rarely take time off. This is largely because their families remain thousands of kilometres away, eliminating the work-life balance issues common among Hungarian workers. Filipino workers, in particular, come to Hungary solely to work and send money back home, which companies find appealing.
Yes,they really are much more better than the local ones.
Hungarians workers have constantly been complaining all day long.
Voting for a dictator over the last 14 years made them to be lazy impostors.
Hello! They do not work longer and more hours because their family us far away, they work because they have ambition, something lacking in local workers.
Is it they have a BETTER Work ethic ?
Not so relevant, but the fact that Hungary needs mixed immigration including temporary contract labour, international students, tourists etc. who are ‘net financial contributors’ paying taxes to support budgets (the leaving) for more pensioners versus working age decline in the permanent population.
Further, without higher permanent immigration based on skills (inc. international student graduates), family reunion, heritage, refugees etc, then Hungary, with below replacement fertility and emigration, is destined for faster depopulation in the near future, for political and identity reasons.