In a recent survey of Randstad , the first two reasons that make an attractive company to prospective employees are firstly the attractive remuneration package, with the percentage being at 45%, much lower than last year when it was 75%. At second place is occupational development opportunities concerning employment, again with the percentage being lower than last year, as workers are now looking at other parameters when choosing a job.
While these two components are the two important elements that employees look at, 38% of employees also want a job that offers a good work-life balance.
The latest bill of the Ministry of Labour brought regulations aimed in this direction. These arrangements are flexible working hours, parental leave that can be transferred to the father, the right to disconnection (from teleworking), all within the framework of the protection of free time.
At the same time, recruitment and career opportunities are now being boosted for women, who are more affected by unemployment than men. Under the previous legislation, the mother enjoyed protection from conception for up to 18 months after birth. This protection is important, but in practice it had proved to be a disincentive to recruit women, because employers fear that female workers will be absent for long periods of time due to maternity leave and it will be difficult to dismiss them after the birth of their child.
However, with the introduction of corresponding leave and rights for the father, apart from balancing the role of both parents in the family, the disincentive to employ women was also addressed, since both mother and father are entitled to several months' leave related to the birth and upbringing of their child. Male workers are also entitled to paternity leave. The EU directive provides for 10 working days of paternity leave for the birth of a child.
In Greece, not only has the European directive been incorporated but paternity leave is increased to 14 working days. In addition, new parental leave of four months for both parents was introduced, with subsidy from the OAED for the two months, carer's leave for workers with relatives in need of significant care, right to be absent on grounds of force majeure, the right to flexible working arrangements for parents of children up to 12 years old (teleworking, flexible working hours or part-time work).