1,674 employees hired in nine public companies in FBiH without a tender

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The FBiH Institutions Audit Office, in its report published this month, released data on employment in nine public companies in the period from 2014 to 2016. A total of 2,282 new employees were hired, of which 1,674 were hired without a tender, writes Patria agency. The largest number were hired at JP Elektroprivreda BiH, 652, with 420 hired without a tender. BH Telecom hired 277 employees, with 212 hired without a tender. JP Autoceste Mostar hired 195 employees without a single tender being conducted.

 

Table published in the report of the FBiH Institutions Audit Office

According to the data provided and shown in the table, it is evident that public companies hired new employees intensively during the observed years.

- Management opted for less transparent hiring methods provided for by internal acts when hiring. Namely, although internal acts provided for the possibility of hiring through public advertising, the audit confirmed that in practice this was one of the rarest methods of hiring. It is also important to highlight the fact that competent institutions, namely the FBiH Government and relevant ministries, do not possess data on the number of employees in public companies hired through tenders or by other means - stated the FBiH Institutions Audit Office.

According to data obtained from public companies, hiring candidates based on received applications is prevalent in almost all public companies in the sample.

- This refers to hiring that was not conducted based on a public tender/advertisement, but exclusively based on individual job applications, which, as stated by the interviewees, arrived at public companies through various channels (protocol, e-mail, websites). Out of the nine companies in the sample, only one company did not hire based on received applications. It is important to note that most companies that hired based on received applications did not provide transparent information about employment opportunities through applications on their websites. In the given circumstances, all interested and unemployed individuals did not have equal access to information, and thus to employment - the report states. 

After the FBiH Government adopted a moratorium on employment, which, among other things, also applied to FBiH public companies, public companies had the possibility (according to the FBiH Government's conclusions) to hire, with the prior consent of the FBiH Government. The audit found that public companies used this possibility when hiring during the audited years.

- This method of approving employment in public companies was non-transparent to the general public, given that correspondence regarding employment approval took place exclusively between the public company, relevant ministries, and the FBiH Government. Unemployed individuals and the general public only had information that there was an employment moratorium in effect, meaning they had no possibility of being employed in the public sector while the moratorium was in place (which was continuously extended).

The FBiH Institutions Audit Office concluded that the legal regulations do not ensure transparency in hiring within FBiH public companies, nor is there adequate oversight of employment in public companies.