Slovenian retirement homes are struggling with staff shortages with calls for applications to fill job vacancies attracting little interest. The situation is expected to get even worse as many employees are due to retire in the coming years.

One in four retirement homes is understaffed and only a quarter of job vacancies were filled in 2024, data from the Association of Social Institutions shows.

At the end of 2023 the social care sector employed 13,279 people, of whom 1,166 worked in care homes for adults with disabilities.

A survey conducted by the association in November 2024 across 79 care homes showed they had 343 fewer staff than standards require because of a very poor interest in care jobs.

Only 27% of vacancies filled

Care homes also have an above-average share of employees with disabilities and employees on long-term sick leave and maternity leave.

Only 9% of hiring calls for carers last year were successful, as were 13% of calls for dietary cooks, 19% for nurses with secondary education and 20% for nurses with a college degree.

Overall, 27% of vacancies were filled, compared to 30% in 2023 and more than 50% in 2020.

Over the next three years nearly 10% of all care home staff will retire and a further 7% will end their careers in the two years after that.

Foreign labour force one solution

Care homes are trying to mitigate the crisis by employing foreign workers. The share of those rose to 6% last year. Most foreign workers come from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, North Macedonia and Kosovo.

With ever fewer people willing to work for pay just above the minimum wage, care homes also have to look further afield to find staff.

In a bid to tackle the crisis after 13 of its staff retired last year, a Ljubljana retirement home has made arrangements to employ six workers from Nepal, initially to do simpler jobs such as cleaning and food serving.

Zlata Marin, director of the Tabor care home, told TV Slovenija last month she hoped the Nepali workers could start work in March, provided they can find them accommodation. "Through our own connections we've managed to book them accommodation at a student dorm," she said.

They speak English but the care home plans to use AI, or pagers to let them communicate in Slovenian.

Even though procedures to hire such staff are long and complicated, she says they are willing to hire more in the future if the experiment proves successful, but she urged the state to secure accommodation for such workers.

Despite demand many beds empty

Government data show 833 beds in care homes were empty as of October 2024, 440 of which because of staffing shortages.

The total capacity of the 143 care homes is 20,784 beds, meaning that around 4% were empty.

There were 37,201 applicants looking for accommodation at social care homes in January, with nearly 20,000 applicants designated as urgent admissions.

While new care homes are being built to meet the rising demand of Slovenia''s ageing population, the problem is still finding staff. In just one such instance a new retirement home with 60 beds is ready to open in Pivka in the southwest but has been unsuccessfully looking for workers since last May.

Minister for a Solidarity-based Future Simon Maljevac has promised the public sector pay reform will ensure no workers in social care receive pay below the minimum wage any longer, which should make jobs in the sector more attractive.

However, staff expecting rises under the reform have been disappointed as their salaries remain low, so they often opt for better paid and less demanding jobs elsewhere.

The ministry has also taken other stop-gap measures to improve the situation, including a new national professional qualification, optimisation of work processes, integration process for foreign workers, financing of employee training, scholarships, and volunteer programmes.