The photograph is for illustrative purposes.

The situation in one domestic company sparked a debate about the amount of holiday bonuses and workers' expectations in the modern labor market.

The whole story came into public focus after employers from Croatia, whose company deals with land clearing and landscaping, posted a video on their official TikTok profile called dodoidosen (DODO&DOŠEN land clearing) in which they describe a recent experience with a new employee. The video quickly went viral and currently has tens of thousands of views.

While in Croatia Christmas bonuses higher than 500 euros are considered generous in public and regularly resonate as an example of good business practice, one new employee experienced such an amount as an insult.

Namely, a worker who had been employed by the company for only four months, with a monthly net salary of 1,300 euros, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the paid Christmas bonus of 700 euros. His reaction surprised the employers, but also raised the question of the realism of workers' demands in relation to the current economic situation.

The employee based his criticism on comparisons with large retail chains such as Lidl, claiming that he had heard that in such systems a full thirteenth salary is paid along with additional bonuses and Easter bonuses.

Such an attitude surprised the company owners, who pointed out that the amount of 700 euros represents more than half of the worker's monthly net salary, which is a privilege that few achieve after such a short period of employment. The employers recalled their own beginnings in other companies where, after two years of work, they received a symbolic 100 euros, which further emphasizes the enormous generational and cultural gap in the understanding of employee benefits.

One of the employers emphasized that it is not clear to him where such dissatisfaction comes from, given that the worker was given an opportunity and an above-average reward by Croatian standards

In a country where many workers receive nothing or receive only symbolic rewards and shopping vouchers, the news of dissatisfaction with an amount that exceeds the average Christmas bonuses in the country seems almost surreal. The fact that a payment of 700 euros provokes discontent from a worker who has only just stepped into the company indicates that some segments of the labor market have lost touch with the reality of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship. While large corporations can afford fixed benefit packages, smaller employers face a paradox in which their desire to reward effort is met with contempt instead of gratitude.