Personal household services (PHS) encompass a range of activities designed to support individuals and families in their daily lives. These services are vital for improving personal independence, enabling work-life balance and increasing quality of life. As societal needs have shifted towards more flexible, community-based support services, in line with human-rights-based principles, the demand for PHS has also risen.

Over the last two years, the PERHOUSE project has aimed to enhance working conditions and service quality in the PHS sector across Central and Eastern European countries. With a focus on industrial relations, the project has addressed the rising demand for PHS due to the de-institutionalisation of support and social care. The project has sought to improve service provision by defining workplace standards, tackling undeclared work, and integrating PHS into broader industrial structures.

 As part of this work, the project has launched national reports and policy briefings for six Eastern and Central European Countries addressing the state of play of PHS and the role of social dialogue in improving working conditions for domestic workers.

The project’s latest report addresses the PHS sector and Social Dialogue in Czechia.

Challenges to the PHS Sector in Czechia

The PERHOUSE report identified a number of key challenges for both care and non-care PHS in Czechia. These challenges include:

• Underfunding of the sector
• A shortage of workers which is exacerbated by low wages, the precarious nature of employment contracts and the undermining of the social status of those working in the sector.
• Poor integration between home social services and home healthcare services.
• Legislative barriers.

Social Dialogue in Czechia

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the creation of the ALICE trade union to advocate for PHS workers. However, the non-care sector remains largely unregulated, with issues like exploitation and lack of legal protections. Social dialogue is limited and often excludes informal workers. There is a need to formalise employment and enhance support for care workers to improve conditions.

PERHOUSE Recommendations

To improve working conditions in the PHS sector the PERHOUSE report and policy briefing recommend:

• To enhance support for personal assistants and informal carers, whether in terms of provided qualification and training or financial support.
• To formalise working contracts and increase wages in order to make the sector more attractive to potential workers.
• To establish tripartite consultation mechanisms to facilitate dialogue and consensus-building on key policy issues.
• To implement policies and initiatives to formalise informal work arrangements in the PHS sector, including measures to encourage registration of informal businesses, compliance with tax and labour regulations, and access to social security benefits for informal workers.

To read the full Policy briefing in English, click here. To read the briefing in Czech, click here.

To read the full PERHOUSE report for Czechia in English, click here. To read the report in Czech, click here.

Additional Resources

A comparative video discussing social dialogue in the PHS sector across Central and Eastern European countries is available for those interested in understanding regional differences and strategies. To watch the video, click here.

Click here to read all of the PERHOUSE resources, including national reports for Poland, Estonia, North Macedonia and Slovenia.