Our History

2020 begins with major growth plans, somewhat lowered by the news from China about the start of a global pandemic. In the spring, the Latvian labour market experiences a turmoil. The economy slows down, entrepreneurs review their development plans, and many vacancies are "frozen". However, optimism returns to business at the end of the summer and autumn, and many companies adapt to the new conditions and create remote jobs. Managing of remote job interviews also becomes more common in WorkingDay. The year ends on a relatively optimistic note. Despite the decline in turnover, WorkingDay manages to close 2020 with good financial results. In spite the pandemic, an extensive CV processing system of job candidates is implemented, and investments are made in IT infrastructure to enable WorkingDay employees to work remotely. With the growing demand for IT professionals and skilled programmers in the job market, WorkingDay begins to strategically develop its IT specialization to provide services to international IT and FinTech customers. LMT, one of the most desired employers in Latvia, also chooses WorkingDay as a partner for selecting employees for IT positions.

In 2019, the demand for qualified specialists and top managers remained high. In order to satisfy the growing demand for specialists and executives, WorkingDay is joined by new personnel selection experts. The company becomes the largest provider of recruitment services in Latvia by sales turnover and the number of employees. WorkingDay company "WD Latvia", which provides staffing services, receives the Latvian Employers Confederation award "Best Employer" in the administrative service industry. The award is presented by the President of Latvia Egils Levits personally. The management of the company is carefully working on streamlining and modernizing internal processes - a powerful candidate management system has been deployed and work has begun on the development of a new website.

In 2018 the Latvian economy continued to grow and the demand for highly qualified specialists and managers remained constantly high. WorkingDay continued to develop its industry specialization, enabling it to understand the specifics of the client's business in-depth and to provide personnel recruitment services on an advisory level. WorkingDay service culture and the professionalism of its recruitment specialists enabled the company to join one of the fastest-growing international headhunting service provider networks: InHunt, which is represented in 32 countries.

In 2017 the WorkingDay office was once again on two floors. The volume of work continued to grow with management positions occupying an increasing proportion of recruitment projects. Since the day WorkingDay was founded, its recruitment specialists have specialized in selected industries. Therefore, the company’s management made the decision to develop further the previously built-in degree of specialization by training employees in line with the specialization of the relevant industry, sending them to relevant industry conferences, seminars and networking events. In addition to this, there is an increasing demand for headhunting services, because of the distinct lack of highly qualified specialists and top managers in the job market.

Year 2016 marks the qualitative growth of the company. Clients trust WorkingDay more complex recruitment and executive search assignments. In addition, the demand for the staffing and outsourcing service also increases, which is illustrated by the financial indicators – at the end of the fiscal year, the sales turnover of recruitment services increased by nearly 30% and the staffing service sales turnover by 25%. At the end of the year, WorkingDay management takes the leap and rents a larger office and employs new recruitment experts in order to meet the increasing demand for high-level recruitment services.

In 2015 WorkingDay invests in a design of a new home page and the modernization of the candidate database. Now the communication between potential candidates and recruitment specialists as well as designing CV becomes more efficient. The home page takes on a more modern vibe. The only confidential CV database in Latvia becomes more user – friendly also for our recruitment consultants. After the positive changes in the labor market, the fiscal year has ended similarly to the one before the recession. The company finally has free assets at the disposal for implementing future plans.

Year 2014 is full of development – the labor market lacks qualified specialists and managers. Demand for the headhunting services increases, and, in order to provide a high-quality service, the company recruits experienced consultants. In addition, the HR outsourcing service also takes a spin – major international companies join the customer base. Despite the company`s modest profit, development is evident in almost every aspect.

In 2013 WorkingDay celebrates its 15th anniversary! The company’s main operating directions are a selection of management-level employees and headhunting services. WorkingDay provides services more effectively and with highly competitive results thanks to its 15 years of experience in recruitment in Latvia. The company employs an experienced executive search consultant who has been previously employed as a member of the board.

In 2012 WorkingDay added the competence of Hogan Assessment tools to its existing candidate evaluation methods. At the end of 2012, the growth in the Latvian job market can be felt and companies began to plan business growth more optimistically.

The year 2011 was still a challenging one in the recruitment field - companies were very cautious in creating new jobs and tried to fill the few vacancies available by themselves by placing job ads online. Demand for high level managers and specialists began to grow; especially the kind that a company can only recruit from another company by offering better conditions. WorkingDay makes the decision to increasingly focus on offering a direct search or headhunting services.

In 2010 a number of personnel recruitment companies in Latvia go out of business. WorkingDay has a duty to its long-standing clients to remain in the Latvian market and continue to provide high-quality services. Seeking additional ways to survive the recession successfully, the company starts to develop recruitment services overseas. However, after the company’s management visits UK and sees firsthand the conditions being offered to workers from Latvia and following a sharp exchange of views with the institutions responsible; WorkingDay’s management closes the section “Work abroad” in an effort to stem the exodus of the workforce from Latvia. The second half of the year sees the Latvian jobs market showing signs of recovery with companies starting to offer jobs once again. Having restructured the company, WorkingDay hires two new employees. A ray of sunlight appears between the dark clouds of the recession, but everybody knows that the recovery of the job market will be slow. The results of the annual study “Most Desirable Employer” also reveal growing optimism within the job market – the decline in salary levels has stopped and there are fewer instances of salaries being paid “in an envelope”.

In 2009 unemployment clouds gather over the Latvian job market. On March 22 Welfare Minister Uldis Augulis informs State President Valdis Zatlers that 113,000 people or 10.4% of the population are out of work in Latvia. Hard times set in within the personnel recruitment sector – businesses optimize human resources and there is a threefold reduction in job offers. We tighten our belts and continue to operate in economy mode and have sufficient commissions to survive thanks to our formative work in previous years. In light of the economic crisis, we defer the development of a new Internet homepage in expectation of better times ahead and continue to improve the functionality of our existing page and recruitment methods. By now the “Most Desirable Employer” study has become a tradition; so much so that it is the subject of considerable interest from employers from the very start of the year. In spite of considerable optimisation measures requiring significant funds, the company ends the year in profit.

2008 brings serious turmoil to the Latvian economy. In contrast, thanks to its leading position in the market and experience accrued over a decade, WorkingDay continues to develop successfully and even manages to increase its market share. The company launches a new service – direct search or headhunting. This is also a fruitful year for WorkingDay’s friendly team, because the latest employee to take maternity leave is the seventh mum to do so whilst working for the company! In a further development, the Association of Business Consultants collates information about the turnover of Latvian recruitment companies which shows that WorkingDay once again retains its stable position in 1st place this year. In November the company celebrates its 10th birthday and conducts the “Most Desirable Employer” study once again.

In 2007 WorkingDay was the recipient of more good news! A study of the personnel recruitment market in Latvia conducted by the Latvian Association of Business Consultants revealed that WorkingDay had the secured the prestigious number 1 position among Latvian recruitment companies according to sales turnover. The company continued to grow rapidly by introducing the CRM system in its daily work and systematising its daily work with clients.

In 2006 WorkingDay personnel recruitment services “entered Europe”. WorkingDay began to recruit employees for companies based in Denmark and Norway. Exclusive co-operation was commenced with several Internet portals including TVNET, Building.lv and VID.lv. By the end of the year, the number of employees working within the company in recruitment reached 30 and more than 40 employees were leased to WorkingDay clients. The company’s management decided to establish WorkingDay as a model company in employee motivation and work organisation. Various additional bonuses for employees were introduced. These included health insurance, loyalty bonuses for the number of years spent working for the company, training and experience exchange. The management structure was improved. During 2006 WorkingDay helped customers to recruit 980 qualified specialists and managers. The company’s turnover continued to grow rapidly and increased by 114% compared to 2005 far exceeding the planned figure of 40%. WorkingDay donated LVL 6500 to charity.

In 2005 WorkingDay began to establish a network of co-operation partners in the Baltics and the European Union. The first cornerstones were laid for its new “Business Incubator” project. The number of specialists employed by the company exceeded the 20 employee threshold that enabled WorkingDay to be recognized as Latvia’s largest personnel recruitment company. We rented an office twice as big as the previous one (in the same building, another floor) and ordered another aquarium. We began to actively develop our job interviewing and evaluation services. The third mobile phone operator Bite Latvia entered the Latvian market and selected WorkingDay as its exclusive co-operation partner in personnel recruitment. This happy event served as a quality sign of the services provided by WorkingDay. We also began to provide employee leasing services. Moreover, we sponsored the international student organisation, “AIESEC”.

2004 began well not only for us, but also for anybody using WorkingDay services. WorkingDay new Internet home page was launched which is much handier and attractive than the previous one. This was the first year when the popularity of the ‘Employment Stock Exchange’ organised by WorkingDay grew to the point that it was also organised as part of the ‘Construction World’ exhibition. During 2004 as part of WorkingDay’s preparation for Latvia’s accession to the EU, we entered into a co-operation agreement with one of Europe’s largest recruitment companies “JobPilot GmbH” which operates in 11 European countries; major goals can only be achieved through the choice of the most powerful co-operation partners!

2003 confirmed that WorkingDay had established a firm foothold in its market segment and had begun to grow rapidly. We organized the by now traditional ‘Employment Stock Exchange’ as part of the ‘Baltic IT&T’. We moved to a larger office that was brighter and more homely – on Baznicas street. We installed a large aquarium at the office and hired three new employees. Irrespective of summer and vacation periods our volume of work continued to grow. Suddenly, we understood that for the past year we’ve operated without any sales activities – servicing those clients who we found by ourselves or who came to us via the recommendation of our existing customers. We realized that there was still a lot of untapped potential in the company.

At the beginning of 2002, we entered into a three-sided agreement (signed by Minister for Special Assignments in State Reform Affairs, Janis Krumiņš, SIA ‘Latvijas Vestnesis’ and SIA ‘WorkingDay Latvia’) that ensured the re-publication of all job ads announced within the State sector on the Internet on the WorkingDay home page. We are the only recruitment company that represents the interests of the State. On October 15, 2002, we unveiled the first specialised recruitment and career Internet medium in Latvia, ‘Career Academy’.

In 2001, we organized a number of sizeable promotions. We were the first recruitment company in Latvia to organize an ‘Employment Stock Exchange’ as part of the ‘Baltic IT&T’ exhibition. Each participant at the exhibition had the chance to attract potential employees to their company during the exhibition. We organized a huge e-mail promotion ‘Five Friends’, which serves as the platform for the birth of the free ‘Job Agent’ service. We began to offer outsourcing and staffing services, which were then rather unknown in Latvia.

In 2000, we clearly defined our market segment, established an optimal product offering, and were able to boost a core base of loyal clients. As a company, we place special emphasis on employee competence and high corporate culture.

In 1999, we plucked the first garlands born of our commercial activity, being the first company in Latvia to offer recruitment services on the Internet. It was hard work explaining to our clients what the Internet is and why employees could be found there. We began to compile a CV database (... if only we’d known that one day it would become the biggest in Latvia...)

On November 2, 1998, battered by harsh autumn winds and rainfall, a recruitment company is born. Three founders of the company empty a symbolic bottle of delicious French wine leaving their autographs on the bottle.