To address the shortage of jobs in the country, Iran’s government has banked on the thriving technology sector. Yet, despite the alarming unemployment rate, fledgling service sector startups have difficulties with hiring unskilled workers. In this regard, traditional mentalities and new working conditions should be blamed.

In July 2018, when Habib Afzali and his business partner established Carno — an on-demand service that allows customers to order waterless car washes at their locations of choice — they thought their biggest problem would be to create enough demand to secure a safe profit margin.

But the problems that emerged were unexpected. Soon they reached a point when orders they received outnumbered the employees’ daily missions. “We have to cancel nearly half of our orders each day. We do try to keep our customers satisfied, but this is affecting our revenue,” Afzali, Carno CEO, told Al-Monitor.

They tried various approaches. At first, they set fixed monthly salaries, which is a common type of employment contract in Iran. Before the app was launched, they hired a small team. But most of the employees were not satisfied with the working conditions and left. “They preferred doing easier jobs at an industrial town with payment close to that of our company, but with fewer working hours,” Afzali said. Also, workers mostly came from the poorer, southern parts of Tehran or the outskirts of the capital. Therefore, they found it difficult to commute every day to the wealthier, northern parts of the city, where most of the customers are located, he said.