Poland

PolandPoland

Katarzyna Piotrowska Country Manager, Cpl Poland katarzyna.piotrowska@cpljobs.pl

Regional challenges in the labour market - Poland

The impending economic slowdown will certainly not bypass the Polish labour market. Companies devoted the last quarter of last year to reviewing the pro tability of production and services. Layo s already have been announced or are planned, mainly by large companies, and rms in the manufacturing and construction industry. Businesses with specialized employees are deciding to stunt the wage growth rather than reduce employment. These measures are due to rising in ation and the e ects of energy policies in the country.

IT – an industry immune to crisis and change?

Certainly, the IT sector will continue to be on a rising wave. First and foremost, because of the large talent gap, which I have the impression, has become even worse after an intense 2022. As soon as one organisation was unable to secure a new project for a particular specialist or even an entire team, there was immediately another company quickly absorbing those experts. An additional in uence on the situation has the high recognition of the experience and competences of IT experts in Poland, coming from all over the world. The experience of working remotely during the pandemic has shown that it is possible to work from anywhere in the world, which combined with the high openness to B2B contracts, makes it much easier for foreign companies to reach out to our specialists. In 2023 we anticipate further interest in experts from the areas: DevOps, Cloud, Blockchain, AI or ML.

SSC/BPO – the biggest beneficiary of the crisis?

The shared service centre industry will also continue to grow. After all, it is the economic considerations within organisations that determine the transfer of services to the broader SSC/BPO/ITO sectors. Companies looking to save money will opt to outsourcing services. However, even in this care, it is worth bearing in mind the remote work o ers coming from outside the country. In this case, an employment contract is nevertheless the preferred form of employment, which is crucial when choosing an employer. Accounting and nance experts, as well as high-level sales and business development managers will be in constant demand (although in this case, essential will be the industry and its resilience to the economic situation in the country).

The future is diversity

One of the challenges in the Polish market will be the Diversity & Inclusion e orts of the companies. In order to be an inclusive organisation, transparent and engaging processes are needed, so that employees have equal opportunities for career development, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, views, social status, type of disability and any other dimensions of diversity. Already at the recruitment process stage, companies will focus on the skills and experience of candidates as the sole criterium for the selection of candidates, rejecting other elements previously used for that purpose. Such move will signi cantly expand the candidate pool and bring diversity into the organisation. This variety of ideas and individual human qualities will drive companies’ operations and guarantee their further development. The Polish market invariably remains attractive to new investors, as the competence of our sta is widely appreciated. We therefore expect further investments in 2023, but mainly in the SSC/BPO/ITO sectors due to cost optimisation of further processes in organisations. Poland’s competitive advantage will de nitely be sta of specialists our market o ers.

The working model will matter

It is di cult to generally estimate whether 2023 will be the year of the employee or the employer. It will certainly be a diverse year. To a large extent, the situation will depend on the industry, its ability to withstand the economic situation in the country, but also on the organisations’ preparation for the coming economic crisis and their plan to get through it as smoothly as possible. Hybrid working will continue to prevail for o ce work, which seems a prefect compromise between the expectations of employees and the capabilities of the employees. The choice of the work model will be in uenced in no small part by the location of the o ce and the commuting time of the given employee. People living in remote districts or even suburbs will de nitely prefer remote working due to the commuting costs. Whereas those living in a convenient location will appreciate the energy, water or even co ee savings made from working from an o ce. Therefore, companies with a exible approach in this area, that is, those that o er a choice – hybrid or remote working, will have an advantage in sectors where we will continue to have a market for the employees.

Most in demand

TOP 4 most in-demand languages in SSC/BPO sector:

• French • German • Spanish • Italian

The most desirable roles in IT:

• Software Developers • Security Engineers • AI/ML / IoT / Blockchain Engineers • DevOps / SysOps / Cloud Engineers

The most desirable roles in Corporate Finance:

• GL Accountant • Finance Controller • Business Transformation Manager • AP / AR Accountant with foreign languages

What IT candidates are looking for:

• Flexibility on work from home model (remote/hybrid) • Competitive salary adapted to the rapidly changing market • Opportunity to choose form of contract (permanent, B2B) • Smooth recruitment processes (up to 2 meetings) • Upskilling and training support