The June heat wave has accelerated the peak of the season for holiday work. Entrepreneurs who have not secured staff for bars, restaurants, shops or hotels for the summer season in spring, are now having a problem. Therefore, they are urgently looking for people willing to work, which is more difficult than a year ago. As in previous years, this year too, most of the seasonal works are offered in catering, trade and construction, not to mention fruit and vegetable harvesting. The decreasing popularity of temporary work is confirmed by data from the Polish HR Forum and the Association of Employment Agencies. According to PFHR, the number of temporary workers has been decreasing since the beginning of 2018 and in the first quarter of this year it dropped to 320 thousand (by almost 30 thousand compared to the beginning of last year). This is the result of the shrinking number of candidates as companies try to keep employees for longer by offering permanent employment.
Although the choice of seasonal job offers is now better than in the previous year, and the wages in comparison with the previous holidays also increased (on average by 10-15 percent), the number of applicants has decreased. Many summer workers choose to work in Western countries. It often happens that even people with permanent jobs in the country take a month or two of holidays and go for seasonal work in the Netherlands, France or Germany. They can earn four times as much there in comparison to Poland.
Most seasonal work in Poland is performed by foreigners, most often by Ukrainians, although some of them now choose to work illegally in Germany. It is not easy to find seasonal workers, especially in horticulture. It is somewhat easier in gastronomy and commerce, where also the choice of offers is the largest. According to the Manpower recruitment agency, job offers in the event industry, which give employees the opportunity to participate in the event, are of great interest. For example, the Open'er Festival in Gdynia offered PLN 35 per hour and entrance to the festival. Companies that cannot provide such attractions sometimes tempt with free accommodation, meals and bonuses. This is what Jeronimo Martins Polska, the owner of Biedronka chain shops, does. In the summer, the chain enlarges the staff of shops on the Baltic Sea, filling vacancies with employees from other parts of the country. According to the JMP press office, this year about 240 volunteers will take advantage of job offers in the Baltic towns promoted as a "holiday with Biedronka". JMP finances their accommodation and commuting, and additionally, in July and August it offers up to 350 PLN gross monthly bonus for the seller/cashier.
More than nine out of ten young Poles planning to go abroad for work have (71%) or had (22%) close friends and acquaintances there, according to a survey by TransferGo (operator of an international money transfer platform), which in May this year covered over 500 people aged 18-35. More than two-thirds of them plan to work abroad for a year or more, half of which are thinking about seasonal work for a period of two months to six months. The most popular direction is Germany, which indicated almost every fourth of the respondents. The next most popular countries are the Netherlands and Great Britain (12.5% and 11.7% respectively).
Source: Rzeczpospolita / www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl