Polish HR Forum has checked how much temporary workers earn in the 1st quarter of 2011. Organization of employment agencies, has examined about 80 thousand temporary workers representing over 150 occupations.
An average wage per hour in the 1st quarter of 2011 amounted to PLN 12.93. If he was employed full-time he would earn on average about 2 thousand zlotys gross per month. For comparison, the average salary in the enterprise sector in the 1st quarter of 2011 was PLN 3478.91 (data: Notice of the President of the Central Statistical Office on April 18, 2011). Given that about 70 percent of agency workers are employed on the production sites and the calculation of average for the whole market a profit-sharing is taken into account we can safely say that "temporary workers" compared with "permanent workers" can count on relatively high salaries.
Height of the earnings dependent on the gender indicates a clear advantage of men. Their average hourly wage was PLN 13.31, while women has PLN 12.65. 5% difference on the Polish labor market should not be so surprising. Throughout the EU, women earn lower wages than men employed on the same position - according to European data it is by 17.5 percent. Taking age into account, the highest hourly rate - PLN 13.28 – was given to employees from 25 to 50 years old. This group accounted for 42 percent of all “temporary” employees. People over 50 years of age who represent 8 percent of temporary employed earned an average of PLN 11.90 per hour. The analysis of the Polish HR Forum shows that temporary workers predominate among young people under 25 years of age. Their interest in this kind of job in the 1st Q of 2011 was up 50 percent. However, it does not translate into the size of earnings - "the youngest" earned the least, because only PLN 11.58 per hour. These people are mainly students and workers who only earn first professional experience - and therefore their rates are the lowest. In addition, the report of the Polish HR Forum shows that the amount of the hourly rate increases in direct proportion to the level of education. Employees with degrees employed as professionals earned an average of PLN 15.11 per hour - most of them were engineers, and they earned almost PLN 35.00/ h, then the experts in management and organization - about PLN 27.00/ h, system analysts and experts in the development of computer applications on average PLN 20.00/ h,; and financial analysts or human resource management specialists earned PLN18/ h. People with secondary or technical education who were working on lower and middle management positions, earned an average of PLN12.22. Graduates of vocational schools executing physical work such as locksmiths, welders, painters, forklift operators could earn PLN 11.04 per hour, while those with primary education – PLN 10.90.
Growing popularity of white-collar workers
According to a report of the Polish HR Forum temporary workers are increasingly being employed in direct sales or call centers. In the 1Q 2011, the agency worker employed as a salesman could count on an hourly rate of over PLN12.00/ h. In a call center the rates were slightly lower at around PLN10/h.
- So far, these were the foreign companies that often employed temporary workers, which affected market development and popularization of flexible forms of employment. The first global corporations, which have appeared on the Polish market, ran productive activity, and they, as first used the temporary employment agency. But for the last few years we have seen development of service sector firms. Temporary agencies are given more and more job opportunities in sectors such as call center or telemarketing. In response to increased demand from companies to recruit qualified office personnel we opened "Adecco Office" in July this year. It exclusively specializes in hiring staff of this profile. Until recently, the employees of the manufacturing sector accounted for 80 percent of temporarily employed, but it is slowly changing. In Poland the main motivator is indeed searching for a permanent job, but agencies are an important stage in this process because they increases the chances of workers on the labor market. Eurociett Data for Poland shows that nearly 20 percent of those working through them are permanent employees. As many as 60 percent of temporary workers choose this form because of flexible working hours, and 80 percent - because you can learn about different professional environment and gain experience - says Anna Wicha, Country Manager of Adecco Poland.
Place of work has also a large impact on earnings. People working in Mazovian region earned as much as PLN15.20/h, while in Subcarpathian, Lower Silesia and Małopolska it was more than PLN13.00/h. The lowest hourly rates - ranging from PLN11.34/ to PLN10.61/h were recorded in the Warmia and Mazury, Świętokrzyskie and Lublin.