AmCham HR Committee – Hot Employment Topics for Poland in 2024!

HR professionals and legal teams have no time to rest after a very busy 2023. What is essential to keep in mind, and how do you prepare for the new regulations and the HR landscape? We discussed these issues at the AmCham HR Committee meeting organized today.

Małgorzata Grzelak, the Co-Chair and the speaker of the meeting, provided a short list of most pending regulations that will impact job seekers, employers, and the overall workforce in the current year. Among others are the EU Whistleblower Directive (which urges companies to implement reporting systems promptly) and the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which takes effect in June 2026 and requires employers to review and establish transparent remuneration structures. Some other included labor inspection issues for 2024 and the waiver of fees for employment law claims.

In the second part of the meeting, Piotr Zygmunt, also Co-Chair and speaker of this committee meeting, provided the main conclusions from the Manpower report on the new labor trends for 2024. Data shows that from January to the end of March 2024, 33% of Polish employers anticipate an optimistic increase in recruitment, and 16% expect a decrease in employment. 49% plan no change, and only 2% percent of organizations need to learn their recruitment plans for this quarter. While all companies are expected to have positive employment plans, the most significant strengthening of the teams is declared by companies with 250-999 employees. The lowest predicted are declared by micro-organizations (less than ten employees). In Q1 2024, positive employment forecasts were declared by employers in all of the analyzed sectors, however, energy and utilities, consumer goods and services, transport, logistics, and automotive are on the top. Speaking about the measures employers take to counteract talent shortages, flexibility in terms of working hours and space, salary increases, and retaining employees already employed are the most useful. And what will be a priority for companies when planning HR strategy for 2024? HR leaders will prioritize a workplace culture that promotes a positive and healthy employee experience. This is essential to retain, support, and engage employees so wellbeing is the answer (declared by 72%).

Thank you to all the participants of the meeting! Your questions and input added to our discussion.