Almost 90 percent companies intend to hire

At the end of last year, 88 % decision makers from the shared services and outsourcing industry have declared plans to increase employment, despite the pandemic, according to the BEAS study. This sector is a leader in creating new vacancies. Shared services and outsourcing centers plan to invest mainly in human capital, product and service development, and new technologies. This means a growing demand for specialists. "Unemployment will continue to decline, there will be more job offers than good candidates and the so-called employee market" - predicts Artur Skiba, president of the Antal recruitment agency.

According to the Business Environment Assessment Study (BEAS), presented by Antal in cooperation with Vastint and Cushman & Wakefield, as much as 91 percent. companies operating on the Polish market are planning new investments in the coming years, and 67 percent. it will therefore create new jobs.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the situation on the Polish labor market and the business environment has not changed for the worse. On the contrary, after a slight slump in the second quarter of last year, the economy started to catch up not only in the third quarter, but also made up for losses with a vengeance - comments Artur Skiba in an interview with Newseria Biznes agency.

Investments are announced by all surveyed sectors: IT industry, shared service centers and production. The representatives of the SSC / BPO sector plan to invest mainly in human capital (58%) and in the development of products and services in the company's portfolio (54%). In turn, 43 percent. of respondents declare that the expenses will mainly concern new technologies, and 13 percent. wants to invest in the geographical development of the company, i.e. most often in the migration of subsequent business processes.

In this year's edition of the BEAS survey, human potential and infrastructure were assessed slightly better than last year. It is worth noting that there are areas, e.g. salaries for IT or legal positions, where there is a clear increase - adds the president of Antal agency.

The sector is intensively acquiring both young talents and more experienced employees from the market. It is also constantly developing staff competences, attracting more and more advanced processes to Poland.

Poland is still a very attractive location for investors who plan to develop geographically. The largest cities enjoy the greatest interest: Wrocław (28% of responses), Warsaw (24%) and Kraków (20%). This year, Katowice was also in the lead (19 percent).

The decision-makers we interviewed as part of the survey highly value Poland as a labor market. Polish IT specialists, language skills and the quality of work of our specialists are appreciated by foreign investors. For the labor market, this means that unemployment will continue to decline, and there will be more job offers than good candidates. This will shape the so-called employee market - predicts Artur Skiba.

Poland is still distinguished by relatively low labor costs, which makes it an attractive location for foreign investments. Potential investors also pay attention to the number of universities, the quality of education and vocational education. A particularly important indicator is the number of students in a given field of study, which shows the availability of future employees. Wrocław boasts a large resource of future engineers (27.9 thousand students), in Poznań the leading faculties are financial (18.5 thousand), and Warsaw has a potential in terms of employees for IT departments - over 11 thousand people study in the capital. students associated with this field of study.

The employment potential in Poland is already at a very good level, one of the best in Europe, and everything indicates that the following years are unlikely to change this trend. However, there are some dangers - emphasizes the president of the Antal agency. - Polish IT specialists are already highly appreciated by foreign companies, including companies that do not yet exist in Poland. We often get inquiries about offshoring teams that work for clients outside Poland. This means that we must take care of the resources we have, and at the same time ensure that graduates who leave universities meet the requirements of the labor market.

The BEAS survey shows that Warsaw is the leader in terms of specialized staff among Polish cities. The local labor market in the capital offers a wide range of employees with various qualifications. Wrocław and Poznań also rank high.

The pandemic has had a limited impact on the labor market, mainly because investments that had been frozen at the start of the pandemic started at the end of last year. Most companies have not only achieved pre-pandemic employment levels, but have even increased them. Rather, one should not assume that this will change - sums up Artur Skiba.