What's it really like being a Polish worker in the UK?

Hi there,

I'm a journalist researching an article on the issues surrounding migrant workers in the UK.

I'd be very interested to hear from Polish workers, or indeed anyone from the 'Accession 8' countries, who have come to live and work in the UK in the past two or three years.

What makes life in the UK better or worse than life back home?
Do you see your stay as temporary ? eg. To stay for a couple of years to make enough money to buy a flat back home?

Or are you keen to stay in the UK and make a life here?

I'm also especially interested to hear your employment stories:

Are you treated the same at work as your British colleagues?
Do you feel integrated into the wider workforce, or marginalised?
Are your skills and qualifications recognised and utilised by your employer?
How would you describe your experience of working in the UK?

Many thanks, I look forward to hearing from you! If you'd prefer to respond privately then please do email me.

The Polish newspapers say most Poles will come back from the UK soon - if the GBP drops another few percent because then it won't pay to work in the UK anymore.

I asked my flatmate. He said the following:


It used to be a girl, but now... ?


Dunno!


It is good.


Not really, but any qualifications are not related and don't add up to much anyway.


It's alright. I don't know!

For some unknown reason, he wants me to mention that his name is Bartek. I think he thinks this information will lure the ladies.

I would say that he is an example of someone who didn't have much of a career before coming to the UK because he's not very old. A (quite bad) employment agency found him the place he works at now. We stole him off the agency. He is treated as an equal. More than an equal by one or two people at work. It's terrible finding someone becoming more popular than yourself! Also, he has in the past varied between saying he'll go back to Poland to become a policeman (absolutely ridiculous if you know him) and staying here for the rest of his life.

I can just imagine!

I kind of took Osiol's approach here and "asked a friend" earlier on about these questions.

So here goes...


Currently life is not better and not worse than Poland just different but of course here, there is no family. Apparently this was first seen as a good thing (freedom) but now family is missed, especially a young nephew. However, new friends have been made, mostly within the Polish community though.

Originally the move to UK was seen as temporary with a view to just making some money and heading home to Poland to start again. Now though, there is thoughts of remaining here. This will depend on how the next year goes (apparently). So probably "dunno" would have done here as well...


My friend felt that he was overall NOT treated the same at work as British colleagues but that only one or two actually went out of their way to involve him in worktime chit-chat or after work socialising. That was one job though and he's since left. In his new job he feels more integrated but still notices the difference in the way British staff are treated.

His skills and qualifications are not recognised by his employer. (Unless you count his people skills - he'll talk to anyone :)

All in all, he reckons his experience of working in the UK is not what he thought it was going to be, it's been hard working two jobs but he understands that's what he must do to make money.


Then the Brits will mass migrate to Poland :)

From one particular lady at work, I got back and received a cheerful 'Hello, donkey! Have a good Christmas?' whereas Bartek (is this encouraging the ladies?) got a cuddle and a kiss and a 'Welcome back! We all missed you!' Grrr! It's not even the girl at work who he fancies!

PD, is this a large place where it is easy for co-workers to ignore eachother? I work in quite a small place and it is rare for anyone not to say good morning to anyone.

Hmm, so is it the girl at work who YOU fancy? :)


His new place is smaller. I kind of feel he sees the other males being all "blokey" and he's not a part of that. I think it's more that than being ignored. You can't ignore him, he'll talk to you anyway...

No, but we both have a love of cheese.


Maybe it's something that just takes time.

Where I work it is quite small. There are two Hungarians, a lady who is somewhat Italian, the girl who everyone fancies who is half Spanish. We've had loads of Australians and South Africans in the past, French, German, Dutch, formerly quite a few Irish people. More recently, there have been other Poles, Lithuanians, Slovaks emplyed through an agency, which is where we found him.

So there has always been quite a mix of people and very few problems certain trolls on this site claim to be commonplace. The common thread between everyone is a love of plants (or tractors and forklifts) and a certain level of insanity (why else would we all work for less than average pay, outdoors in the rain?) He was taken on full-time, nothing to do with qualifications, but because he liked the work and was prepared (most of the time) to work hard.


That is the kind of thing that helps.

Yes. I think I might have implied that he was being ignored. That's not the case. I meant that he sees an effort being made to make sure he's not ignored but at the end of the day, the British guys tend to group back together and chat and joke. That's natural I suppose and he's not the only Polish guy in his workplace.

This is just one guys experience though.


It should. At first I thought he just like to chat a lot in English to improve his English. Then I realised he talked just as much in Polish...

The star of the show in my Visit to Poland thread didn't learn much English, just enough for him to be able to talk talk talk talk talk. I remember a thread started by Admin where he says that Poles like to talk. Lots of people like to talk, but I have met some very good talkers even if they're not such great speakers.

edit: By 'star of the show', what I mean is that in the movie versions for example, especially the remake, the donkey's character is somewhat is sidelined in the plot to make way for someone who provides a lot more dialogue.

It's surreal how much he talks actually. When you talk to him he's listening but you can tell he's just itching to start talking again. I know the thread you mean about talking and I've just re-read it (well the original article).

He knows plenty of spoken English, it's his written English that lets him down and he knows it. It's part of the reason he won't go to college yet.

There are two totally different types of Pole working in the United Kingdom. Those which came in the 1980's came with sponsors and work permits due to the high level of their education. Now, they own their own homes and have a good standard of living. The new generation of Poles are mainly young and uneducated. They work anywhere where they can find agency work and sleep together in rented rooms. Many are university entrance failures or deserters who can not face two years national service. Some are nice, many are not so. I ignore all of them.

I bet they're glad you do !!

You are one very strange person..........who cares whether you ignore someone or you don't.

LOL never read anything so funny (haha ) for ages.........

You don't have to be mad to post here but it helps hahahaha !!!

:)

Is that why are you here, then?

Absolutely.........this is where I can study people like you ? Great innit LOL

:)


And furthermore, when you write that sentence it should read like this :-

Is that why you are here then ? You wouldn't put in a comma after 'here' and before 'then'....

Never mind the Polish lessons, you could do with some help with your English I think !

i was tempted to post in response of the comments:



But i really could not be ar$ed ... !!

Lol @Telefonitika :)

Nice to see you .

and you girl :D

Michel, you just can't help yourself can you? Do you know how annoying it is to see you constantly denigrate every thread with your own twisted personal agenda...

Anyhows, back to the original point. I'm around my Polish mates house tomorrow, probably, so will ask him the questions and get back to you... hope it helps!

Hi Guys, thanks for the entertaining answers! You seem to have a good little community going on here. Apologies for the rather blunt follow-up question though, but is anyone here actually Polish (and if not, why you are a member of a Polish forum - not being funny, am just intrigued)?

Would love some answers to the orignal questions, but if no-one can help then any info about where I could find a forum for Polish/Eastern European's in the UK (and written in English) would be gratefully received.

Many thanks,

Journo.

some people are Polish and some are not. Those who arent have some interest in Poland or Polish people for various reasons. There are other forums, but this is one of the best and there are some Polish people living in the UK who are on here... but maybe they are tired of the same question over and over again...have you tried doing a search on here? I think you will find many comments that might help you on previous threads.

Thanks for the explanation sapphire, that makes sense now. Yes I can see what you mean ? these questions have been asked before! But the truth of the matter is that a large part of the British media still sees ?The Poles?, or any of the ?A8? workers, as an unwanted flood of immigrants who have come here to exploit their great nation!

You so often hear stories about how these new immigrants are a huge drain on our public services (without taking into account the taxes they pay, or that many actually staff these public services).

All you hear about are segregated towns where the locals despise the immigrants, and the immigrants build self-imposed ghettos where the food, language, culture and religion are shipped over with them; and who therefore never socialise with their British co-workers or neighbours.

If this is really true, and the Daily Mail have got it right after all, then let?s leave it to them to monopolise the reportage on this issue.

If you think this media portrayal is unfair, however, then do let me know?

I take it you write for the Guardian.......

excellent post, keep it up

i think the polish come here because they can and they think life will be better-just like- the english go to spain-some have plans many just take it as it comes-but i think many go or eventually go back. i also think the traditional family values and expectations can be suffocating-so they come here for some "freedom" of expression-these people must then become confused by what they really want-hence the answer "dunno"