Polish workers going back to Britain

I have lived in Poland now for around eight months, great place, good fun, very happy here. However my partner and I have met and spoken with quite a few Polish people who returned to Poland believing that things had changed and Poland was now a country on the up. However although there are more jobs to be had, lots more in fact. The pay and conditions are still fairly poor. Even trying to get an employer to pay minimum wage can be quite hard for some, and then they have to work long hours without a proper break, maybe work six days a week. It really is no wonder that many young Polish people are returning to the UK. My friend was offered just 800 plz a month to work as a receptionist in a very large private medical centre. There is no doubt that there are jobs to be had, it’s just crazy that employer expect worker to survive on such terrible money. Does the government not have an agency to enforce the minimum wage? I thought this was the home of solidarity and workers rights! The sooner the EU officials give employers here a good old ’kick up the bum’ the sooner Polish people will be able to stay and enjoy there own beautiful country. A fair and honest wage, for a fair and honest days work. Is that so much to ask for?

Their minimum wage is certainly not enforced if they have one. I've heard of people working for 4PLN per hour distributing fliers. That's about 1 pound. Depending on age, it's around 5.85 in Britain or 5.15 if I'm not mistaken. Inflation has noticeably increased and people here can spend quite a lot. Just look at trolleys in Tesco when you shop. Those people don't look so well off to me either with the way they are dressed.

Plk123, I believe that I said 'some are and some aren't' etc as a patent but you definitely coined one of the phrases that really applies to much of life here. Namely, 'voodoo economics'. It defies belief how some manage on what they have. Many in the West can look forward to saving up some cash after busting a gut but Poles push hard just to break even and make ends meet. That's not life, that's just existence.

Is there a minimum wage in Poland? I don't think so though I could be wrong.
Some of the working conditions I've heard about in some jobs in Krakow are beggars belief.
For example our school would hired folk to give out leaflets on street corners. I don't think anyone who took the job was paid higher than 600pln a month. My ex worked for Atlantic Gym in Krk and she was on 1200pln working 6 days a week often 12 hrs a day. The laughable thing about that job was that the owners would try their best to not pay them the full wage or on time. Every month she was deducted 400-500pln for sports drinks going missing from a drink machine that had no lock on it! :D

I think because there are so many students in Krk it brings down the wages, but this also happened in Kolbuszowa in the South East. My ex father-in-law to be was paid 600pln a month stacking shelves in a local shop. horror!

The minimum wage in Poland should be:- 1,317 zlotys PLN as of 01.01.2010.

fedee.com/minwage.html

WTF? How can you survive on that? You would make that here on a Friday night in tips.

And one wonders why they would go back to the UK...

not following the labour law in Poland is one of the reasons why so many leave and are willing to work for peanuts, bearing often difficult conditions regardless of education.

Also, it is ( I heard) financially hard for the employer to pay the worker a full wage, because it is related to high costs, which in this case is ZUS, which part of it has to be paid by the employer. Therefore many hire people on contracts, so the employee covers the cost of ZUS and such. How much of it is true, I don't know, but when I worked in Poland I worked as independent worker and I had no choice, otherwise I would have not been hired.

More and more companies in Poland stray away form paying ZUS for the employers, because it is too expensive.

I guess here lies the explanation for a mass exodus of young and educated people in Poland.

Well, some anyways.

On the other hand many people get jobs because they know somebody, so they are hired not because of what they know, but who they know.

The minimum wage here is much higher than that in the UK. Nearly a tenner an hour for those working in catering and hospitality.

God knows how he done it, his wife was a teacher and they lived in the countryside where it is a lot cheaper, but still it's a pittance.


I work for Electrolux in Krakow and I often wonder how some of the "accountants" have jobs there. For example they have people with degrees in Journalism ect working in the accounting teams. No experience but they are there just to punch numbers into a computer.

Looking at your posts lads the average wage must be about £100 per week, is this reflected in the cost of living and the price of property. What would the price of an average three bedroom house in Warsaw cost.

One of the reasons why there are so many jobs available in Poland: low wages are attracting foreign corporations.

Did he grow his own crops and have live stock?

If I spent the amount of time searching for coins on the street as he did stacking shelfs, Id probably have a thicker wallet than him at the end of the month.

you should meet the people who work in ZUS or Poczta Polska, I am sure you have, but the ZUS ones are just terrible, well, some. I had so many fights with ZUS that I finally left Poland lol.

I was very lucky, in all the years in krakow I never had to deal with ZUS once. Though they have a reputation for being the most incompetent organization ever. PP I had many an argument with though. To the point I paid someone to go there for me :D


He did actually, nothing big but enough for themselves. I would have done it myself but could never find a place with a big enough balcony!