3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company)

I suppose they would need a Dutch Native Speaker if, umm..., they ever need anything written in proper Dutch. Just a thought... I don't know.

Considering that I still see signs, adverts, menus etc. written in bad English, I think that all companies should employ more Native Speakers. For a small business, alright, it might not be that important, but I see these mistakes by fairly large, international businesses.

On that note, has anyone been out past Janki on the A2 recently? There is a large shelf warehouse out there which has a massive sign saying something like "We supply shelves all over the Europe" it used to bug me to no end. You make a massive sign but can't find a native speaker to check your article usage.

This bothers me in my homeland as well, not just picking on Poland.

is it?

So you march in and say, "I can speak native Dutch" which means I deserve to be paid 50% better than the rest of the poor shlubs you got workin' here?

if it was a Dutch company, operating in Poland, and Dutch speakers willing to live and work in Poland were scarce, now you've got something. but all he's said is, "an international company" and I fail to recognize why being able to speak native Dutch automatically grants you a huge increase in pay over your counterparts on the off chance that one day they'll need something Dutch translated or a Dutch native will call up, unable to converse in English to the rest of the customer service reps, when we all know Dutch people speak English better than most of Europe. after the first 6 months goes by and I still haven't found a use for your Dutch, I'm gonna start asking myself why I pay you so much.

if Dutch people speak English, and Polish or German or whatever person speaks English within that company, and the people calling speak English, why should I pay you double for your Dutch?

That's right, Fuzzy, since most Dutch callers shall speak English, why should (a non Dutch) company pay a Dutch native speaker much more than the other employees? Languages are not treated the same way on the work market. Some languages pay more and rare languages pay a lot even in Poland but Dutch is not one of them since most Dutch are able to use English. Besides what skills and experience does the guy have besides speaking his native language (which we all do)?

Just out of curiosity, how do you manage to live on such a low income in Warsaw which is not a cheap city at all?

if you work for a company for a while, the routine raises do not add up to the salaries offered to incoming hires at your level.

I left a company I liked, then I came back two years later at almost double the salary.
So look around, and ff you find something that pays more, make sure you let the current company know that you cannot survive on their salary and leave on good terms.

@david It is not that difficult to live of that amount of money. If you calculate everything good you can even leave some money if you do not spend it for stupid things.

There are still many reasons to pay more and hire native speakers instead of a Polish speaker with Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Finnish or whatever. This is anyway

not relevant to the topic anymore - my question has been answered and topic can be closed.

From what I have heard, the cost of living is Warsaw is roughly the same as Amsterdam, only the wages are lower.
I don't know why somebody would live in Warsaw when they could live in Amsterdam or the Netherlands in general for that matter.
Plenty of terrific places to live in the Netherlands, not so in Poland.

Listen up - there are many reasons for me as Dutch person to move to Poland, remember that life is not only going about money - there are many other important things and reasons.

But you are the one who is complaining about money.

Terry, this is not relevant to the topic. First of all be happy that forgeiners want to move to Poland and work here, support their choice.

Not every single person care about the money when they immigrate. Am I complaining about money? Yes, maybe a little bit - so what?
Can I not complain when I am not happy with my salary? Ofcourse I can - what is your problem?

You really are dutch aren't you?
In less than a week you've gone from complaining about money, to saying that leaving isn't an option because you like your job, then considering leaving, but first wanting to see if you can get more money, then explaining that you can quite easily live off your existing income.

What are you??? A Transformer.......... first it's a car, then it's a plane......then it's a bike.

I will let you in a little secret,,,,,,, Dutch people always think they are the hardest workers in any given group, and there always happy to tell everyone this.

3 times you've avoided the question.

i wouldn't give you a raise, either.

Yep, I can second that. I'm native Dutch, and I worked in Krakow in outsourcing for 1,5 years. Some 5 yrs ago now.

Starting salary if I recall well was around 5,500 zl gross/month. When I was promoted to manager around 8k zl gross monthly. These figures were normal then for native Dutch speakers.

The salary OP has posted is a joke for a native Dutch speaker in PL. Especially in the capital, where salaries (and costs) on average are higher than Krakow.

Money may not be everything for job satisfaction, but working this much below average salary level is a whole different story.

So what do you think would be a normal salary?

That is a question that nobody can answer you and me. Salary depends on position, work experiences, location and much more.
I think for a native speaker in Poland a start salary should be around 3K - 4K netto.

Holendrem wrote:


salary depends on RELEVANT work experience.

hence, when you work in an international company, the ability to speak some random language natively that nobody has a definitive use for shouldn't have any impact on your salary.

let me ask you this: if a Polish person went to Holland to take a job in an international company, should that person get paid more than other Dutch workers because he speaks native Polish?

If you read a few replies back you can read my answer. Yes, a native speaker should always get paid more, why? They know the language much more then students that learning any language at the university. Native speakers can use their own language at work - believe me 99% of all international companies in Poland pay native Dutch around 1 - 2.5K netto more

to native speakers. If you apply for a JOB at IBM you get as Polish + second language 3K gross and a native will get 4K gross.

Fuzzywickets is right, native dutch speakers do only get paid higher as polish employees when speaking dutch is relevant for proper functioning of the job. It is a bit stating the obvious, however.

this is hopeless.

i'm done.

Infosys pays a basic salary + a language bonus. I think that is typical for all BPO companies. Native speakers get the highest bonus, if their language level fits into the job description, Average salary for a native speaker there is around 4200 PLN (including 1500 PLN language bonus). I am talking about gross salaries and entry/mid-entry jobs.

Of course general salary levels in £ódż are much lower as in Warsaw. Why it is a magnet (as Katowice is) for BPO companies.

indeed.

Fuzzy, with all due respect, I don't think you quite understand what these jobs are.

They're normally outsourced jobs in support roles - so knowledge of the target language is absolutely essential. Yes, many Dutch people speak good English, but support jobs by their nature require the support to be in the native language. This is why native speakers are getting a premium for the work - their language is absolutely spot on. There won't be issues with miscommunication and so on - hence they can command a higher salary. It won't be native speakers getting extra as such, it will be anyone with a C2+ understanding of the Dutch language.

English may rule at the higher levels, but in support positions, the target language is absolutely essential. Mr Dutchman who needs his schedule organised will want to speak in his native language, not in a foreign language, hence why these jobs exist. Let's not forget that the Dutch who are getting the jobs done for them may also not want to speak in English - why should they? They may not even speak English - what use would English speaking support staff be if they can't even communicate in Dutch?

And from what I've seen, international companies still have a heavy use of native language.

Nor do you. Or I. Or anyone else who has read this thread. The OP has provided practically no information at all about the job, or about why he, in particular, should receive more pay. He has said doodly-squat about his qualifications, other than that he speaks Dutch, which, without further context, is neither here nor there. Fuzzy's frustration is understandable.

I assume the guy works in some sort of call center. If he has no other qualifications or prior experience in sales or IT, he probably is working in cold-call sales, low-level collections or some other just-read-the-friggin-script-word-for-word type job, for which 3500 gross is more than adequate, even for a native speaker. Native speakers in call centers don't earn 5000 to 7000 PLN a month unless they have abundant hard sales experience or solid technical knowledge. At no point has the OP intimated that such is the case with him.

A Dutch colleague was discussing a similar situation with us. The guy has all the qualifications plus 3 years working experience in call centres doing troubleshooting. He was offered 4000zl to start with and when the permanent contract came( which is said to be a rarity these days) it came to a staggering 4700zl.

He decided to consider other options and ,as far as I know, his love affair with Poland has come to an end.
This might just be international companies taking advantage of the fact that when they move here, as a cheaper location, they should get everything cheaper- including the labour as well!

Actually, cheap labor is the primary reason they move here. And reducing labor costs is always at the top of their list when hiring. Before the crisis, western foreigners could expect some level of largesse. Those days are gone, now, as there are more and more western foreigners willing to work for peanuts in Poland. Supply and demand.