POLAND Service centres with foreign capital are currently employing 150,000 specialists in 532 centres across the country, according to the latest ABSL report, ‘The Modern Business Services Sector in Poland in 2015’. This means that since April 2014, such companies have created 22,000 jobs across the country. Around 60 new Polish centres have been opened since the beginning of 2014. The report was released at the 6th ABSL Conference in Kraków, which ‘Eurobuild Central & Eastern Europe’ was a media partner of. It was drawn up in cooperation with Antal International, Baker & McKenzie, Everest Group and JLL.
Kraków, Warsaw and Wrocław lead the way
Over the last two years the number of employees in the sector has increased by over a third. “As many as 250,000 people could be working in the sector by 2020. This represents a quarter of a million jobs for university graduates, specialists and managers,” predicts Marek Grodziński, the vice-president of ABSL and the director of the European network of Capgemini BPO Centres. Companies that have decided to open centres since 2014 include: General Motors, FedEx, Mars, Owens-Illionois, Toyota and UPS. ABSL reports that in 2002 there were only a few dozen service centres financed by foreign capital, whereas in 2007 the number had risen to 200 and in H2 2014 there were more than 500. “This is another year in a row when business services constitutes the largest sector in terms of direct investment in Poland*. A total of 356 global companies currently operate in Poland. Thanks to this sector, Poland has now become a recognisable international brand,” claims Jacek Levernes, the president of ABSL and a board member at HP Europa. Kraków, where 35,700 people work in foreign-owned service centres, has been the main location for investors from this sector for the last two years. Warsaw is next in the ranking with 27,000 people in such employment, followed by Wrocław (23,700), the TriCity (13,700), Łódź (13,100) and the Katowice and Poznań conurbations with 11,200 and 9,000 workplaces in the sector respectively. “The business services sector has been having a big impact on the growth of the office market. Service centres currently generate 65 pct of the demand for office space in regional cities outside Warsaw. What sets Poland apart in investors’ eyes, is the large number of very well developed urban centres such as Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, the TriCity, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin and Lublin,” explains Anna Młyniec, the director of office leasing and tenant representation at JLL.
IT specialists form the largest sub-group with 15,000 employees in the sector in Poland. The second largest group are finance and accounting specialists, who constitute 22 pct of the total. Those working in processes related to the financial industry, such banking, insurance and investment services, make up 13 pct of the total. According to ABSL, business services in Poland are becoming more and more sophisticated every year, as 9 out of 10 of the companies surveyed responded. Poland also has the chance to attract global investment funds to put their money into this sector. However, this would require changes to the formal and legal regulations in terms of the simplification of the registration of international investment funds.
Noise and poor air-conditioning the main problems
“Noise and the poor performance of air-conditioning are the most disruptive factors in an office work environment,” said Anna Bartoszewicz-Wnuk, the head of research and consulting at JLL in Poland, during the panel discussion (‘A stimulating workplace – how to design a modern business environment to increase employees’ well-being, engagement and effectiveness’) moderated by 'Eurobuild CEE’s journalist Rafał Ostrowski at the ABSL Conference in Kraków. Other significant factors limiting productivity at work include long commuting times and a lack of space in the office. These were the conclusions of a survey carried out by JLL together with Skanska of BPO and SSC workers. Grzegorz Juszczyk, the head of the health education office in Luxmed, also said that every euro spent on the modernisation of office workplaces could generate EUR 2 or EUR 3 in return in as little as three years. This is due to the lower absenteeism caused by sickness (such as infections as a result of poor air-conditioning as well as back and neck pains) and the improved work productivity of employees as well as their greater loyalty to the employer. The panellists included Zuzanna Mikołajczyk (brand director and board member of Mikomax Smart Office), Dorota Blaschke (WPR manager of workplace resources at Cisco). Marta Domaradzka (workplace director for Poland at Accenture), Anna Bartoszewicz-Wnuk and Grzegorz Juszczyk. Tony Blair was the guest of honour at this year’s event.
