What do HR professionals themselves say about the changes in Polish HR? What are the priorities, challenges and position of HR in organizations? What is the level of digitalization of this area and to what extent have HR-Tech solutions been implemented in companies?

Find the answers in the latest report

Changes in Polish HR according to HR professionals

created in cooperation of Pracuj Ventures, Pracuj.pl and Great Digital. Although the report is only available in Polish, below are the key findings of the research. 

Carrying out this year’s edition of the survey, we decided to update the areas it addresses. We took into account the challenges faced by HR in Poland at another turbulent time. After the pandemic and the outbreak of war (which strongly affected the areas HR was responsible for), an economic downturn has emerged. We are not sure yet how prolonged or how deep it will be. Therefore, we were interested in accurately diagnosing the current situation of HR in Poland and the expectations and challenges that HR teams face because of it.

Executive summary of the 2023 report

Current reality of HR in Poland

  • One in two of the companies surveyed, referring to necessary tasks for HR, indicate the need for ongoing monitoring of employees’ needs and moods.
  • Nearly 40% of HR professionals face frequent changes in priorities, the need to optimize the budget, as well as expectations to keep HR departments working efficiently despite reduced budgets.
  • At the same time, when making important business decisions in the company, HR’s opinion is taken into account in one in three companies, and one in two only if these decisions affect employees.

What has changed compared to the 2021 survey (first edition)? 

  • Compared to the 2021 survey, the biggest change in the area of significant activities in HR is the shift in priorities from recruiting to taking care of employee retention.
  • In 2021, the second most frequently pointed area of HR activity was the need to respond to the rising salary expectations of employees. Now it is the development of organizational culture.
  • Among the priorities for HR in 2023 we can see continuation of activities related to developing the competencies of leaders, which were already indicated during the 2021 survey.
  • Companies are developing the competencies of leaders not only in the area of team management, but also in career counseling.
  • Still (too) few companies are working on upskilling and reskilling employees, use agile methods of performance appraisal, or monitor the level of employees’ workload. Employee surveys conducted at least quarterly are also not common practice (they appear on average in one in ten companies), and one in four companies (as in 2021) does not carry out any activities in the area of HR analytics.

Work tech in companies – level and needs

  • The vast majority of companies have implemented several work support systems within HR teams or for employees. Those systems most often operate in payroll and recruitment areas.
  • Only a few percent of the companies surveyed have one main HCM system or are currently working to reduce the number of tools and applications they use.
  • Areas where HR in Poland feels lack of automation and proper tools the most are: HR analytics, onboarding, training and development and employee evaluations.
  • About 40% of companies admit that these are areas where the introduction of an appropriate tool would support and facilitate HR processes.

Advancement in specific HR areas

  • Data on the level of salary verification (done at the company in the 12 months preceding the survey), show that almost one in three surveyed companies did it in cooperation with an external company specialized in this area.
  • About 40% of companies used available free data, and one in five companies did not verify salaries at all.
  • When conducting wellbeing activities, one in three companies focuses on encouraging employees to develop sports, passions and other interests. 
  • One in four companies is trying to make its salary offerings more attractive to employees (raise salaries or offer other benefits that complement them).
  • 20% of companies provide access to specialists to help take care of the employees’ wellbeing. The same number of companies provide opportunities for individual psychological care.
  • One in three companies surveyed is looking for cheaper alternatives for employee development. A similar percentage of companies are looking for online formats.
  • Almost one in two companies expects that employees will take responsibility for their development, and 42% of companies prioritize leadership development so leaders can advise employees in this area.
  • When it comes to evaluating work performance, the dominant approach (present in more than half of the companies surveyed) is to hold employees accountable based on annual and/or quarterly targets. 1 in 10 of the surveyed companies does not evaluate work performance.
  • Half of the surveyed companies conduct surveys of employee needs, opinions, satisfaction or involvement (usually once or twice per year).
  • In 44% of the companies, the source of opinions on employee needs is team leaders. In one in three companies the source are questions asked by employees during meetings with management and in company communication channels.
  • The diagnosed needs of employees are discussed with management in 70% of companies, in 60% with company managers and in 50% of companies with the HR team. In response to the diagnosed needs, every second company implements changes relating to selected issues raised by employees.
  • In the area of HR analytics, the largest number of companies surveyed (28%) admitted that they conduct analyses and process HR data, but due to challenges in accessing the data, these analyses are conducted manually and ad-hoc. In a dozen of companies, the level of activity in this area can be described as an advanced level of people analytics.