Legal Eye: The Herculean task of employing foreigners
Fast forwarding to modern-day Poland, if you decide to employ a native speaker of English or other foreigner in Poland, a different ancient legend might come to mind: the trials of Hercules.
To employ a foreigner not only must you comply with onerous bureaucratic procedures for obtaining work permits and visas, but you are also limited in the manner in which you may structure the employment relationship.
The procedures for hiring a foreigner involve numerous steps, paperwork and lines to stand in, all of which taken together can require a couple of months to complete. In most cases, you start the process by posting a job offer for the position for which you want to hire the foreigner. As it is not easy to find, for example, native speakers of American English on Poland's unemployment rosters, this can be a mere formality. Next, you need to obtain a promise of a work permit for your future employee. On the basis of this document, your employee will seek a visa (or if a citizen of an EU country, a residency permit). Having obtained the visa or residency permit, your employee may now apply for a work permit. In the meantime, your employee will need to arrange for several more bits of stamped paperwork, including the all-important 'zameldowanie' or registered home address. But the light is now visible at the end of the tunnel.
Despite being a proud native speaker of American English, frankly, if I were looking to employ native speakers of English, I would be looking a bit closer to the European continent. Poland has waived work permit requirements for citizens of several other EU member-states, including Great Britain and Ireland.
This works well for English, but not so well for German, French or Spanish. Remember the outrage from two years ago on transition periods that certain EU countries instituted in reaction to the perceived threat of economic emigration from Poland? The French fascination with Polish plumbers is not new. Not to be outdone, Poland decided on a reciprocity standard for permitting citizens of other EU countries to work in Poland. Currently, reciprocity makes it possible for citizens of the following countries to work in Poland without a work permit: Sweden, Great Britain, Ireland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Malta and Hungary. Citizens of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Italy may take advantage of simplified procedures for obtaining work permits. Citizens of all other EU countries need to go through the full process for obtaining work permits.
The other difficulty that can arise in hiring foreigners relates to potentially increased costs. Beyond the issues of whether foreigners demand larger salaries or more benefits, a foreigner holding a work permit may be hired only as an employee pursuant to an employment agreement. In hiring people to perform a specific task or to perform essentially unsupervised work (such as teaching a course at a client's site), employers will often look to independent contractor arrangements (contracts of mandate or for a specific task). In hiring an independent contractor, an employer typically incurs lower costs, including lower social security contributions, no requirement to pay for vacation time and simplified procedures for terminating the contract.
Judith Gliniecki is the managing partner of Rymar and Partners
To employ a foreigner not only must you comply with onerous bureaucratic procedures for obtaining work permits and visas, but you are also limited in the manner in which you may structure the employment relationship.
The procedures for hiring a foreigner involve numerous steps, paperwork and lines to stand in, all of which taken together can require a couple of months to complete. In most cases, you start the process by posting a job offer for the position for which you want to hire the foreigner. As it is not easy to find, for example, native speakers of American English on Poland's unemployment rosters, this can be a mere formality. Next, you need to obtain a promise of a work permit for your future employee. On the basis of this document, your employee will seek a visa (or if a citizen of an EU country, a residency permit). Having obtained the visa or residency permit, your employee may now apply for a work permit. In the meantime, your employee will need to arrange for several more bits of stamped paperwork, including the all-important 'zameldowanie' or registered home address. But the light is now visible at the end of the tunnel.
Despite being a proud native speaker of American English, frankly, if I were looking to employ native speakers of English, I would be looking a bit closer to the European continent. Poland has waived work permit requirements for citizens of several other EU member-states, including Great Britain and Ireland.
This works well for English, but not so well for German, French or Spanish. Remember the outrage from two years ago on transition periods that certain EU countries instituted in reaction to the perceived threat of economic emigration from Poland? The French fascination with Polish plumbers is not new. Not to be outdone, Poland decided on a reciprocity standard for permitting citizens of other EU countries to work in Poland. Currently, reciprocity makes it possible for citizens of the following countries to work in Poland without a work permit: Sweden, Great Britain, Ireland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Malta and Hungary. Citizens of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Italy may take advantage of simplified procedures for obtaining work permits. Citizens of all other EU countries need to go through the full process for obtaining work permits.
The other difficulty that can arise in hiring foreigners relates to potentially increased costs. Beyond the issues of whether foreigners demand larger salaries or more benefits, a foreigner holding a work permit may be hired only as an employee pursuant to an employment agreement. In hiring people to perform a specific task or to perform essentially unsupervised work (such as teaching a course at a client's site), employers will often look to independent contractor arrangements (contracts of mandate or for a specific task). In hiring an independent contractor, an employer typically incurs lower costs, including lower social security contributions, no requirement to pay for vacation time and simplified procedures for terminating the contract.
Judith Gliniecki is the managing partner of Rymar and Partners
