The busman's holiday in Britain
Thousands of professional drivers have flocked to the United Kingdom seeking superior pay and conditions to those on offer in their native Poland.
Some of Britain's premier league concerns, including Tesco and the transport group Stagecoach, and a host of mid-level companies have turned to the new EU members - and Poland in particular - as a source of highly skilled and reliable workers.
The Warsaw-based Prostream recruitment agency has been involved in several contracts looking for drivers. Prostream's managing director Conall McGuire says the reputation that Polish workers have earned is well-deserved: "Polish employees are keen, well-skilled and good workers.
"In many cases they are well-traveled and familiar with the pitfalls and experience of working abroad. When you look at the construction field many may have worked in Germany, for example, and may even have one or two languages like German or English."
According to Grafton Warsaw's projects manager Europe Matt Morgan, the United Kingdom is looking at a projected shortfall of around 20,000 drivers over the next five years.
Recent press reports about the number of companies turning to Poland bear out the demand for drivers.
While Tesco's hunt for 140 Polish truckers may well have been one of the most high-profile searches to hit the headlines, other companies such as FirstGroup has contacted employment agencies in Poland to look for 1,000 drivers who would go on to work in Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare and Glasgow.
"The main reason why drivers go abroad are the financial benefits. We find drivers either move abroad any enjoy a significantly higher standard of living compared to Poland or they work hard and send money back home to Poland," said Prostream's McGuire. He says that while a driver in Poland can earn between zł.1,400 to zł.1,600 a month it is fair to say that when working in Britain they will pull in around five times this sum.
The Polish recruits to FirstGroup undergo a five-month English language training program and are taught bus-related vocabulary. They have to pass oral and written English exams and two interviews in English. For those selected in Scotland additional language lessons will give recruits an insight into the local dialect.
McGuire says employers are frequently delighted by the high skill base of their Polish recruits. "Polish workers will often have many skills. The company will find for example that their new driver does not only drive the vehicle but can also strip down the engine and fix it too. Now that's not an everyday occurrence in Ireland or Britain."
And what of reaction in Britain to this wave of drivers heading west? FirstGroup's Bath depot welcomed their new Polish drivers by organizing an 'international' tournament between the Poles and the 'rest of the world'. The outcome of the match of is not known but it is safe to say that the event took place at all is a result for both the drivers and the company.
