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Employments contracts in Poland (updated 2020)

In this article we will focus on the most common types of contracts in Poland – B2B, Full-Time Employment, Manager Contract and Civil Contract.

Man signing employments contracts with a black and gold pen

Plane Team

This article opens the series about topics related to hiring employees in Poland. We'll have a look at polish work laws, obligations, benefits and all cultural ins and outs you should know in 2020. Thanks to this compressed knowledge base you’ll get familiar with Polish employee’s expectations even before hiring one!Right now let's focus on employment contracts we have in Poland. This article will describe the following contracts: Business To Business, Full-Time Employment, Manager Contract and Contract of Mandate.The next article will focus on public holidays in Poland and will present you the cultural overview concerning that topic.

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B2B 🤝

You are probably acquainted with B2B contract which is the most popular contract when working with developers and other freelancers. In Poland, Business to Business is quickly gaining popularity and more and more employees are switching to contractors. The main reason for this is money — thanks to B2B, contractors get more money even though their salaries don’t change. It’s due to different taxation policies, ZUS contributions and costs of running own business(which can be included in the income declarations). Another advantage, much welcomed by contractors, is the flexibility which allows them to decide on their working hours. Also, opening a 1-person company is super easy, and everybody can do it in Poland. On B2B, an employer doesn’t pay for health insurance, days off, sick leaves or benefits. They can, but it’s not expected. Usually, B2B is considered less stable as often when a project ends, a contract ends as well.

Full-Time Employment 🏢

The most popular and stable agreement. An employee is obliged to work (usually) 40 hours per week for the agreed amount of gross salary. Most of the paperwork is on the hiring side.Within the full-time employment contracts, we distinguish contracts for specific periods and indefinite periods. The latter is the most employee-friendly as they don't have to worry about losing a job out of the blue. An employer has to have serious reasons to fire a team member and obliges to notice periods, which depend on how long a contract lasted. If a contract lasted less than 6 months — 2 weeks' notice;If a contract lasted more than 6 months — 1 month's notice;If a contract lasted more than 3 years — 3 months' notice;As for contracts with a definite period, we have contracts for 3 months and for 2 years. Fresh hires start with 3 months (trial) contract and if both sides want to continue the cooperation, a new contract is signed for 2 years. If, after that time passes, an employee stays at the company, it’s natural to sign a contract for an indefinite period of time. 3-months-long and 2-years-long contracts are easier to break by employers as they don’t need a reason to let somebody go. The notice period for both types is 2 weeks.

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Manager contract 📈

A manager contract is unregulated by law so both sides of the contract work on its shape and content. This kind of agreement is usually used if nobody from the board wants to actively run the company as an executive. A newly recruited manager takes full charge of the business. This kind of contract gives a manager independence and flexibility (also concerning working hours) but also great responsibility. The salary is usually consisting of two parts, one is the fixed amount and the second part is changing, depending on the effects. Similar to B2B, the employer doesn’t provide paid holidays or paid sick leaves.

Contract of Mandate ➡️

Because of the low costs for an employer, it’s a very popular form of employment. The main differences between Full-Time Agreement and Civil contract is that the person signing it is not obliged to do the job on his/her own, it can be done by a third party. Contractors are also flexible concerning working hours and place, they don't have to be paid on a monthly basis and they are held responsible for all damages. There is no notice period, each side can break the contract at any time. The company accounts for taxes and contributions. The employer can but doesn't have to provide paid holidays, minimum wage, break during work, etc. It’s important to know that in cases when a contractor signed civil contract but works with the same requirements as in a full-time employment agreement, the fine can cost even up to 30K PLN.

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To sum up

Those are the most commonly used contracts in Poland. Which such a variety, we are sure you'll be able to find an agreement that fits both you and the employee you want to hire. If you’d like to hire somebody from Poland (or any other country), we can help. Request a demo with one of our experts.

Legal Disclaimer:

The information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.

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