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IT Recruitment in Poland: 6 Reasons Why US Companies Move Their Tech Hubs

Poland is a frequent choice when it comes to opening another branch or investing in business or innovation. The giants of many American companies decide to take action in this location. One of the recent examples, is the announcement of Dell Technologies about plans to open a logistics center in this country.

Polish programmers are appreciated all over the world in terms of skills, which can be  confirmed e.g. by the Hackerrank ranking (Poland took 3rd place). What is it that makes American companies move their technology centers to this country? Why is Poland a better choice than other Central European countries? Can Polish programmers be great employees and play an important role in American software development teams? We will try to answer these questions by presenting Poland in the context of a very attractive business location with great potential in Europe.

Characterictics of Poland

Time zone

Poland is located in the Central European Time zone (GMT + 01:00). Countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria belong to the same zone. The change to summertime in Poland takes place on the last Sunday of March to the end of October. What is more, the time difference between Poland and the USA can be from 6 to 9 hours. When it is midnight in Warsaw, it is only 6:00 pm in New York. The time in individual cities is shown in the image below.

Business hours/time zone

  • 8:00 am – 4:00/5:00 pm, Monday – Friday – business hours and days
  • 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm – lunch break 
  • 40 hours – standard working week 
  •  Time zone: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT +1)
Time zone in Poland

Good English language skills

In Poland, there is no problem with communicating in English. When it comes to the knowledge of an exemplary group of Polish programmers, it is worth checking the results of the report on the IT labor market in Poland, which was published in 2022. Over 70% of the surveyed IT specialists declared that they use it at the B2 / C1 level.

In the context of searching for Software Developers in Poland, it is also worth considering other official rankings. The EF English Proficiency Index data shows that Poles occupy 16th place on the list of countries with high skills of the English language.

Cultural characteristics

It’s worth checking Hofstede Insights to see similarities between both countries. For example, a high score on the Masculine dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organizational life. Poland and USA are in this matter on almost the same level (Poland 64 points/USA 62 points).

Understandable types of contracts in Poland

In Poland, in the context of employing Polish programmers, you can most often meet with a B2B or UoP contracts. How are these employment contracts different?

The employment contract includes the rights and obligations of the employer and employee. The employer must pay the employee as previously agreed. The employee’s tasks include the performance of the duties ordered assigned by the superior. On the other hand, a B2B contract is an alternative to an employment contract. A programmer becomes self-employed by starting his own business to provide services to another company. In a B2B contract, the employee is responsible for paying fees related to employment, e.g. related to taxes. You can read more about the employment of Software Developers in Poland in our article about the types of contracts in Poland.

Reasons why US companies move their tech hubs to Poland

1. The high potential of the IT sector in Poland

Polish ICT sector has found itself among the fastest growing ones in Europe in recent years. For example in 2009-2014 average annual growth was on the level of 8.64%. It has increased in the last five years by 16.72%. What is more, In 2021, the value of the IT industry increased by as much as 19%, from 75 billion PLN to 89 billion PLN . For comparison: the increase in 2019 vs 2020 was only 9%. Retaining the present growth rate will have a good impact on the position of Polish ICT sector in the international arena.

Moreover, the country’s economy was ranked high in terms of the fastest growing nations in the European Union (EU) before the coronavirus pandemic hit the global economy. According to PARP reports, the IT industry accounts for about 8% of Polish GDP, employing over 430,000 people.

Additionally, the Ease of Doing Business Index shows that in 2020 the country was ranked 40 out of 190 countries analyzed.

2. Cost savings

The currency in this country is the Polish zloty (1 EUR = 4.70 PLN, 1 USD = 4.62 PLN – exchange rate on August 17, 2022). What’s more, this currency has two official symbols – PLN or “zł”.

Currency in Poland

How much do programmers in Poland earn when comparing earnings in the USA? Significant differences can be seen in the table below.

Annual salary of a Software Developers in Poland and USA

In order to take a closer look at the difference between the salaries of Polish and American Software Developers, we compared salaries taking into account the exchange rate on August 31, 2022 and data from websites such as Glassdoor and PayScale. If we look at the earnings in countries such as the USA (and Great Britain or Germany), it can be noticed that the salary costs of Polish programmers are relatively low. The table below contains data from 2021 about the salaries of IT specialists who were most in demand on the labor market in Poland. However, it is worth remembering that programmers expect a 20% increase in salary when changing jobs. You can read more about the salaries of specific IT specialists in our report on the IT job market in Poland.

The most sought-after specialists and their salaries

It is also worth checking the average salary depending on the type of seniority. When comparing salaries, it should be kept in mind that, as in any other industry, the ranges may differ significantly depending on the length of service, education and the specificity of the company. Junior is defined in this case as a person with up to 2 years of experience, Mid from 2-4 years, Senior 4-10 years, and Expert with more than 10 years of experience.

Average salary offered and received depending on seniority level

3. Location

Undoubtedly, the location of this country gives you a big advantage. From Warsaw itself, which is the capital of Poland, the road to major cities in Central Europe is relatively short. To give an example: from the Chopin airport in Warsaw to the capital of Germany – Berlin, the distance is 574 km by car. On the other hand, direct flights usually take only 1h 25 minutes. Poland is located in a good place, offering great opportunities in the context of quick travel to other European countries, especially when we need to participate in an important business meeting.

What’s more, Poles like to work remotely. Data from the Pracuj.pl survey, conducted in 2022, show that as many as 86% of Poles working remotely or in a hybrid mode declare that they also want to perform duties in these models in the future. In this group, 27,5% declared that they would like to work fully from outside the office. The possibility of working 100% remotely is important for IT specialists – 63% of the respondents from our report mentioned this model of work as the most important benefit. When analyzing the results of the survey, it can be noticed that as many as 48% of respondents want to work completely remotely, and 50% want to work in a hybrid mode (the most desirable model is 3 days of remote work and 2 days of work from the office). Only 2% of all respondents are willing to work only in the office.

The most popular cities in Poland in terms of business development

It is also worth mentioning the cities in Poland that have great potential for the development of IT companies. The cities considered to be the most attractive in terms of location for business in Poland are Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław. As for Warsaw, it took 2nd place in the ranking of business-friendly cities. On the other hand, in the fDi’s European Cities and Regions of the Future 2022/23 ranking, prepared by fDi Magazine, Kraków took 1st place in terms of large European cities. You can read more about the advantages of these locations in the article about the best IT recruitment agencies in Poland. The interest in these places can also be seen through the data we have collected in the report on the labor market in Poland. Most job offers in IT were posted on job portals with the indication of these three cities.

Ranking fDi

Good flight connections between Poland and the USA

Direct flights from Warsaw to New York, in the case of business meetings, take about 9h 20 minutes and take place 2-3 times a day (information from August 2022). Due to the well-developed airports in Poland, it is worth analyzing the arrival to this country from the USA, also to other cities.

Flights Poland - United States

4. Talented Software Developers who are appreciated all over the world

The fact that you can have access to talented IT specialists in Poland is best demonstrated by many contests. One of them is Google Code Jam.  Polish programmers took 1st place in 2005 and 2016, during this international programming competition. The other years are also successful (for example in 2018 Polish programmer took 2nd place).

If there are many qualified IT programmers in Poland, is it worth considering for IT outsourcing? To learn more, read the article “Reasons why you should choose Poland for IT outsourcing“.

5. Educated employees with a high work ethic culture

According to data from GUS, 19% of men graduated from higher education in 2021. However, among women it was 26.9%. It can therefore be concluded that the number of people with higher education in this country is high. Moreover, Poles are described as employees with a high work ethic, who care and take responsibility for their duties. The average number of hours that an employee in Poland works per year is 1766 hours, while the EU average is 1513 hours.

6. Presence of other highly developed American companies

Poland is an important destination in the region of Central and Eastern Europe for international ICT companies. Business processes are developed in Poland by American corporations such as Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, IBM, or Intel. It is estimated that the USA has invested 38,3 mld PLN in Poland over the last 30 years. The fruitful collaboration can be proven by many success stories from US companies, which opened their branches in Poland.

American companies based in Poland

Summary

If you consider opening a branch in Poland or cooperating with an IT recruitment company and you have doubts, we will be happy to help you. Software Developers from this country are great employees who are appreciated in American Software Development teams and other departments involving modern technologies. You can send us a message or we can talk during a free consultation. As an IT recruitment agency in Poland, we will be happy to help you.