Most Polish employees have worked with foreigners

The majority of Polish employees have worked with people of different nationalities, a poll new has shown.

According to the survey carried out by the recruitment website pracuj.pl, 56.5 percent had worked with foreigners. It also found that 61 percent of men have worked with non-Poles in contrast to 52 percent of women.

An overwhelming majority of respondents, 71 percent, expressed a positive opinion on working with immigrant workers, while 8 percent said the opposite. Even more people, 79 percent, said skills were more important than nationality.

Blue collar workers reported contact with foreigners more frequently than white collar workers, with respective figures of 65 and 56 percent, which may testify to the importance of Ukrainian immigrants in supporting industries that rely on manual labour.

New experiences are reported by 71 percent of the respondents as a positive aspect of working with foreigners, and 75 percent of Polish workers have no problems working with other nationalities, said pracuj.pl's HR director, Agnieszka Bieniak.

Among the main issues involved with such work, respondents name language problems (54 percent) and cultural differences (35 percent).

The Polish job market has been becoming increasingly internationalised, but the past 12 months have seen unprecedented changes, with some industries experiencing an inflow and others an outflow of foreign employees, especially when it comes to Ukrainian men, who left for Ukraine to fight in its war with Russia.

Forty-five percent say that the presence of Ukrainian refugees may affect the availability of job offers and 33 percent have no opinion on the matter.

The war in Ukraine raised concerns about being laid off for 32 percent of employees, while 36 percent do not share such concerns.

Pracuj.pl carried out the survey on 1,790 employed Poles.