Progressing climate and environmental changes have led to an increased interest in environmentalism – also in business. Employers are striving to become more environmentally friendly. It is one of the factors that attracts customers and job candidates. There is a number of criteria which assess whether company’s activities are socially responsible. In practice, however, employers usually do not know which steps they can or have to take. And the range of possibilities is really quite great! – Kinga Polewka-Włoch and Karolina Karpińska comment for IT-Leaders.
Remote and stationary employees should be treated equally, but it does not mean that the employer has to provide them with access to identical benefits. Denying minor benefits does not justify an allegation of unequal treatment. – Slawomir Paruch and Kinga Rozbicka comment for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
The profile of employee from Ukraine has changed and it is mostly due to who could, can, and want to leave the country. Ukrainian authorities have banned men between 18 and 60 years old from leaving the country so only women with children from bigger cities were able to leave. These partly are women who have not worked before, because they were, for example, taking care for children – therefore they do not have any professional experience. They do have problems with understanding the language, though. The expectations of Polish employers are ill-matched to this profile. – Aleksander Dżuryło comments for pulshr.pl.
The parliamentary committee adopted the final version of the Labour Code amendment introducing the possibility to test the sobriety of employees and the possibility for employees to provide remote work. “I am in favour of introducing the possibility for employers to require sobriety from their employees, especially where the safety of other workers or bystanders depends on it.” – Sławomir Paruch comments for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
The basis for such data processing will be the employer’s legitimate interest concerning protection against potential claims. Thus, the data can be processed at least three years after the recruitment process has ended, as it’s the time frame for a candidate to bring a discrimination claim due to an unfair recruitment process – Łukasz Chruściel and Paweł Sych comment for Rzeczpospolita.
Today many employers face the problem of organizing working time of employees who work with overseas clients. It is not uncommon for managers to have to hold meetings at late hours when everyone has gone home. So, can different working time schedules be used for employees who are working under the same rules, and how can the work of such a person be organized so that the regulations on working time, overtime, and the right to rest are not violated? – Sandra Szybak-Bizacka and Michalina Lewandowska-Alama comment for Rzeczpospolita.
Many new employees hired by companies are “from the market”, with some experience and professional history. Headhunting is gaining popularity in the process of recruiting such workers across a range of different industries, although in some it is particularly popular (e.g. the creative industry) For a number of reasons recruiting an employee who is working for a competitor is a much more delicate process that hiring someone who is just starting out on their professional journey. – Milosz Awedyk and Jakub Grabowski comment for magazine Rekruter.
The discussions on the duty to switch on a webcam when working remotely has been brought up again by a Dutch court ruling (Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant in Tilburg, verdict of 28 September 2022, case no: 10072897 AZ VERZ 22-61). It dealt with the case of a telemarketer who, due to his refusal to switch on his webcam during a day-long training session was immediately dismissed for “refusal to provide work” and “insubordination”. – Karolina Kanclerz and Łukasz Marzec comment for Rzeczpospolita.
Offering higher salary to attract a candidate from the market may result in accusations of unequal treatment from other employees. However, this can be avoided in several ways. It is important to realise that offering higher salary suggests judging the value of new employee’s work more highly, whereas the underlying reason for a higher offer is attracting candidates from the market, not that their work is more valuable. In that case, it is better to use a different tool, such as a welcome bonus or a similar benefit payable on hire or, for example, after one year of work (in this case it would also be a retention feature). – Sławomir Paruch comments for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
From the legal point of view – I think that the new rules are, by far, more favourable to previous ones. Employers no longer have to obtain declaration on entrusting work or work permit – instead, there is a new notification system. Does it satisfy the employers fully though? – Aleksander Dżuryło comments for wirtualnemedia.pl.
