---
title: "Polish Businesses Restrict Hiring: Why Companies are Shifting to Temporary Employment"
description: "In Q2 2026, Polish companies grew cautious about expanding permanent staff, increasingly relying on temporary employment, subcontracting, and foreign labor amid fluctuating market demand."
date: 2026-10-02T05:10:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/polish-business-restricts-hiring-temporary-staff
tags: [poland, labor-market, employment, economy, ukrainian-refugees]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# Polish Businesses Restrict Hiring: Why Companies are Shifting to Temporary Employment

![Office of a Polish company and temporary workers in the labor market](https://xab.info/media/2026/10/02/polskiy-biznes-sderzhivaet-naem-vremennyy-personal/polskiy-biznes-sderzhivaet-naem-vremennyy-personal-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- The NEI index rose to 54 points in Q2 2026, though economic growth outpaces labor market recovery.
- Businesses minimize risks by substituting permanent staff with temporary workers, outsourcing, and Ukrainian labor migrants.
- Job cuts persist in furniture and automotive sectors, while logistics, retail, and HoReCa show increasing demand.

In the second quarter of 2026, the Polish labor market demonstrated a distinct trend: despite general economic improvements, companies are exercising caution and avoiding the expansion of permanent staff. Instead, businesses are increasingly shifting towards flexible work formats, including temporary employment, subcontracting, and outsourcing. According to National Employment Index (NEI) data, the overall index rose to 54 points in Q2, reaching its highest level since the first quarter of 2023. However, experts warn that this growth does not yet signify a full recovery of the labor market, as macroeconomic indicators are improving at a much faster rate than employment figures.

### Flexible Formats and the Role of Foreign Workers

According to Gremi Personal founder Yevhen Kyrychenko, modern Polish companies are primarily striving to retain core personnel and selectively close emerging job vacancies. Additional staffing needs are increasingly being met without growing permanent payrolls by utilizing temporary workers and external subcontractors. Foreign workers, particularly Ukrainians, play a significant role in this process, helping companies address personnel needs for linear positions without the burden of large permanent teams. Such cautious behavior is driven by unstable demand across several economic sectors, prompting management to focus on optimizing internal processes, enhancing power efficiency, and strictly controlling costs.

### Sectoral Differences and Dismissal Statistics

Employment dynamics within the Polish business sector remain uneven and heavily dependent on specific industries. In particular, staff reductions continue to be observed in the furniture and woodworking industries, equipment manufacturing, and the automotive sector. Conversely, demand for workers is growing in logistics, HoReCa, retail trade, food production, and select infrastructure segments. Regarding official dismissal data, the private sector reported 7,247 collective redundancies in Q2 2026, virtually matching figures from the previous year and decreasing by roughly 36% compared to Q1 2026. Unfinished redundancy procedures at the end of June also dropped slightly to 18,200 workers.

### Migration Trends and Labor Market Outlook

In parallel with shifts in corporate hiring, a growing trend has emerged among Ukrainian migrant workers in Poland toward short-term employment lasting just a few months. Recruitment agencies attribute this demand to people's desire to temporarily leave Ukraine due to security concerns, earn income, and survive the winter in more stable conditions. Meanwhile, the total number of job vacancies in the country at the end of June stood at 98.7 thousand, according to GUS. The Polish labor market is gradually stabilizing, but businesses remain hesitant to engage in mass hiring, preferring flexible staffing models that adapt directly to current market demand.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [Польский бизнес сдерживает наем: почему компании привлекают временных работников](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/polskiy-biznes-strimue-naym-chomu-kompaniyi-1790862594.html) - Данные исследования NEI, комментарии Евгения Кириченко (Gremi Personal), статистика GUS по вакансиям и увольнениям полностью подтверждены.

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: Why are Polish companies withholding permanent recruitment?
**A:** This is due to unstable demand across several sectors, corporate drives to control costs, increase efficiency, and rely on flexible employment models.

### Q: What role do foreign workers play under current conditions?
**A:** Foreign workers, including Ukrainians, help Polish businesses quickly address entry-level labor shortages without expanding permanent headcounts.