---
title: "A High Rate Is Not Always a Good Deal: 69% of Foreigners in Poland Have Faced Opaque Pay Practices"
description: "69% of foreign workers in Poland employed through employment agencies have encountered opaque schemes in how their salary is formed. The more agencies, the higher the risk."
date: 2026-09-08T05:10:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/wage-transparency-foreign-workers-poland
tags: [poland, foreign-workers, salary-transparency, employment-agencies, labor-rights, migration, ukraine, zus]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# A High Rate Is Not Always a Good Deal: 69% of Foreigners in Poland Have Faced Opaque Pay Practices

![Foreign workers sorting asparagus on an agri-processing production line in Poland — migrant labour conditions and pay](https://xab.info/media/2026/09/08/prozrachnost-zarplat-inostrannych-rabotnikov-polsha/prozrachnost-zarplat-inostrannych-rabotnikov-polsha-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- 69% of foreign workers in Poland employed through agencies have faced opaque pay, and 57.8% have encountered two or more such practices
- The likelihood of encountering opaque schemes rises with the number of agencies: from 44% with one agency to 88.9% with five or more
- 95.2% of workers with three or more years of experience demand a written explanation of a high rate before accepting a vacancy
- 44.5% of respondents have heard of cases of deportation or entry bans due to opaque employment arrangements
- Gremi Personal analysts note a shift in agencies' competitive logic: transparency matters more than the maximum figure in the advertisement

The Gremi Personal analytics center has published the results of a large-scale sociological study titled "Rates, Employment Schemes, and the Fear of Consequences," conducted among 600 foreign workers who are currently working in Poland or worked there within the last three years through employment agencies and intermediaries. The key finding: 69% of respondents had personally encountered, at least once, an opaque practice related to the formation of their rate or the structuring of their pay. A further 57.8% had experienced two or more such situations. Most often, workers cited unexpected deductions, "bonuses" in place of an official rate, and an incomprehensible calculation of taxes and contributions. The survey included citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Colombia, India, the Philippines, Nepal, and Uzbekistan, aged 18 and over.

### The More Agencies, the Higher the Risk of Pay "Surprises"

The study revealed a clear correlation between the number of agencies an employee had worked with and the likelihood of encountering opaque schemes. Among those who had worked with only one agency, 44% of respondents reported such an experience. The figure rose to 74.5% among workers with experience of two to four agencies and reached 88.9% among those who had dealt with five or more intermediaries. This indicates that repeatedly changing one's employer-intermediary not only fails to reduce the risks but multiplies them: each new contract may contain its own "pitfalls" in the calculation and payment of remuneration.

### A High Rate Remains a Magnet, but Trust in It Is Melting

Despite the accumulated negative experience, a high rate remains one of the main factors when choosing a job: 64.3% of respondents rated its influence on their decision at 4–5 out of 5. However, work experience in Poland gradually changes attitudes toward such offers. 74.5% of respondents noted that over time they have become more cautious in treating vacancies with noticeably higher pay. This is especially pronounced among workers with three or more years of experience: 95.2% of them either choose a fully transparent vacancy or are willing to consider a high rate only after receiving a written explanation of it and the opportunity to verify exactly how it is formed. In addition, 63.8% of experienced workers always or almost always check the agency and the working conditions before agreeing to a vacancy, whereas among those who have been working in Poland for less than three years, only 28.9% do so.

### The Fear of Deportation as an Additional Factor of Caution

Workers' caution is linked not only to the financial side of the issue. 44.5% of respondents had heard, in their circle, stories about return decisions, re-entry bans, or cases that the workers themselves described as "deportation." In the respondents' view, opaque employment arrangements create a real risk of legal consequences that go far beyond lost money. This is precisely why, as Gremi Personal analysts note, experienced candidates increasingly check not only the figure in the advertisement but also the agency itself, the contract, registration with ZUS, the content of the documents, and the legal cleanliness of the paperwork.

### What This Means for the Labor Market

Gremi Personal analysts conclude that a turning point in the competition for workers is arriving for employment agencies. "The attempt to lure workers solely with a higher rate is gradually losing its effectiveness. If the difference in pay has no clear written explanation, the highest rate begins to be perceived as a possible risk signal," the researchers note. Thus, the competitive advantage for agencies is no longer the maximum amount in the advertisement, but the ability to prove that the stated salary is real, transparent, and will not cause the worker problems in the future. Against this backdrop, the enhanced inspections of foreign workers' labor contracts, which have been carried out in Poland since 8 July 2026, are particularly relevant: upon finding actual employment on the company's staff, the inspections transfer workers onto official labor contracts.

### Contradictory Data

The study contains an internal tension between two key indicators. On the one hand, 64.3% of respondents still rank a high rate first when choosing a vacancy (4–5 out of 5), indicating the continuing dominance of the financial factor. On the other hand, 74.5% have become more cautious, and 95.2% of experienced workers demand a written explanation of the rate. These data do not directly contradict each other, but they point to a split in behavior: financial motivation formally remains the leading one, yet in practice an increasing number of workers are building a multi-level verification system, turning the "high rate" from an argument "for" into a potential trigger for additional verification. A methodological caveat deserves separate attention: the sample was formed using quotas by citizenship and work experience, rather than by simple random sampling. For a simple random sample of this size, the maximum theoretical error would be about ±4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level; however, due to the quota-based nature of the sample, this figure is only a statistical benchmark, not a strict error boundary.

### Context: How Much Is Actually Paid in Poland

To assess whether a "high" rate in an advertisement is adequate, it is useful to turn to official data. According to information provided in the same material, in February 2026 the average salary in Poland was 9,966 zloty gross, while half of workers earned no more than 7,690 zloty. Pay is significantly higher in the mining and digital sectors, whereas in small companies salaries are well below the average. Workers processing agricultural products on conveyor lines — as can be seen in photos from Polish processing plants, where employees in green uniforms and head coverings sort and pack produce — are generally at the lower end of this range, which makes any "surprises" in the rate calculation especially painful.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [A High Rate Can Be a Trap: 69% of Foreigners in Poland Face Opaque Pay](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/visoka-stavka-mozhe-buti-pastkoyu-69-inozemtsiv-1788767505.html) - Первичный источник данных исследования Gremi Personal. Все цифры (69%, 57,8%, 44%, 74,5%, 88,9%, 64,3%, 95,2%, 63,8%, 28,9%, 44,5%) и методологические параметры (600 респондентов, CAWI, 27 вопросов, квотная выборка, ±4 п.п.) соответствуют тексту. Цитата аналитиков Gremi Personal приведена дословно.
- [Ukrainians in Poland Feel Needed at Work but Superfluous in Society — Gremi Personal Study](https://antikor.info/ru/articles/796164-ukraintsy_v_poljshe_chuvstvujut_sebja_nuhnymi_na_rabote_no_lishnimi_v_obshchestve__issledovanie_gremi_personal) - Подтверждает авторство и методологию Gremi Personal как проводящего серию исследований среди иностранных работников в Польше. Не содержит противоречий с основным текстом.
- [How Many Refugees Will Not Return to Ukraine — Gremi Personal Study](https://minfin.com.ua/2023/04/13/104017168/) - Подтверждено по источнику minfin.com.ua
- ["They Rent Out Their Homes and Head to Poland." Traces of Treachery Found in the Situation with Ukrainian Refugees — What Is Wrong](https://biz.nv.ua/economics/statistika-migracii-ukraincev-v-polshu-issledovanie-gremi-personal-50396663.html) - Подтверждено по источнику biz.nv.ua

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: How many foreign workers in Poland have faced opaque pay?
**A:** According to the Gremi Personal study, 69% of respondents had encountered, at least once, an opaque practice in forming the rate or structuring pay, and 57.8% had experienced two or more such situations.

### Q: How does the number of agencies affect the risk of encountering opaque schemes?
**A:** Significantly: among workers of a single agency, 44% reported problems; of two to four agencies, 74.5%; and of five or more, 88.9% of respondents.

### Q: What do experienced workers do before accepting a vacancy?
**A:** 95.2% of workers with three or more years of experience either choose a fully transparent vacancy or demand a written explanation of the high rate. 63.8% of them always or almost always check the agency, the contract, and ZUS registration before agreeing to work.

### Q: What is the methodology of the study?
**A:** The study "Rates, Employment Schemes, and the Fear of Consequences" was conducted via CAWI among 600 foreign workers aged 18 and over using a standardized questionnaire of 27 questions. The sample was formed with quotas by citizenship and experience. The theoretical error for a simple random sample is about ±4 p.p. at a 95% confidence level; however, due to the quota-based nature of the sample, this is only a benchmark.

### Q: What is changing in the labor market for employment agencies?
**A:** Gremi Personal analysts note that competing solely on a high rate is losing its effectiveness. The competitive advantage becomes the agency's ability to prove the transparency and reality of the stated salary, rather than simply listing the maximum amount in the advertisement.