Everything you should know about Poland's business services landscape

300,000 and counting

ABSL’s recent report “EMEA’s Business Services Landscape” provides a detailed insight into business services sectors in 18 selected EMEA countries, including Poland. The report, co-authored by Deloitte, JJL and Randstad, notes that Poland’s thriving BPO/SSC industry has been one of the key growth drivers for the country’s economy in the last years. Nowadays, the sector employs more than 300,000 professionals in over 1,400 BPO (business process outsourcing), IT, SSC/GBS (shared services centers) and R&D (research and development) centres across the country.

The major business services hubs in Poland are located in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Tricity, but even the smaller cities - Białystok, Kielce or Radom - are becoming increasingly attractive to foreign investors. As highlighted by ABSL, the country has now become a regional leader in the overall number of centres and the total employment within the industry. It is estimated that over 400,000 people will be working in the Polish business services sector by 2022 - so far, the future recruitment plans seem unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most in-demand skills

Over the years, Poland’s business services industry has evolved from delivering mostly rule-based processes to performing complex business tasks: “As the market is mature, Polish centers are becoming increasingly involved in entire processes from end to end” (ABSL).

Today, the country provides an extensive range of services in finance and accounting, HR, software development, IT or logistics and procurement. When it comes to career opportunities, the most in-demand roles in the industry include HR specialists, FP&A (financial planning and analysis) specialists and data science engineers. German-speaking professionals are much sought after, but proficiency in French, Italian, Spanish or any of the Nordic languages is also highly valued by employers. The top four languages spoken in Polish business services centres are Polish, Russian, Spanish and French.

What will be the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the BPO/SSC industry in Poland?