The market is changing rapidly for Polish Workers in the UK. Acorn has recently conducted a survey amongst Polish Workers based in North Somerset to try and ascertain what is likely to happen in the local and general UK market in the second half of 2008.
We are all reading about “Polish Workers return home” so who exactly is returning.
As a generalisation it falls into 3 groups. (Incidentally Acorn has yet to lose one current worker to the under mentioned factors but has seen it amongst former workers)
1. Polish Workers that came, post graduation or just for a year, as a break between university years to generate income to pay for their studies.
2. Family men, remote from their wives and children in Poland. (This has always happened and doesn’t represent a change)
3. Those whose contracts have finished (sometimes through plant closures) and they are unable to find suitable alternative employment - this is the new trend.
Our survey went on to enquire what would individuals do, if for any reason, they needed another job, as we wished to target our marketing efforts towards attracting more registrations from such people. The results were somewhat surprising, but nonetheless educational.
1. The first thing Polish Workers do would be to ask their network of friends (and family) about jobs that are available. Only a small percentage would be willing to move to a new part of the country and start again preferring to take on journey times of up to 45 minutes (max 1 hour) to remain living where they are.
2. The second is to scour the local “free” papers rather than regional newspapers that have to be paid for!
3. Return to the agency that brought them to the UK in the first place. Their opinions on Agencies varied considerably and many had felt mislead/cheated by Agents who had promised long term employment which did not materialise. Poles also hate the temporary labour market of 2 days here, then nothing for three days and are moving away from it whenever they can.
4. Very few read English language Polish Newspapers (they cost money) and none had got a job via this medium.
5. A few would ask family and friends back in Poland to look at the local press for job opportunity adverts, about work in England, appearing in Poland.
6. Hardly any would use the internet and those that could would be the under 25’s with reasonably good spoken English but would use very wide search terms like “job in England”, “work in England” making targeting very difficult.
Conclusion.
Tap into the rhythm of the local Polish jungle drums if you are looking for workers for long term positions but the days of being able to dip in and out are coming to an end, calling for greater planning.
Acorn are here to assist, why not call 07977131389 or email via our website www.acornrecruitmentsw.co.uk
