Forms of employment for IT specialists in Poland in 2025
Companies are drawing conclusions from recent years. First, they had to hire in a hurry, then lay off or face such a risk, which led to a decrease in team engagement. Currently, they are making decisions more cautiously, looking for people for the long-term. They prefer hiring based on employment contracts because, apart from legal considerations, it provides the chance to build a better relationship with the employee.
Employers focus on internalising key competencies, i.e., building and developing internal resources. This is particularly important in sensitive areas such as cybersecurity, data, and management. They increasingly impose full-time employment on candidates to maintain full control over know-how and key processes. This phenomenon particularly applies to companies with international capital, who don’t understand the formula of so-called “internal B2B” (with co-operation specialists running sole proprietorships).
I observe dynamic changes in the job market that reveal companies’ preferences for full-time employment, despite the growing popularity of B2B amongst experienced candidates. Employers are driven by the need for stability and control, and full-time employment provides predictability in long-term personnel plans and employee loyalty. Corporate procedures of foreign companies prefer full-time structures for better monitoring of effectiveness. B2B contracts, although flexible, involve less control, which is challenging for sensitive projects. Changes in Polish law tighten the regulations regarding B2B, which increases caution among employers. Fulltime employment eliminates the risk of co-operation requalification and associated costs. For experienced IT specialists, B2B offers flexibility and higher earnings, but for companies meeting strict compliance standards, fulltime positions remain more attractive.
Karol Cieślukowski
COO at Awareson
Polish companies show greater flexibility in terms of employment forms, especially in short-term projects or where specific competencies are needed. However, amongst candidates, especially seniors and experts, the popularity of contracts and the B2B model, in general, is growing. The main motivation is the desire to pay lower taxes.
Candidates and companies’ preferences differ when it comes to the form of employment. Will it be difficult to convince good candidates to switch to full-time employment? As many as 58% of employees surveyed by Awareson say they are willing to change their form of employment – provided they earn more (per hand) and have the opportunity for development.
Beyond legal considerations, full-time employment aims to integrate employees more deeply and for a longer period into the organisation. This means that during the recruitment process, soft skills are just as important as technical abilities. The specialist must be a long-term fit for the company.
When searching for a permanent employee, we must start with an in-depth conversation about their motivation. This cannot be a quick meeting about technical skills, but rather an hour-long conversation, a key part of which comprises a behavioural interview. We don’t ask what they worked on, but what specifically were their tasks, what was the outcome of their work, and what conclusions they drew from their successes and failures.
We sense what is key to them. If a candidate focuses on salary and getting to know the functioning of different organisations, they are probably not the right person for us. Keywords include responsibility and impact. A candidate seeking greater responsibility for the impact of their work on the project is a potential “full-time employee.” Similarly, someone tired of frequent changes, who wants to plan a longer career path or develop as an architect, team leader, or manager.
It is worth paying attention to people with potential, such as developers, who can evolve in the direction of DevOps, or support specialists, who are suitable for working in software development. In contract work, they will not get such opportunities, but a long-term relationship with the employer will provide that.
Marta Prudel-Hankus
Head of Perm at Awareson
Full-time employment is the most commonly chosen form of employment by companies, but it is not the only one. Where the organisation’s needs are limited and not constant, a contract works better. Outsourcing specialists is a solution that 2/3 of companies, implementing new projects, plan to use in the coming year. Body/team leasing or, more broadly, managed services, allow tasks to be completed without a long-term budget burden, and shift responsibility for the team to a sub-contractor. In this model, a team can be built in a few weeks, focusing solely on technical competencies.
Candidates working on contracts primarily want to earn good money and be sure that as much of their salary as possible goes into their bank account. They also want independence – including the ability to work for several companies, which is associated not only with higher earnings, but also with the prospect of development.
Candidates accept increasingly longer recruitment processes, especially for permanent employment. The recruitment process, according to them, should have two stages and last from 2 to 4 weeks. However, the numer of candidates who accept 3-4 stages is growing, especially for more specialised and responsible positions. They demand meetings with the future supervisor, sometimes even with the team, and they also need more time to make a decision. Not only are companies choosing more carefully – good candidates are doing likewise.
Candidates primarily expect a precise job description, clearly defined salary ranges, and feedback after each stage of the process. Feedback should not be automated or superficial, but rather personalised and thoughtful. The way we reject candidates is an important part of building an employer’s brand. IT specialists are eager to share their opinions about companies with each other.
A recruiter’s specialisation in a particular technological field is highly appreciated, as is replacing a recruitment task with a technical interview. Many companies still assign recruitment tasks even to senior-level candidates, experts, and managers, which is often misaligned with their skills, reflecting poorly on the company. A technical interview is a much better tool, provided that the interviewer is knowledgeable about the field and adheres to the role’s
requirements.
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