Chapter 12: Remuneration Management in Polish Companies

Thomas Otte

Abstract

This chapter identifies geographical location, ownership structure and industry type as the most important factors in wage differentiation in the Polish labour market. When determining the base pay of their employees , Polish companies mainly use methods of job evaluation that have been developed specifically for the Polish situation, but methods designed and promoted by international human resource consultancy firms are gaining popularity, especially among corporations with a foreign capital share. Major methodological problems are the inappropriate modification of standardized methods and insufficient updating of the existing systems. With regard to performance appraisal and variable pay, the main findings are that Polish corporations are increasingly adopting a more systematic approach to this area of remuneration management, and that performance- related elements are already accounting for a substantial part of the total pay package in some parts of the job market.