In the coming year, the Polish labor market and business environment will face significant regulatory changes that will have far-reaching effects for both entrepreneurs and employees. The most important of them is the entry into force of the act implementing the provisions of the pay transparency directive.
Regulatory offensive of the state. A package of unprecedented changes
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A draft law that aims to reduce pay gaps and promote equal treatment has just been announced. Another important change is the modified rules for calculating seniority, which will affect employees’ rights. In turn, the expanded competences of the National Labor Inspectorate will strengthen supervision over compliance with labor law. The digitization of documentation related to business activities will also be continued.
– Some of the upcoming changes, such as pay transparency or the elimination of employment based on civil law contracts or B2B contracts from the labor market, will have a deeper impact on company structures and general policies regarding remuneration and hiring new employees – points out Tomasz Czerkies, legal advisor at ADP Polska.
– Others, in turn, will have more immediate but cumulative consequences, which still means the need to prepare for changes, a period of more intensive work, training in new technologies and digitization of HR and payroll documents – adds the specialist.
Salary transparency is at the forefront
There is no doubt – transparent wages will dominate the labor debate in the first half of 2026. As of December 24, new regulations regarding informing job candidates about their remuneration have entered into force. More are being prepared that will implement the principles of the directive regarding the structure of remuneration in companies and reporting on wage differences.
– Organizations will need to look at their job structure and the salaries assigned to them. This will spark discussions about – justified or not – differences in pay at the level of specific positions and departments. Too large a pay gap, exceeding 5%, will require special attention and actions aimed at minimizing the discrepancies – emphasizes Tomasz Czerkies
Length of service counted anew
As the lawyer notes, many people have worked on contract or business contracts in the past, and now they have a full-time job, while their organization has internal rules regarding internship allowances and awards.
– It may be profitable for them to include years worked under other types of contracts in their seniority. But how to go about it? – wonders the expert. – New calculation of seniority takes place at the employee’s request, which must be documented. For human resources and payroll departments, this means specific additional work related to the processing of applications practically all year round, because the act does not set time limits – he notes and adds that from January or May 2026 – depending on whether the employer belongs to public finance sector units – human resources must establish rules for processing applications and communicating with employees in this respect to make the entire process as effective and efficient as possible.
National Labor Inspectorate in a new role
In a country where approximately 2.5 million people work as sole proprietorships and approximately 1.5 million work on a recommendation contract, the specter of an inspection by the National Labor Inspectorate regarding the correctness of this form of cooperation may be terrifying. Are we going to see massive transformations of contracts?
– Probably not, but when concluding new contracts, employers will choose employment contracts more often – says Tomasz Czerkies. For the employee, this means better job protection, and for the employer – more tasks related to payroll management. In many cases, companies will professionalize the payroll process, relying on proven software that automates payroll calculations and eliminates human errors.
Further digitization of company documents
From January 2026, many companies will become familiar with the term e-Delivery. All official correspondence will become electronic (instead of e.g. registered letters delivered by post). It will be free and instant, but for companies it will often mean learning how to use a new system and a new way of storing such correspondence. Soon we will all be dealing with electronic signatures more often. Public institutions will, for example, sign new employment contracts only in electronic form. Each of us will receive a package of e-signatures to be used via a trusted profile, easier to use than a qualified electronic signature. For both employers and employees, this means one thing: further familiarization with digitalization, changes in processes related to document circulation and less paper.
