Compensation in Poland based on market salary data

Why is it crucial to use market benchmark data?

Salaries in Poland have grown dynamically in recent years. According to the polish Main Statistical Office (GUS), average salary has grown by 76% from 2011 to 2021. During the same period minimal pay has doubled and further increases are planned by the government.

As a result of the pandemic and Ukraine war crisis, polish salaries have changed in many sectors due to excessive need for qualified workers. Construction and IT sectors, manufacturing companies and warehouses have been hit most, often facing problems with low availability of workforce. Difficulties in finding new employees have often resulted in a remarkable growth in compensation rates in these sectors. The current inflation has already left its mark on salaries in Poland as well. According to the current Sedlak & Sedlak Salary Report, pay rises have almost doubled from May 2021 to April 2022, comparing to the same period a year earlier.
Dynamically changing salaries require companies to stay up to date with current compensation rates. Why is it so crucial? Below you can find some reasons why functioning without market compensation data has become almost impossible for companies on the polish market.

Compensation fairness
Since the inflation is reaching its record height, pay has become an even more trending topic for employees than usual. Growing living costs make workers ask themselves if they could earn more. Therefore, they begin looking for comparisons. And those are commonly available (e.g., internet pages like salary.com). Many institutions and companies offer salary data collected directly from job interviews. This data is, unfortunately, only a hypothetical assumption of actual offered salaries and often lacks statistical verification. Basing on such data may lead to unrealistic perception of market salaries among workers, who then require the employer to pay the amount, they believe, is justified. It is therefore important to own correct data which encompasses detailed data divided into region, position, worker experience and qualifications etc. It can be used then as an argument in pay negotiations.
Of course, it is always better to prevent than to react. An up-to-date salary report is also a tool which lets you have a scope on the current local salary rates. Adapting the pay of your employees to current market rates and following compensation and benefit trends will keep them satisfied and motivated, avoiding the risk of raising turnover.
Not less important is the internal compensation fairness perceived by employees. Just like external fairness means that pay and benefits are perceived fair when compared to others outside the company, internal fairness is about comparisons made within the company. Workers usually have an opinion about how much their experience and knowledge is worth, and they like to compare it with others within the company. When a person sees that someone is similarly compensated, though having less job experience or knowledge, it might cause dissatisfaction and, in turn, lower work engagement or ultimately prompt this person to leave the organization. Again, this is where salary data is getting useful. Instead of determining the differences in compensation between differently experienced and qualified workers on your own, you can base your decisions on market comparisons.

Law obligations
According to the polish labor code (Art. 77 [2]. § 1.) an employer with more than 50 employees is obliged to determine the company compensation policy in form of a special document, available to all employees. Such regulations should include a table of the company salary rates. This is where a sales report gives you same ready solutions with prepared tables for each position, level of employment (junior, mid, senior, expert) and region of employment.

Compensation and overall job satisfaction
Based on the results of the Polish Compensation Survey 2022 (Ogólnopolskie Badanie Wynagrodzeń), conducted by Sedlak & Sedlak, one can see that compensation is an important factor in determining work satisfaction amid polish employees. Among those, who are satisfied with their compensation, 93% have claimed that they are satisfied with their job in general. Those, who expressed dissatisfaction with their compensation have declared satisfaction with their job almost 30% less frequently.
The research has also shown the importance of doing regular pay raises. 90% of interviewees who claimed that their pay has been raised in the prior year, have expressed overall work-satisfaction. In contrary, those, whose pay has been left the same, have expressed satisfaction over 30% less frequently.

Why Sedlak & Sedlak Salary Report?

As the most experienced polish compensation-analytics company we are issuing salary reports since 1993. Our Reports are issued twice a year (for spring/summer and fall/winter periods). The latest one is based on a sample of over 273 000 employees from 702 companies employing in Poland. We are presenting data for 359 jobs (865 considering divisions into job levels), sorted by:

• region,


• type of activity,


• type of industry,


• origin of company capital,


• number of employees and annual revenues.

Below you can find an example of how a salary of chosen HR-positions in Poland may differ considering some of the conditions mentioned above. The data comes from our latest 2022 spring Salary Report.



For each position one can also find:

• data considering various forms of pay (basic salary, base salary, actual variable pay, target variable pay, actual total cash compensation, target total cash compensation)


• comparison of the company’s salaries to market rates (comparatio analysis),


• already implemented salary increases,


• planned salary increases,


• benefits offered to employees on various positions and career streams.

The data is easily accessible by our app where one can compare salaries with market rates (comparatio) or within his own company, calculate salaries for hybrid positions and use our Analyses Wizard for various other comparisons. Also, our consultants are there to introduce you in using our Report and later, for further support. To check on our latest Report and special offers for survey participants, click here. You can also contact us by phone or formular to get more information.