Increases in 2026. Most will get more, but only a few will get more than 10 percent

Three out of four Polish companies plan salary increases for their employees in 2026 – according to the published Hays Poland payroll report.

However, the scale of the increases will be small. “Only 5 percent of employers assume that wages will increase by more than 10 percent.” – wrote the authors of the report.

According to them, 84% of companies declare recruitment plans for 2026. employers, which is a percentage of only 2 percentage points. lower than last year. According to Hays Poland analysts, companies will focus primarily on acquiring experienced operational employees and sales and IT specialists who will help organizations go through the transformation phase.

The report shows that the labor market is in a stabilization phase, and at the beginning of 2026 there are no signs of an upcoming crisis or dynamic development.. At the same time, many companies are in a moment of transformation – organizational, structural and digital, driven by, among others, by business uncertainty and the development of artificial intelligence. Due to the changes taking place, they show a high demand for effective operational employees with a strong competence base.

– The dynamic digital transformation of business, which is already changing the demand for competences in the labor market, means for professionals the need to take actions aimed at acquiring new qualifications – said the managing director of Hays Poland, Alex Shteingardt.

The “Hays Poland 2026 Salary Report” contains lists of remuneration levels for specialists and managerial staff broken down by specialization. Information on wages was supplemented by the results of a survey on trends in the labor market, conducted at the end of 2025 using the CAWI method on a group of nearly 1.1 thousand. employers and over 1.8 thousand employees. (PAP)

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