The Polish economy needs people who learn throughout their lives. Meanwhile, we are still training less often than most Europe and OECD countries. In 2024, 23.5 percent working at the age of 25-64 in Poland, they took part in education or training. It is over eight percentage points less than the EU average. The latest report of the Polish Economic Institute shows that the problem is not just a lack of time or money. It lies much deeper – in our mentality and organizational culture of Polish companies.
According to the forecasts of the World Economic Forum (WF), the labor market enters a period of unprecedented transformation – in the next few years every fourth employee in the world will be forced to change the profession or position. In this global race for new skills, Poland faces an additional, internal challenge: demographics.
Forecasts indicate that by 2035 from the Polish labor market may even disappear 2.1 million employees. In this situation, the only way to maintain economic growth is to increase the productivity and innovation of those who remain on the market.
As the research of the Ministry of Finance shows, cited in the Pie report, investments in skills can compensate From 16 to even 75 percent negative effects of demographics. Training is a strategic necessity today.
Poland in the tail of Europe
Data from the Eurostat research of the economic activity of the population shows that Poland has one of the lowest adult learning indicators in Europe. Better results are achieved not only by Nordic countries, but also our neighbors from the region – Hungary, The czech republic Whether Slovakia.
“If we compare Poland to Scandinavia or Benelux, the difference is huge. In countries such as Sweden or the Netherlands over 60 % of employees during the year He participates in training. In Poland – only every fourth ” – emphasize the authors of the report.
Employers do not invest in people
In Poland, an employee has much less training chances than in most EU countries. According to data from the Eurostat survey on lifelong vocational training in companies (CVTS), only 26.1 percent. companies employing at least 10 people conducted vocational training, which is a result more than twice lower than the EU average (55 %) and He places Poland in the tail of Europe, just before Hungary, Greece and Romania.
The reason is often prosaic: only 11.5 percent Polish companies He has a dedicated department or even a person responsible for employee development (compared to 40.7 percent in the EU). When there is no one to plan trainings, you just don't organize them.
The problem is not only structural but also social. Lower -level and physical employees are the biggest victims of this system. As Pie analysts notice in Poland Industrial craftsmen and workers have 12.9 percentage points less chances for training than managers. The situation is not improved by the low quality of social dialogue – in companies where trade unions operate, the chance of training is growing on 7.7 percentage pointshowever, in Poland such companies belong to rare.
Competence gap. Employees are not aware of her
A very serious problem is also an invisible competence gap. In Poland, the percentage of employees with unmet training needs is only 6.2 percent, this The lowest result among OECD countries. For comparison, in Finland or Estonia it is up to five times more.
This means that many Poles He doesn't realize that it should be developed. Without this awareness, it is difficult to talk about active career planning or raising qualifications.
“I have to” instead of “I want”. Poles learn mainly from the obligation
Over two -thirds of training Poles He participates in courses only to perform current duties at work. Just 10 percent He participates in trainings for promotion, certificate or change of work – more than twice less often than in many other EU countries.
This is a vicious circle – the employee does not see the real promotion opportunities so not invests in himselfand the employer, not afraid of his departure of an employee who does not develop, also limits expenses for his training. As a result, professional mobility decreases – in Poland, rotation inside the organization is one of the lowest in OECD. This, in turn, promotes the decline in commitment to work. And the circle closes.
Lack of time is a big barrier. The trainings are short and ill -considered
The lack of time is an increasingly frequent barrier to raising the competences of a Polish employee. Within a decade, the percentage of people indicating this reason increased by 12 percentage points – Higher growth was recorded only in Chile and Denmark.
One -third of Polish employees last took part in the training over five years ago – this is the worst result in the entire OECD. The form of training is also a problem. Extremely short courses dominate in Poland – as much as 94 percent of them lasts a maximum of a week.
This is a model that contradicts European trends, where you focus on longer, modular development programs. This training structure prevents employees from gaining new, complex competences and indicates a lack of long -term development strategy in Polish companies.
Serious effects on the economy
In the international skills study (PISA), Polish fifteen -year -olds achieve results above the average OECD. However, when the same students enter the labor market, their results in the study of adult competences (PIAAC) are falling sharply Below the average.
It is the phenomenon that experts call “human capital erosion”. In other words: our competences “age” faster than in countries where adult learning is common, e.g. in Scandinavia or Japan.
Lack of investment in employee development is also:
- slower implementation of innovation,
- lower productivity,
- worse adaptation to technological changes,
- A greater risk of decreasing the competitiveness of the economy.
“Maintaining the growth potential in an aging society requires investing in people. Without this we will compete only with work costs, not innovations,” the authors of the report conclude.
How do others do?
Scandinavia shows that training should not be an addition “after hours”, but an integral part of work. In countries such as dishes or Sweden, learning is inscribed in working time – this is a key success factor.
Most adult education in the OECD countries takes place in place and working hours. Due to the fact that employees do not have to choose between private life and professional development, and support programs for SMEs are implemented by systemically, 60-65 percent. Adults participate there in lifelong learning.
In many EU countries, they are also standard micro experience Whether Individual Development Accounts (IKR)that allow employees to finance their own courses and certificates. Poland is just beginning to implement these solutions.
What do Polish employees need?
To reverse the trend, parallel actions of companies, states and employees themselves are needed. On the side of employers, the key is counting education for working timeminimum introduction training budget every time and the implementation of dedicated programs for employees 50+ and people in physical positions. It is necessary to take up development systems also employees employed on temporary contracts, who today have almost 17 percentage points. less training chances.
The state should develop IKR and micro experienceto introduce Tax incentives for SMEssystematically monitor “lack of time” as a barrier and design Training programs implemented during working hours.
In turn, employees should designate every year One development goal beyond current duties – For example, getting digital certificate, Increasing language competences or obtaining professional qualifications.
Without these changes, the competence gap will only increase. Technology development and artificial intelligence change the labor market faster than ever, lack of investment in people and their competences can become the greatest barrier of economic growth.
