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No. 6 (55) | November–December 2020 ISSN 2083-8867 PRICE EUR 6 (INCL. 8% VAT)
Bring your phone closer and watch the movie
THE POWER IS IN VIRTUAL TEAMS An interview with Peter Ivanov, Manager, Entrepreneur and Virtual teams Expert, the author of bestselling book Virtual Power Teams | page 34
BUSINESS:
INVESTMENTS:
CAREER & DEVELOPMENT:
Does business require a security operations center? |page 30
Lithuania’s GBS community thrives in the new normal |page 52
The future is flexible. Defining the new era of work |page 82
Now, when it’s vital to focus on your core to stay ahead, let BPiON shape up your financial back office.
Accounting / Payroll / HR Digital Transformation HR & Payroll outsourcing Accounting outsourcing T&A system solutions Financial systems integrations Reporting & Controlling On-site services
Our mission is to make business processes work better.
INTRODUCTION
Created by Pro Progressio
Editor-in-chief Dymitr Doktór dymitr.doktor@proprogressio.pl Managing editor Katarzyna Czylok-Dąbrowska katarzyna.czylok@proprogressio.pl DTP Iwona Nowakowska Advertising reklama@proprogressio.pl Published by PRO PROGRESSIO NOTE: new editorial office address ul. Dziekońskiego 1 00-728 Warszawa www.proprogressio.pl
P: +48 22 213 02 45 F: +48 22 213 02 49 editor@proprogressio.pl Print Drukarnia Jantar Legal support Chudzik i Wspólnicy An electronic version of the Magazine see the website www.outsourcingandmore.eu Selected photos come from shutterstock.com website.
Ladies and gentlemen, We are rapidly approaching the end of 2020, and together with it, we are handing over to you the November–December issue of the Outsourcing&More magazine. 2020 was a year of many business challenges that many industries, including outsourcing and shared services centers, had to face. Compulsory lockdowns, limited presence of employees in offices, home offices and the challenges related to these phenomena in managing teams, have entered the daily work of many offices and operational centers. In the Polish market of outsourcing and business services, we see several trends that have strengthened in the past months, including management and the need to motivate virtual employees, work development in a hybrid office-homecoworking model or, for example, the growth of foreign investments from Belarus. All these trends will be the material for many talks and analyses in the new year of 2021.
All rights reserved. No copying, reproduction or photocopying allowed without written consent of the publisher.
Before we enter the new decade, however, we have the great pleasure to present you the current issue of Outsourcing&More with dozens of publications from the world of business, investments and HR. I especially encourage you to read the main interview, which is great chat about Powering Virtual Teams with Peter Ivanov – international coach and keynote speaker.
The views expressed in this publication as well as the content of the adverts are not necessarily those of the editor.
Enjoy reading the Outsourcing&More magazine, Dymitr Doktór, Editor in Chief
Circulation 3,000 copies
Partners
Authors: Magdalena Chochowska • Agnieszka Brzękowska • Anna Damas • Magdalena Grzelak • Tomasz Leśniewski • Jarosław Bator • Zbigniew Szostak • Tomasz Grędzicki • Peter Ivanov • Agnieszka Kuehn • Bartosz Plewa • Elias van Herwaarden • Laura Kavaliauskaitė • Edyta Wiwatowska • Anna Tymoshenko • Łukasz Goś • Bartosz Wojtasiak • Artur Migoń • Joanna Czyżewska
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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INDEX
6 8 12 14 18 22 26 30 32 34 42 44 4
BUSINESS NEWS
New regulations governing posting workers to work abroad Posting is now more expensive and requires employers to face new obligations.
Roboshore – the #1 RPA service Digital Workforce has launched Roboshore – a revolutionary, all-inclusive, end-to-end process automation management service.
Hotel, tourism and event industry in the face of a pandemic Regulations worth knowing.
Should you automate processes in-house or outsource automation? Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is often mentioned in conversations concerning digital transformation and technological solutions that almost every company can implement in-house without much effort. SSC
Swiss quality and precision are pillars of our activities Interview with Tomasz Leśniewski, Head of Shared Service Center Poland, Clariant.
Remote working. A thirty weeks’ experiment Let's forget about the vision of the twilight of the office era.
Does business require a Security Operations Center? IT environments are key for the development of contemporary business.
Outsourcing. Never-ending change There were new challenges that required the organization to change its way of thinking and operating by almost 180 degrees.
MAIN INTERVIEW The power is in Virtual Teams An interview with Peter Ivanov, Manager, Entrepreneur and Virtual teams Expert with over 20 years of international experience, the author of bestselling book “Virtual Power Teams”.
INVESTMENTS NEWS
Office markets in Southern Poland We talk about it with Agnieszka Kuehn and Bartosz Plewa of real estate advisory firm Savills.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
48 52 54 58 62 64 68 72 76 78 80 82 88 Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Time for Africa! Why the region’s outsourcing and offshoring potential cannot be ignored.
Lithuania’s GBS community thrives in ‘the new normal’ The COVID-19 outbreak has presented a challenge for everyone, including Lithuania’s GBS sector that employs almost 20,000 specialists.
Bydgoszcz open to investors. BARR always at your disposal interview with Edyta Wiwatowska – the President of the Management Board of the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency (BARR).
Like a phoenix from the ashes. The re-landing of the Kielce flying saucer An original dome with skylights, collision-free traffic, original Ćmielów porcelain on the walls - these are the elements characteristic for the Kielce bus station.
Akademicka Częstochowa for business A city with a strong academic traditionand industrial focuses on the development of the economy which meets the expectations of investors.
A flat in Łódź is better than a deposit Two years ago, Kuba Midel started his career on YouTube with the question: “Are the streets paved with gold?”.
Students driving business in Lublin The City of Lublin is actively engaged in building good relations and links between local businesses and higher education institutions.
Beyond.pl invests in its Data Center Campus An opportunity for Poznan?
Who shapes the brain of your planes Working together has taken on a whole new dimension, especially for the aviation industry.
HR NEWS
The price of illness in the working environment, not only during a pandemic We are confronted more and more frequently with the question whether employers know how to effectively take care of workers’ health and safety in the new reality?
The future is flexible. Defining the new era of work As many parts of the world gradually emerge from the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming clear that the world of work and employment markets have been profoundly altered.
Our organization does not stand still Interview with Joanna Czyżewska, Leader in the HR and Payroll Area, PKP Energetyka.
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BUSINESS NEWS
THIS IS HOW THE ANDERSIA SILVER BUILDING INTERIORS COULD LOOK LIKE! CONCEPT CREATED BY THE DESIGN GROUP DESIGNERS Although the Poznań Andersia Silver complex is still under construction, it already enjoys the touch of the celebrity life and considerable fame. Recently, The Design Group studio has also made its contribution to the design execution by developing a concept of interiors of selected utility spaces of the facility. In less than three years, the Andersia Silver building located on Anders Square will open its doors in the city of Poznań.
According to the project developer, Andersia Retail – a joint venture of the city of Poznań, and the international investor Von der Heyden Group, this will be a modern business center that will become a place of development for companies, corporations and start-ups in the capital of the Wielkopolska Region. Concurrently, this project will be the last stage of development of Anders Square, performed with the support of Probuild in its capacity as a project manager for the entire office complex. The Design Group has also added to the image of this unique building. The architectural team comprised of Martyna Bosek, Marta Konarska, Karolina Kózka, and Konrad Krusiewicz, created a concept of open space office and staff restaurant interiors for Andersia Silver. The objective of the designers from The Design Group was to create cosy yet modern spaces that would mirror the business ethos of the Andersia Silver building. They also juxtaposed various textures such as epoxy terrazzo and used three-dimensional patterns on concrete slabs. The space is dominated by toned-down colours, which forms an air of cosy and user-friendly interiors. The designers merged elegant and industrial styles. In the open spaces, you will find a lot of greenery and soft textures that introduce that "homesweet-home" atmosphere. The designers paid attention to their appropriate acoustics by introducing upholstered panels, too. The so-called team rooms, separated by curtains, also occupy this space. Moreover, the designers bet on a bright and open restaurant for employees, dominated by natural wood reflecting the home spirit.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
WOMEN IN LOCALIZATION WELCOMES LIONBRIDGE AS GOLD SPONSOR Women in Localization (W.L.), the leading professional organization for women in the localization industry, is excited to announce that Lionbridge, a global leader in localization and data training solutions, is a Gold-level sponsor for 2020-2021.
and establish a foundation for continued growth. Today, Women in Localization is a community of 25 chapters worldwide.
Lionbridge has been a consistent supporter of W.L. globally by hosting local chapter events, facilitating expert Building a new organization and commu- discussions on topics such as mentorship, nity starts at a grassroots level, with indi- as well as the individual support of many viduals and supporters volunteering time, global Lions who are members and active expertise, and other resources. Support participants in events. Lionbridge looks from leading companies like Lionbridge forward to continuing to work with W.L. enables W.L. to expand its global impact to spread a message of diversity and
supporting and expanding on mentorship and education initiatives. This sponsorship highlights Lionbridge’s continued efforts to create an environment of inclusion and champion global Lions and their diversity.
HONDA APPOINTS GORDON BROTHERS TO MANAGE THE SALE OF MACHINERY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT FROM ITS SWINDON FACTORY Gordon Brothers, the global advisory, restructuring and investment firm, announced today that it has been appointed exclusive asset selling agent of Honda of the UK Manufacturing’s (Honda) machinery and equipment from its fully integrated automotive manufacturing plant in Swindon, England. This sale of one of Europe’s largest automotive plants will commence later this month with multiple online auctions, plus ongoing private treaty sales prior to the plant closure in July 2021. The entire project will span 18 months and is expected to attract a global audience of prospective buyers.
The plant holds Honda production and assembly operations that cover more than 370 acres which at its peak manufactured approx. 250,000 cars per year. The facility is due to cease production and permanently close in July 2021. Gordon Brothers, an expert in the disposition of commercial and industrial assets, has been privileged to work with four out of the five major global automotive companies. With over 1,200 engagements completed and £11 billion of automotive assets appraised, the team is well-positioned to successfully complete this major project.
More information regarding the sale, including a full asset list, will be released in due course. The assets for sale will feature state-of-the-art automotive equipment, including engine manufacturing, vehicle assembly, a press shop, welding, injection moulding, die-casting, general machine tools and a paint plant. The sale will also encompass office, kitchen and workshop apparatus. The facility, located in Wiltshire, UK, will be available for inspection by appointment only.
FOLLOW ADAPTIVE GROUP ON YOUTUBE CHANNEL! From October you can also follow Adaptive Group on the Youtube channel! Their YouTube channel is a place where Adaptive Group presents all materials concerning their activity. On this channel, the followers can find testimonials, interviews, relations from events, and other materials connected with Shared Service and Outsourcing business.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
NEW REGULATIONS GOVERNING POSTING WORKERS TO WORK ABROAD Amended regulation on sending workers to work abroad has been in force since 30 July 2020. The amended Polish Act on posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, which is an implementation of the above amendments to the Polish legal system, came into force on 4 September 2020, with a slight delay. Posting is now more expensive and requires employers to face new obligations. Legal changes in the legislation on posting of workers have been going on for a good few years. First, in 2014, in order to ensure better execution of provisions of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (the so-called basic directive), the EU legislator adopted Directive 2014/67/EU on the enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on admini strative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System (hereinafter: the implementation directive).
The provisions of this directive entered the European legal order on 30 July 2020. Until then, the basic and implementation directives had applied.
KEY CHANGES
The new regulations introduce changes in the following areas, among others: • the definition of pay for work and the rules for determining that pay, • the maximum period of posting of a worker, • the settlement of travel expenses and reimbursement of expenses incurred by the posted worker, • the obligation for Member States to publish (on dedicated websites) inforWithout waiting for the effects of mation on employment conditions, the implementation directive, it was con • the rules on replacement of employees, cluded that these measures were not • the regulations concerning temporary sufficient to protect posted workers and work agencies. to prevent the abuses that had occurred in the area of posting. Hence, the idea TEMPORAL LIMIT to revise the basic directive came up, Main and one of the most important which led to the adoption of the 'most amendment introduced by the new recent' Directive 2018/957/EU amending directive is introduction of a maximum Directive 96/71/EC (hereinafter: the new period for the posting of workers, at directive or the revision directive). the end of which the rules of the host
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country should in principle be applied in full to the posted worker. A great deal of controversy has arisen on this issue, hence the large number of publications and expert commentaries devoted to it. Until now, neither the basic directive nor the implementing directive has imposed any time limit on posting. The new directive introduces a 12-month time limit for the posting of a worker, which in 'appropriate cases' can be extended to a total of 18 months. After this period, posted workers will be subject to the labour regulations in force in the host member state. It is not clear whether the new directive applies only to new contracts or also to those in progress. In addition, the regulations fail to specify whether the employer must apply the regulations on the maximum posting period to current contracts and, if so, from when – whether from the date of entry into force of the directive or including the time from the beginning of the contract?
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Commissioner Marianne Thyssen, in response to a question from Danuta Jazłowieck a (Member of the European Parliament for the 7th and 8th parliamentary term), explained that the new regulations would apply to current and new contracts, and that the posting period would be calculated from the date on which it began, i.e. de facto with retroactive effect.
The new directive introduces a 12-month time limit for the posting of a worker, which in 'appropriate cases' can be extended to a total of 18 months.
This is not good news for Polish employers. This means they will have to keep an eye on the length of the period employees are posted by them and review their current contracts for work abroad. The question is whether employers are to verify employees’ previous employments to establish whether they have already been posted to the same place and the same job.
REPLACEMENT OF EMPLOYEES Furthermore, if periods of 12 or 18 months are exceeded, the obligation to apply local employment conditions will apply from the outset to workers who are posted to replace other posted workers carrying out the same task in the same place. The only exceptions, where local law will not apply, are issues relating to procedures, formali ties and conditions for the conclusion and termination of employment contracts, including non-competition clauses or supplementary occupational pension schemes. Under the new regulations, the application of such rules is intended to ensure equal conditions of competition between companies posting workers and local companies in the host country. At the same time, the new regulations are intended to guarantee that such replacements are not used to circumvent the regulations that would normally apply. However, the replacement has not been defined either in the directive itself or, for example, in the preamble to the directive, or in
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
Basic working and employment conditions for temporary agency workers should at least correspond to those which would apply to those workers had they been directly employed by a user undertaking in the same job.
recently published (and translated into Polish) guides on posting of workers, which in the intention of the European Commission are to make it easier for businesses to post workers after the entry into force of the new directive.
of posting and in the country of residence of the posted worker, it is difficult to accept the assertion that the provisions of the revision directive on pay actually implement this principle.
which the posted worker is posted, which also cover elements of pay resulting, for example, from sectoral or region-specific collective bargaining agreements, which may not be published or easily accessible for example on the Internet, employers are faced with a considerable challenge in order to correctly establish the amount of pay due to the posted worker. If they fail to meet this obligation, they will likely be exposed to workers' claims and possible other adverse consequences envisaged by local law.
Doubts about the concept of 'pay' and the way it is to be calculated also arise from the fact that when comparing Another important amendment is the amount of pay that is paid to an the introduction of the obligation to employee with that which is due to him pay posted workers a remuneration or her, total gross amounts are to be taken for their work which covers all the pay into account, not individual components. components resulting from the legisla- In turn, to establish the gross amounts tion in force in the country of posting of these pays, these components must OBLIGATION TO PUBLISH − instead of the existing obligation to be identified in sufficient detail in INFORMATION ensure the minimum rates of pay appli- accordance with the law or practice Member States will be required to publish cable in that country. This amendment of the host country. information on the employment condiis intended to implement the principle tions envisaged in the country concerned, of 'the same pay for the same work', It is the responsibility of employers to as well as on the components of pay. To which at first glance may seem appro- familiarise themselves with these prin- maintain clarity and transparency in priate. However, given the many differ- ciples. This would perhaps not be overly this respect, publication is to take place ences in the Member States' pay systems, complicated with regard to the elements via the 'single official national website'. but also the different structure of posted of pay that result from generally appli- The website is intended to contain inforworkers’ cost and expenditure compared cable legislation. However, as the new mation on, among other things, the list to local workers, or the possible different directive obliges employers to apply of pay components that have been made purchasing value of money in the country the pay rules in force in the country to compulsory or the additional terms and
AMOUNT AND COMPONENTS OF PAY
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
conditions of employment applicable to postings under the new directive after the 12-month or 18-month period of posting. The preamble to the directive stipulates that Member States should ensure that the information published is freely accessible, transparent, accurate and kept up to date.
principle laid down in the temporary between authorities, in the framework agency work directive apply. of mutual transmission, concerning the posting of workers in Poland.
TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATION COSTS
CONSEQUENCES FOR BUSINESSES
Another innovation is the change in the rules for settling the posted employee's travel and accommodation costs.
The changes in the posting of workers can prove to be very costly for businesses carrying out assignments abroad, and
Posted workers, where they make a business trip from their normal place of posting, should be entitled to at least the same allowances or reimbursements for travel, board and lodging expenses provided for workers who are away from home for professional reasons as those enjoyed by local workers in the Member State to which the posted workers are sent. However, the regulations fail to indicate which national institution is to run and update the website − the government, one of the ministries, or maybe some organisation? It is also unclear in which language the information is to be published. If it is in the official language of a country, then in the case of Belgium, for example, there will be three languages. If, on the other hand, the EU legislator only considers one language, which one is it? It is possible that it is English, because of its prevalence, but this has not been specified either.
EMPLOYMENT BY A TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT AGENCY The preamble of the new directive also applies to temporary workers. Reference is made to the principle of equal treatment contained in Directive 2008/104/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on temporary agency work (hereinafter: the temporary agency work directive). It provides that the basic working and employment conditions for temporary agency workers should at least correspond to those which would apply to those workers had they been directly employed by a user undertaking in the same job.
According to the new directive, posted workers, where they make a business trip from their normal place of posting, should be entitled to at least the same allowances or reimbursements for travel, board and lodging expenses provided for workers who are away from home for professional reasons as those enjoyed by local workers in the Member State to which the posted workers are sent.
NEW POWERS OF THE STATE LABOUR INSPECTION AUTHORITY (PIP) In addition to the implementation of the regulations of the new directive, the Polish Act on amending the Act on posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (...) grants new powers to the State Labour Inspection Authority (PIP). PIP will be able to request the businesses to provide the necessary information concerning the posting of an employee from the territory of the Republic of Poland also in the case of a suspected violation of the regulations of the Member State to which the employee posted from Poland was sent. However, as a rule, PIP does not have competence in such matters, as it deals with Polish law. Furthermore, the employer posting an employee to Poland will have to inform PIP about providing such a person with appropriate employment conditions for a period longer than 12 months, but not exceeding 18 months from the date of commencement of the provision of services.
The new directive states that this principle should also apply to temporary workers posted to work in the territory of another Member State. Therefore, the user undertaking ought to inform the temporary employment agency of the working conditions and pay which it applies to PIP will be able to notify the European its workers. Such information will not be Commission of any recurrent delays in necessary if the derogations from this the provision of information exchanged
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
therefore they can take steps to optimise their businesses. Some of them, especially the smaller ones, who do not have quali fied legal and accounting services, may again be pushed into the grey economy, and those employed by such employers may be deprived of adequate protection and a minimum social security. The changes may also result in a smaller number of workers being posted from Poland and, consequently, in an increase in unemployment in Poland. In addition, let us remember that not only posting is new to employers. The precarious economic situation associated with the SARS-CoV-19 coronavirus pandemic constantly forces businesses to search for new solutions to ensure their businesses are preserved. Looking at the potential effects of the changes at European level, as in the case of the introduction of the implementation directive, the winners will again be, to a large extent, the countries of the so-called old Union, which will soon record in their budgets additional income from the contributions paid by workers posted to their territories.
Author:
Magdalena Chochowska, Senior associate, Baker McKenzie
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BUSINESS EDITORIAL
ROBOSHORE
– THE #1 RPA SERVICE Digital Workforce, the world’s leading Intelligent Automation service provider, has launched Roboshore – a revolutionary, all-inclusive, end-to-end process automation management service. Automation undeniably has become part of our reality. Some companies have implemented it, others are just becoming familiar with its capabilities and benefits. At the same time, many organisations already face challenges related to unused licenses, poorly performing bots, the lack of an ability to scale up and down as needed or a fear of technology-vendor lock-in. Many ask themselves these questions: • How can I gain visibility over the total cost of my RPA? • How can I improve automation quality – whether the automation has been built in-house or by a partner? • Is my current licencing model efficient? • How do I guarantee 24/7 operation to avoid the current limitations in use, particularly in terms of more business-critical processes? • What if my usage peaks, will it still work? • How can I evaluate other automation technologies or change use in a way that minimizes cost and risk?
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• Automation is only guaranteed to run long-term commitment – highlights when a key individual is at work! Am Kinga Chelińska-B arańska, Polish I exposed to business continuity risk? Country Manager. This is where Roboshore can help.
This 24/7 service is delivered according to a tailored SLA for all your autoWith Roboshore, you can upscale and mated processes. If an automation downscale your capacity based on your crashes, terminates or requires more needs, meaning that you have total RPA capacity due high volumes, our control over your processes. Roboshore Roboshore team receives an alert and is priced per production runtime minute. resolves the issue. One price per process, based on your consumption. You can adjust capacity By offering Roboshore Digital Workand base it on seasonal changes, peaks force provides you with secure Cloud in demand or the changing situation Platform, 24/7 Automation Moniof your business. The minute-based toring, Process Maintenance and price depends on the priority you RPA Licenses. What is more, you choose for each process (Standard, have access to performance moniPriority or Critical). You have no more toring tools via an intuitive dashunused or underused licenses: you can board view and control over orchesstart maximizing the utilization of your tration and process SLAs. At the same intelligent automation now. time, your RPA experts can focus on delivering new solutions instead – Roboshore enables you to utilise of the maintenance and monitoring RPA based on your needs without of existing solutions.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
ROBOSHORE CONSISTS OF FOUR ELEMENTS:
WHAT IS OUR BUSINESS PROMISE TO YOU?
1. Production capacity – a multi-technology platform with the capacity to execute your RPA automation. We deliver the required RPA capacity from our Robot as a Service cloud to run the processes in a way that meets your business requirements. 2. Process maintenance – maintenance is delivered according to a tailored service level agreement (SLA) for all of your automated processes added to the service. We monitor all your processes 24/7 from our Run Management service. 3. Quality management – we ensure a clean and healthy RPA production environment that is aligned with industry best practices. All processes added to the service go through our quality acceptance procedure which ensures that your solution is maintainable and performs well in production. 4. RPA management – visibility and control over process performance, orchestration and process SLAs. You access all the tools to monitor process performance through an intuitive dashboard. And can modify the transactional priorities of different processes using RPA Supervisor.
1. Flexibility in Finance You do not need to commit to capacity. With Roboshore you can scale up and down based on need. If your process runs only eight hours per month, you pay only for this time and nothing extra. 2. Transparency in Procurement One service price includes everything: there are no hidden costs! 3. Control for Each Business Unit You have full control over your processes and the costs; the price is defined by the priority you choose. 4. Security in IT The service complies with the ISO / IEC 20000:2018 structure and processes. We can demonstrate proven information security: the platform is used successfully by organizations with strict information security requirements, including hospitals, municipalities and banks. Strict conformance with SLAs.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
– Roboshore is the most comprehensive service to utilise intelligent automation. We really nurture your processes – says Jukka Virkkunen, one of the founders at Digital Workforce. We are ready to talk to you about your automation journey: info@digitalworkforce.com, +48 514 519 375.
Follow Digital Workforce on LinkedIn to stay tuned: www.linkedin.com/company/ digital-workforce-nordic-oy
Digital Workforce automates and maintains your business processes freeing up the time of your employees for more purposeful work. Digital Workforce is a trusted advisor and a globally leading independent provider of services in intelligent automation on an industrial scale. Today, over 150 large global customers use Digital Workforce’s services to transform their businesses with intelligent automation. Founded in 2015 Digital Workforce employs currently over 240 IA specia lists in the US, the UK, Poland, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Author:
Agnieszka Brzękowska, Communication Assistant, Digital Workforce
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BUSINESS
HOTEL, TOURISM AND EVENT INDUSTRY IN THE FACE OF A PANDEMIC – REGULATIONS WORTH KNOWING
The year 2020 surprised everyone with unprecedented events related to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the efforts of experts and the public's dreams of a return to normality as soon as possible, the virus is not giving up, and we must face constant changes in the legal environment and the ad-hoc introduced restrictions and bans. Most of them reduce, postpone or sometimes even cancel various types of events, conferences, tourist events or flights. It is,
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therefore, worth knowing what the status of these regulations is today and what we can do to be better prepared for such circumstances, as well as what options entrepreneurs have and what solutions their clients can use.
COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them (Off. J. 2020.374, amended by the Act of 31 March 2020, Off. J. 2020.568), commonly known as the anti-crisis shield.
The Act contains provisions relevant to the hotel, tourism and event industry. In response to the pandemic crisis, The most crucial regulation in this respect the legislator introduced into the Polish concerns the termination of a contract legal system the Act of 2 March 2020 concluded with a client if the terminaon special solutions related to the preven- tion "is directly related to the negative tion, counteracting and combating effects of COVID-19" (article 15 of the Act).
THE ANTI-CRISIS SHIELD
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
Author:
Anna Damas, Attorney at Law in the Law Firm “Chudzik i Wspólnicy Radcowie Prawni”sp.p. www.chudzik.pl
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
SHOULD YOU AUTOMATE PROCESSES IN-HOUSE OR OUTSOURCE AUTOMATION? Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is often mentioned in conversations concerning digital transformation and technological solutions that almost every company can implement in-house without much effort. In reality, this most common method of RPA implementation turns out to be too costly and laborious for many businesses. What alternatives are available, then, and what should you take into consideration when you decide to automate business processes in your teams? WHAT IS ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION? RPA is a technology that automates repe titive, tedious office tasks, e.g. booking invoices or making reports. Software robots imitate the work people do by using a computer mouse and keyboard in any IT system. Tasks that can be automated include copying and pasting data to different systems, generating various documents based on templates and unerringly comparing data. RPA’s big advantage is that it can be applied to office tasks regardless of the industry. Robots easily support
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
the work of accounting, finance, logistics, HR or customer service departments, to name a few. By implementing RPA teams become more effective and the process quality within companies increases. Automation also helps to maintain the business continuity and frees up the time and potential of your employees who can now focus on tasks directly impacting the company’s growth.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT AUTOMATION IN-HOUSE?
there is a set minimum of licences that have to be bought. It is a good Implementing RPA in-house entails idea to check how many robots can be maintained within the selected licence a significant investment at the start of the project. When considering in-house and what scale the project needs to automation, you need to take into achieve to be viable; account the costs of: • creating or developing an IT structure for in-house robot maintenance; • buying an RPA software licence – most vendors offer licences that need to be • investing in an IT Centre of Excellence acquired for at least one year. Usually team which maintains the infrastructure, platform, and automation tools; • building a team of RPA develo pers who develop, test and, when needed, reconfigure robots after the deployment. To achieve a scale where you can deem an in-house implementation a success, you need RPA experts on your team and a separate Centre of Excellence. Popular RPA platforms make it possible for robots to be developed and tested by people without any IT background (Digital Teammates’ Robo Shepherds are an excellent example). However, these employees still need to be appropriately trained and prepared for new duties. In-house implementation also requires considerable involvement of the IT department, which has to support the Centre of Excellence as well as prepare and maintain the necessary infrastructure.
RPA is a technology that automates repetitive, tedious office tasks, e.g. booking invoices or making reports. Software robots imitate the work people do by using a computer mouse and keyboard in any IT system.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
When you decide to rent robots, you don’t have to dwell on choosing an RPA platform, preparing infrastructure or creating a Centre of Excellence. The company can immediately skip to identifying its automation potential with the help of experienced analysts and select the first process to automate.
WHICH MODEL SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
An in-house implementation is usually recommended for bigger organisations which can potentially automate hundreds of FTEs. Given the significant When a company investment at the start of the project and necessary preparations, the benerents robots, its IT fits of automation can bring these compadepartment doesn’t have to In this model there is no need for nies a return of investment and meet redevelop or reconfigure a detailed process mapping, documenta- the expected goals. environments. Robots tion or any other complex preparations. use the same applications All you have to do is show experts what For companies with smaller potenyour employees used prior your employees do. Usually, a work- tial such an investment is not justito automation. The IT shop that takes a few hours is a good, fied economically, and automation can team needs to establish sufficient start, though a fully func- prove particularly difficult to implement. a safe connection between tioning robot can be developed even That doesn’t mean that medium-sized robots and your working on the basis of a recording that shows and smaller businesses have no way environment. how the process is done. of gaining the support and benefits that Robotic Process Automation offers. When When a company rents robots, its IT renting robots, companies can impledepartment doesn’t have to redevelop ment RPA into their teams in a conve or reconfigure environments. Robots use nient way and gain time as well as trained the same applications your employees digital workers. used prior to automation. The IT team needs to establish a safe connection You can find more information about between robots and your working envi- Robotic Process Automation – from From its very start in-house automation ronment. It also grants robots access deployment to the robots’ work and maincalls for hiring new talents or creating to applications, similarly to when tenance – at the Knowledge Centre: a dedicated reskilling program. It also the team prepares a working environ- https://dtmates.com/en/ requires significant investments in IT ment for a new employee. knowledge-centre. and licenses. After the deployment the in-house Centre of Excellence is in Once the robots are developed, tested, charge of robot maintenance and recon- and deployed, the vendor is also in charge figuration as well as the development of their maintenance. Whenever there of new robots. are changes made to the automated processes or applications, an external FULLY OUTSOURCED PROCESS team of experts reconfigures the robots AUTOMATION so that they can still unerringly complete Total outsourcing – or renting robots their tasks and so that the process can – offers an alternative for businesses proceed without interruptions. that don’t want to develop in-house RPA competences or whose automa- When renting robots, the company can tion potential doesn’t justify the invest- focus on its core business and highest ment described earlier. In this model priorities. Fully outsourced automation Author: of deployment an external vendor is in doesn’t require time-consuming and charge of robot development and testing, costly preparations unlike the in-house then, later, of maintenance and potential deployment. Robots arrive already reconfiguration. The involvement of the IT thoroughly trained on their first day department and teams whose processes of work and they can perform theirs Magdalena are automated is limited to the strictly tasks practically unsupervised. Teams Grzelak, necessary minimum. The company starts whose processes were automated Marketing & PR, Digital Teammates paying for the robots from the moment observe the benefits of automation they actually start doing their work. almost immediately.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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SSC
SWISS QUALITY AND PRECISION ARE PILLARS OF OUR ACTIVITIES
Word of admission: SSC Lions is a project run by Pro Progressio and focused on the communication support provided to Shared Service Centres. On O utsourcing&More Magazines’ pages we will present business cases and interviews with leaders of Shared Services Centres, industry experts and consultants.
Our interlocutors will provide the answers to the questions related to best business practises, project management and employer branding. This time we are presenting you the interview with Tomasz Leśniewski, Head of Shared Service Center Poland, Clariant.
SSC LIONS
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
REMOTE WORKING. A THIRTY WEEKS’ EXPERIMENT Let's forget about the vision of the twilight of the office era. In fact, business premises are entering a new phase – reorganisation. To meet employers’ and employees’ new expectations, i.e. the introduction of a hybrid model, they must embrace flexibility. Such offices mean the best conditions for partial use of remote working. We are now witnessing a great expe rim ent, which started right after the introduction of restrictions caused by the epidemic. The deteriorating situation forced many employers to implement the remote working model. Employees underwent a transition to the home office pattern almost overnight. Offices became empty. Especially those occupied by companies operating in industries such as real estate (92% of these used remote working methods), IT and telecommunications (86%), services for business (84%), and SSC/BPO (80%), as shown by recent Devire research. The first weeks of work according to the new formula aroused enthusiasm. Contrary to some companies’ concerns, employees successfully performed their duties from home. Some praised the home environment as being more conducive to concentration and good performance. They appreciated lower stress levels and easier work-life balance. Over time, however, this enthusiasm began to weaken.
THE FLIPSIDE This is what was experienced in homes with children. Their presence made it difficult or impossible for their parents to
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work effectively with the comfort drama tically dropping in homes where there was no possibility of arranging a separate room. Surveys showed that almost one-third of people working remotely had a problem maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Some other comparisons were also surprising. According to surveys conducted by Airtasker, people working in the home office more often than office workers complained about experiencing stress (54% to 49%) and losing patience (45% to 42%). These are observations made by employees.
means to oversee employee commitment. Another disadvantage is that, as far as the remote model goes, it’s harder to develop team spirit and strengthen employee-employee and employee- -employer ties. Of course, it’s not so difficult to imagine that the existing relations are maintained remotely, but establishing new ones effectively is unlikely to be possible in such conditions. According to McKinsey & Company's analyses, 80% of people working outside the office cite the need for more frequent communication with the team. Also, remote working is inconducive to The period of remote work was also the induction of new employees into looked at by employers with very little the structure of the company as well as enthusiasm. According to Devire's familiarising them with their responsibi research, some (13%) companies were lities, when smooth communication and unable to introduce it at all, 35% encoun- continuous exchange of information are tered hindrances switching to the home needed. Besides, superiors’ willingness to office formula, while 22% offered such send people to the home office depends a possibility only to some employees. on the age of the employees – it is lesser The most common reason was the type when older people are concerned. of work performed (83% of the reasons for not introducing remote work), as well On the other hand, studies are highas equipment shortages and the manage- lighting numerous advantages of remote ment’s decisions. Companies’ manage- working. Examples include the Owl ment teams often bring up the issue Labs and Global Workplace Analytics of their inability to evaluate the produc- research carried out before the pandemic tivity of people working remotely (76%). and the famous Stanford Institute On top of that, there is the issue of limited for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Offices became empty. Especially those occupied by companies operating in industries such as real estate (92% of these used remote working methods), IT and telecommunications (86%), services for business (84%), and SSC/BPO (80%), as shown by recent Devire research.
report published in 2015, which indicated a decrease in redundancies or an increase in productivity. It’s worth noting, however, that the people covered by this memorable study were required to have a separate office room with outsiders being banned from entering. Expecting such conditions in the Polish realities is naive and unrealistic.
A NEW ERA IN THE OFFICE MARKET The typical advantages of offices, missing in the case of remote working, will be seen as insignificant by few companies. Business premises will still be places where teams – even flexible ones – will be able to work effectively. Research shows that teams performing work in one place see considerable benefits, such as means to organise meetings easily, quick ways to build confidence, simplified problem solving, an environment encouraging immediate communication, and quick decision making. Other advantages of business premises include easier control over the work performed, employees’ sense of participation in the life and culture of the company, easier employee induction, less stress, and a lesser risk of postponing the execution of duties. Also, offices are equipped with better facilities and offer IT support as well as more comfortable rooms, while the home environment makes employees feel that they are spending extra money on organising their place to meet the requirements of remote work.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
Research shows that teams performing work in one place see considerable benefits, such as means to organise meetings easily, quick ways to build confidence, simplified problem solving, an environment encouraging immediate communication, and quick decision making.
Given that, the predictions of the twilight of the office era seem rash. In fact, a new era is beginning. Offices need to be reorganised into the most modular space possible, and today’s flexible offices will surely gain in popularity. Social, soft, and communication-related functions will become increasingly important. In our spaces, we’re already observing an increase in interest in private offices, which are more effective than the open space model in terms of building communication and relations, as well as in dedicated meeting rooms and hot desks, i.e. rotating workstations, which can be booked before coming to the office. Moreover, well-set-up conference rooms will go up in the hierarchy of important types of office space. Offices will change due to the need to create safer working conditions. The business premises at CitySpace, even open space, have been for a long time intended to be used by specific companies and teams, which on the one hand encoura ges interaction and on the other hand makes it possible to separate groups from each other. Separation has many advantages: privacy, hygiene safety – all-important in the COVID era, security of information exchange, noise reduction, ease of communication, etc. Flexi bility means that, if necessary, businesses can quickly change the arrangement of their offices. What’s more, they can adjust the size of their premises and the number of workstations to the current staffing situation or the model of work chosen by them. There’s also the question
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of common areas, such as kitchens or relaxation zones, which will be assigned to specific office sectors. We decided to take a step like this with the extended part of the Beethoven centre in Warsaw, where we prepared a sector with its own kitchen for one company. In the new zone, there’s also an exclusive meeting room, which can be also used as an office. The zone accessed through an independent entrance.
employers to introduce a hybrid system, teach employees how to work effectively regardless of where they work, as well as making office owners introduce a model of operation that guarantees shorter lease contracts. All this will lead to an increase in the importance of office space opera tors who will reconcile the interests of users, tenants, and owners.
Remote working results in the dispersion of teams, which should be compleTHE HYBRID MODEL AND mented by a wide network of serviced THE NEED FOR FLEXIBILITY offices, ensuring good quality service. In the future, companies will choose CitySpace is such a network. In Warsaw the hybrid model, which is a synthesis alone, we operate in five locations. Thanks of the advantages of remote work and to this, specific teams of one company can on-premises work. During the experi work from different offices, adapting to its ment forced by the lockdown, both dispersed network of employees. employers and employees saw the potential of remote working and found out that Remote working will result in the optimiafter several conditions are met, this sation of workspace, more efficient use formula can work in practice. In a study of resources, as well as increased demand by Resume.io, employees indicate for flexible offices. The conclusions of the possibility of working remotely as the experiment, which has been running the most important benefit that increases since March, are clear: the labour market their happiness at work. The offices and the office market are entering a hybrid should therefore adapt to cyclic and world whose foundation is flexibility. project work because it’s the easiest way to introduce the hybrid model in this area: collaborative creative work in the office, which will then be continued by indi- Author: vidual units remotely. The home office pattern will complement the on-premises work, with offices used as project teams’ meeting places. Remote working requires flexibility. Flexibility is in turn the most important competence that the pandemic has taught us. The new situation will encourage
Jarosław Bator, Managing Director, CitySpace
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
BUSINESS
DOES BUSINESS REQUIRE A SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTER?
The systems and technologies responsible for storing and managing data as well as directing processes have an enormous impact on the functioning of the organizational operation, one might even say the IT environments are key for the development of contemporary business. This year’s situation related to the lockdown of the economy made this depen dence even deeper, while it also showed how essential the constant guarding of IT security is – today, like never before we can admit that every business can become a target for cyber-criminals. The companies are, however, not defenseless. Today almost every organisation respecting not only its assets, but also customer and partner data, has several kinds of defenses such as a firewall, IPS [Intrusion Prevention System], IDS [Intrusion Detection System], the filtering of URL adresses and suspicious e-mails as well as respectable anti-virus software. These are, in fact, the essentials to assume a relatively uninterrupted use of the network, although until now mainly understood as a local network. The situation becomes more complicated when access to data is not limited only to employees from the stationary offices and the local network, but is also increasingly open to remote employees, partners working with external systems, using web and mobile devices and applications. Especially in such a situation in particular, one has to realize that the technologies we know and use protect against what we know and can defend ourselves against.
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Additionally, many companies regard IT security as something static and deal with it when there is time or budget for it or when the situation is really "heated". The problem is that threats on the Internet are neither static, nor do the cybercri minals lack the willingness and resources to break down further barriers, while the risks often relate not only to the possibility of unauthorized access to data, but above all they are a threat to the reputation of the company or other intangible assets that may indirectly affect its valuation or even the possibility of carrying out a project or investment. According to opensecurity.pl: Behind today's malware there is a thriving black market, where you can find the sales offers for 0-days, exploits, backdoors and even complete botnets consisting of thousands of controlled computers. All of this makes it easier for organized crime groups to conduct extensive phishing campaigns or ransomware attacks... Hacking operations are initiated both outside and inside the organization. The specific, particular attacks take place at a completely dif ferent time, often from inside the organi zation, when the attackers impersonate authorized, legitimate users of applications and networks.
According to Microsoft, the time from the moment the attacker took control of the first computer to obtain administrator rights giving access to all company resources was up to 48 hours. However, depending on the industry, it took companies up to 150 days to detect that they were victims of a successful attack. In other words, IT services have up to 48 hours to detect an intrusion, otherwise full control over the IT infrastructure may be taken. Time plays a key role here, so it may turn out that the standard activities of local IT services – responsible for many other areas of the company's operations – are insufficient and simply delayed. Therefore, in companies for which IT security is a prerequisite for business continuity, there is a need to find an individual or, more likely, a team able to monitor the situation and inform the IT departments about the detected threats. This is the Security Operations Center, SOC for short. The SOC is the name of the team responsible for current monitoring and analysis of the security of the organization. The aim of the SOC team is to detect, analyze and respond to cyber security incidents using a combination of technological solutions and a set of processes.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Key areas for which SOC is responsible: 1. Proactive detection of unwanted activity to know about incidents as quickly as possible and minimize their consequences. 2. Risk estimation – to identify the potential target of the attack and minimize its effects. 3. Vulnerability management – to have a practical knowledge of what may be exposed to new threats. 4. Awareness of key resources, systems and users operating in the monitored organization to be aware of their potential threats. 5. Management of event logs to be able to investigate sources and estimate the scale of the incident or violation. However, building a Security Operations Center is a big investment. It is necessary to purchase efficient and reliable equipment for monitoring logs, plus a necessary SIEM [Security Information and Event Management] software set. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of expenses... the whole thing has to be supplemented by a qualified team of security specia lists, who are not only very well paid nowadays, but above all, extremely difficult to find, retain and keep up-to-date in terms of qualifications. The current demand for cyber security specia lists far exceeds the number of qualified employees available on the market.
The (ISC)2 report of November 2019 estimates that the shortage of staff in cyber security is over 290 thousand vacancies in Europe alone. As it is not difficult to guess, the solution in such a situation may be to use the Security Operations Center maintained by an external provider such as the Managed Security Service Provider. This type of cooperation guarantees access to specialized knowledge and tools to the extent tailored to needs. What remains to be determined is the scope of the service on the basis of resources to be monitored and the course of processes and addressees to whom information about potential threats and suggestions for necessary actions will be sent, as well as the mode of operation in the 24/7 or 8/5 working days model, which affects the final subscription rate. Shoud there is, if there is ever a need for changes, extensions, but also limiting the scale of action, all can be implemented quickly and easily. Flexibility, availability and stability of this form of cooperation is an undoubted advantage and convenience. Cooperation with external Security Operations Center starts with signing a non-disclosure agreement [NDA]. The next step is to perform an IT infrastructure security audit, which lasts from 2 to 4 working days (the exact time depends on the scope and
degree of complexity of the IT environment of the company under investigation). The resulting report with conclusions, after encryption, is passed on to the client and an advisory discussion takes place, during which recommendations are presented concerning taking necessary actions or updating the company's security policies. This is a standard action before moving on to the next step of proactive protection, which consists in running SIEM software to take care of the organization's security. The process of active protection consists of continuous analysis of the client's IT infrastructure, network and terminal equipment, while in case of anomalies, threats or abnormal situations, the information is passed from SOC engineers to the client. Sources: Report (ISC)2: https://www.isc2.org/-/media/ ISC2/Research/2019-Cybersecurity-WorkforceStudy/ISC2-Cybersecurity-WorkforceStudy-2019.ashx Blog: https://opensecuirty.pl
Author:
Zbigniew Szostak, Head of Product and Solution Department, 3S Group
According to Microsoft, the time from the moment the attacker took control of the first computer to obtain administrator rights giving access to all company resources was up to 48 hours.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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BUSINESS
OUTSOURCING. NEVER-ENDING CHANGE Agility and flexibility are undoubtedly the key features of a successful company taking over processes and providing resources and solutions that ensure optimization. Agility has been put to the test in the last few months. Most organizations had to dynamically transfer their employees to the remote work system overnight, additionally taking care that the ongoing projects did not suffer. Was it easy? Of course not. There were new challenges that required the organization to change its way of thinking and operating by almost 180 degrees. During the lockdown, the employer had no choice but to trust his employees. It would be inappropriate to assume that work performed in a rigidly imposed office framework can be effectively performed in a specific, home environment, at strictly defined hours and with maximum concentration, where we may be distracted every now and then, from a crying child or a barking neighbor's dog. Many managers and organizations have implemented the optimal, and therefore transparent, principle of the new organi zational culture, allowing the possibility of changing working hours and being oriented to perform specific tasks, rather than spending a specific time in front of a computer. Not all trends we encountered as an organization were positive. Many companies have applied an even stricter control and monitoring policy, expecting even more detailed daily reports, statistics or accounting for each working hour. That only shows how many directions the strategy can go.
dozens of employee questions "what next?". It has become crucial to quickly secure projects, transfer teams and equip them with appropriate tools for remote work. The warehouses lacked computer equipment, and office workers did not always have the conditions to work from home (additional huge challenge was the closure of educational institutions). On the other hand, some of the production workers went to parking. In addition to the technical challenges, there were
also psychological ones. Due to the coronavirus, we have all found ourselves in a difficult, unusual situation for us, regardless of whether we are talking about professional matters or our private life. On one hand, we tried to be reasonable and approach the matter reasonably. On the other hand, most of us may have experienced fear and insecurity as well. It is natural. First of all, we are concerned about our health and life and that of our loved ones.
The stabilization of almost all projects was disturbed by uncertainty, bad news constantly pouring out of the media and
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Preparing for the second wave seems to be closely related to the preparation of an appropriate strategy, making plans on how to reorganize company's activities in terms of even deeper lockdown, answering questions on how to keep up to organization’s culture of work and, consequently, how to have trust in employees.
Factors which affected companies of the PBO industry, had their impact also on cost optimization. Most industries were affected by the decline in turnover, majority of companies embarked on largescale savings. The search for optimization meant that the industry began to strongly support individual sectors by providing flexible solutions. And we, as an organization, faced a difficult task: how to rebuild models and processes in individual teams into scalable ones. In my opinion, this scalability has become one of the most important elements of the new reality. The new approach to building and managing teams allowed for efficient implementation of tasks in difficult conditions. This change also showed new talents among the employees themselves. In many cases initiatives naturally emerged to improve particular stages of projects or tasks performed. Collecting all the human energy while the work was performed remotely has been a rewarding challenge, showing how many rough diamonds we have in our structures. For many companies, the beginnings of the pandemic, apart from the fact that no one was prepared for such a big change, forced them to set one more goal that is to build a strategy in a world, where tomorrow is even more unpredictable than before. It has become essential for many to secure the fundamentally valuable resources and to release the power hidden in their potential. The scope of tasks assigned to outsourcing providers to date has grown
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
significantly. The expectations for solving the new challenges emerged one after the other. On one hand, it showed how much potential has so far been undiscove red or possible to optimize. And the shift in perspective of COVID-19 pandemic has become a kind of lens to see it.
I select them online and have to trust my suppliers that the goods they deliver are trustworthy. That requires change of mindset. It's funny to see how private life and business are comparable in certain aspects, even if we think about business employing hundreds of employees.
In the era where change is constant and resources are very often limited for various reasons, it was also necessary to create new procedures easily accessible to every staff member, regardless of where they perform their work. Online tools and online trainings proved to be the most expected products. In our area of operation, the answer to the demand turned out not to be difficult. The adaptation of the staff has proven again how brave and creative one can be in providing services to the customer. This synergy allowed us to put forward the thesis that there are areas in the organization that despite of remote performance of work bring results not worse than those under the direct supervision of leaders and trainers.
Sharing our thoughts with you, we are aware as an organization that the second wave of the pandemic is inevitably approaching, it is not an "if", it is a "when". The challenge is to prepare the organizational structures for the enhanced attack of the virus. It is worth a while to answer that question. You need to be aware of the consequences another lockdown may bring. It will not be yet another slump, it will result in a huge economic crisis. Preparing for the second wave seems to be closely related to the preparation of an appropriate strategy, making plans on how to reorganize company's activi ties in terms of even deeper lockdown, answering questions on how to keep up to organization’s culture of work and, consequently, how to have trust in employees. Thinking two steps ahead seems the most The need of adaptation to the market accurate approach for the next months. showed that the level of digitalization is well-developed in comparison to other Author: European countries. Social distancing forced us to use the Internet for shopping even more frequently and to change our social habits in private life. I am a perfect example of the transformation. Not only Tomasz Grędzicki, did I move my entire professional life Manager of online, I also transferred my hobby. I am the outsourcing an amateur chef. I used to carefully select area, Mellon Poland products at the farmers’ market, now sp. z o.o.
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MAIN INTERVIEW
THE POWER IS IN VIRTUAL TEAMS An interview with Peter Ivanov, Manager, Entrepreneur and Virtual teams Expert with over 20 years of international experience, the author of bestselling book “Virtual Power Teams”.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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MAIN INTERVIEW
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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MAIN INTERVIEW
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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MAIN INTERVIEW
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Understand the challenges and opportunities of doing business in 77 jurisdictions around the world. Setting up and running a business in a new country can be even more challenging in uncertain times. Discover the global and local factors that can drive the success or failure of your expansion plans.
Download TMF Group’s Global Business Complexity Index 2020
INVESTMENTS NEWS THE TMF GROUP'S EUROPEAN CENTRE IS BEING BUILT IN KATOWICE The TMF Group will be joined by another 300 specialists over the next two years. They will form a team working directly with the world's largest Fortune 500 companies. The recruitment has just started. The TMF Group's Polish branch with offices in Warsaw and Katowice – where the TMF Group's European Centre is now being launched – currently employs nearly 500 people and is one of the TMF Group's largest branches in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Unlike the shared service centres, the employees of the European TMF Group Centre will not provide services within the organisation, but will be directly responsible for advising
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the company's clients in the areas of Human Resources and Payroll, Tax and Accounting and Corporate Secretariat. These are globally recognised brands. TMF Group's services are used by more than 60% of Fortune Global 500 and FTSE 100 companies and nearly half of the 300 largest private equity firms in the world.
even those based in the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey).
However, joining the TMF Group team will be reserved only for the most talented people who will gain the chance to gain international, unique experience. Over time, these people will become world-class specialists with a track TMF Group has just started recruit- record of working with leading global ment. The first thing we are looking brands. The TMF Group's employees in for are experts with experience in one Katowice will be part of international of the company's areas of specialisa- teams of experts, and over time the most tion and because of direct contact with talented will have the opportunity to clients – fluent in English, German or work in foreign branches of the company. French. They will work for clients from England, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Each of the Centre's employees will be Denmark, Finland, Iceland, France, Italy, able to join the internal TMF Business Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzer- Academy, where the most experienced land, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and experts lecture.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
KRAKOW'S HIGH5IVE OFFICE COMPLEX WINS THE 2020 PRIME PROPERTY PRIZE The second stage of High5ive – a Krakow investment implemented by Skanska – won the first place in the Prime Property Prize 2020 competition in the Investment of the Year – Office Space Market category. Among other things, the quality and innovation of the project and the process of its commercialization were assessed. The award was presented during the Property Forum 2020 gala. The Prime Property Prize competition was held for the ninth time. The idea behind this initiative is to select companies and projects that have had the greatest impact on the commercial real estate market in the last year, as well as people who played a key role in the development of the entire industry.
implementation time, commercialization process, innovative solutions, architecture, and the impact of the investment on the environment and the economy of the region. High5ive office buildings have become a permanent fixture in the business landscape of Krakow. Great location and communication with all parts of the city are considered a big advantage. The project provides many ameni ties, including an original operating system Connected by Skanska, which allows employees to enter the building
using only a special mobile application. Tenants can enjoy a Scandinavian lobby, concierge services, rich infrastructure for cyclists and a basketball court. The second stage of the investment has 1,900 sqm of anti-smog pavement made of green concrete, which reduces compounds from car exhaust fumes that are harmful to humans. The buildings are applying for the LEED Platinum and the Facility without Barriers certificates. Stage II of the High5ive complex offers nearly 37,000 sqm of modern office space.
By the decision of the voters, buildings 4 and 5, i.e. the second stage of the High5ive office complex developed by Skanska, won first place in the Investment of the Year – Office Space Market category. This award is granted to new or expanded office buildings and office complexes, which were completed between September 2019 and September 2020. The competition assesses the quality and innovativeness of the project,
SPARK B WINS THE PLGBC GREEN BUILDING AWARDS 2020 COMPETITION The Spark B office building, realized by Skanska in the Warsaw's Wola district, has won this year's edition of the prestigious PLGBC Green Building Awards in the "Best Realized Certified Ecological Building" category. According to the jury, it is an example of an extremely successful combination of care for the environment and the needs of users, as well as taking into account the voice of the local community. Spark B was built according to the guidelines of the WELL Core&Shell certificate and the LEED certificate at the highest platinum level. Thanks to the consultations with the general public carried out together with Fundacja na Miejscu and Project for Public Spaces, the investment
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
also takes into account the expectations of residents – the investment's neighbors. The unique character of the project is due to its public square, an amphitheater, and open space for outdoor work, which makes it a meeting place for the local community as well. It was already at the design stage of the office building that Skanska coope rated with Fundacja Integracja – consequently, Spark B has met the requirements of the Building without Barriers certificate right from the beginning. This means that all individuals with disabi lities, seniors or anyone who does not speak Polish can move around Spark B and use its facilities without any restrictions. The Spark office building also has
a room for parents and children and special family parking spaces. Building B, as well as the entire Spark complex, was developed in the spirit of sustainable construction. Thanks to the use of special recycled materials and the implementation of internal solutions that reduce energy and water consumption, Spark accomplishes the idea of ecological building. The idea behind the competition and the PLGBC Green Building Awards is to promote modern solutions for sustainable construction. The competition is organi zed for companies from the construction and real estate sectors. It awards the best green building projects in Poland.
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INVESTMENTS
OFFICE MARKETS IN SOUTHERN POLAND
Krakow and Wrocław are the only regional office markets in Poland with their respective office stock surpassing the 1 million sq m mark. What was the catalyst of this strong growth in the south of Poland? What are the prospects for the real estate markets in these cities in the face of COVID-19? We talk about it with Agnieszka Kuehn and Bartosz Plewa of real estate advisory firm Savills. Outsourcing&More: Warsaw has always led the way on the Polish office market. Are regional cities ever likely to draw level with it? Agnieszka Kuehn, Regional Manager, Office Agency, Savills Krakow: Capital ci ties very often have a competitive advantage that stems from the natural concentration of business and administration in them. Poland’s major strength in Central and Eastern Europe, however, lies in a large number of strong cities and towns. They are relatively evenly spread across the country and can draw on an influx of labour from nearby areas. Poland’s eight core regional markets have already almost drawn level with Warsaw in terms of office stock. At the end of June 2020, the Polish capital had approximately 5,685,000 sq m of office space, while Krakow, Wrocław, Łódź, Tricity, Poznań, Szczecin, Lublin and Katowice had a total of around 5,595,000 sq m. The difference is therefore just 90,000 sq m, an equivalent of one large office building in Warsaw. Bartosz Plewa, Consultant, Office Agency, Savills Wrocław: Regional office markets need not remain overshadowed by Warsaw at all and I guess there is no
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
point in making comparisons any longer. Each regional city has developed its local submarket with unique features and strengths to attract tenants. For example, it is regional cities rather than Warsaw that are a location of choice for many BPO companies. What does the present situation on the office markets in Krakow and Wrocław look like? Agnieszka Kuehn: Krakow is the largest regional office market in Poland. At the end of Q2 2020, its total office stock amounted to 1.48 million sq m, and almost 70,000 sq m of new office space was delivered to the market in the first six months of this year. The biggest new office completion was another building of the High5ive complex. As of mid-year, there was more than 185,000 sq m under construction, approximately 100,000 sq m of which is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The office stock growth was accompanied by a relatively solid leasing activity in the early months of the year that weakened in the second quarter due to COVID-19. Despite many pandemic-related challenges, the first half of the year, which was an unprecedented time in the history of the Krakow office market, How has COVID-19 affected both saw approximately 115,000 sq m trans- markets? Bartosz Plewa: The development acti acted in the city, representing a 15% yearvity in Wrocław has weakened slightly after on-year decrease. several years of rapid growth. The volume Bartosz Plewa: Although Wrocław’s of new office space coming onto the maroffice stock is slightly smaller than that ket this year will be about half the fiveof Krakow, it is big enough to earn year average. Developers will certainly rethe capital of Lower Silesia the title main a little more cautious about starting of the second-largest regional office new projects for some time, but I believe market in Poland. At the end of June 2020, Wrocław will see a return of rapid growth it stood at 1.19 million sq m. The first half in the long term as it is one of the most of the year witnessed only one office attractive regional markets. completion – the head office of Techland – but another 43,000 sq m is expected to Tenants are already returning to their offices. Smaller, local companies with up be added by the end of this year. to 100 staff are going back a lot faster. Most Office demand was unusually strong in large corporates have put their decisions Wrocław in the first six months of 2020. on hold until the year end. Companies that Take-up hit approximately 62,500 sq m, did return have largely embraced a hybrid which represented an almost 40% year- model combining remote and office work. on-year increase, mainly on account I think this solution will gain traction as of the very strong first quarter. The leasing a result of the pandemic. Only time will tell market performance in the second what the proportions will be. As the current quarter was impacted by COVID-19, situation drags on, employers are increaswhose consequences will certainly carry ingly longing for the benefits of the traditional work model. into the second half of the year as well.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Each regional city has developed its local submarket with unique features and strengths to attract tenants. For example, it is regional cities rather than Warsaw that are a location of choice for many BPO companies.
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INVESTMENTS
Krakow is the largest regional office market in Poland. At the end of Q2 2020, its total office stock amounted to 1.48 million sq m, and almost 70,000 sq m of new office space was delivered to the market in the first six months of this year. The biggest new office completion was another building of the High5ive complex.
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What will the future of the office markets in Krakow and Wrocław look like? How could they position themselves for growth to continue to attract tenants? Bartosz Plewa: Wrocław has always been viewed as an excellent base for IT companies. It offers top talent thanks to technical teaching excellence and the good cooperation of corporations and universities. Chief executives and founders of many successful local startups come from Siemens, which opened its Software Development Centre in Wrocław 20 years ago. This illustrates the strong interdependence between the city’s growth and the office market. Many companies that are made up of former employees of Siemens – later renamed Nokia Agnieszka Kuehn: I agree, staggered Siemens Networks – and other giants work shifts have many advantages such such as Capgemini, which has been pre as maintaining social distancing through sent in Wrocław for years, are now growdecreased office density. They will enable ing despite COVID-19. This is where I see knowledge sharing and better teamwork, the greatest strength and growth potenwith employees enjoying a comfort- tial of the Wrocław office market. able work environment, including Agnieszka Kuehn: Krakow remains such basics as a desk, a good internet connection, air-conditioning and silence. a vibrant city despite the unprecedented Office density was very low in Krakow market situation and fewer students and for several months, but began to pick tourists. Leasing processes that began up in September. We expect that remote in the office sector before the pandemic work will remain the preferred choice struck and were suspended are gradufor employees and companies for some ally being resumed. Flexibility – the latest time – until the end of this year or even buzzword – is not limited to coworking springtime – so that they can protect spaces only. The market has seen a marthemselves during the autumn and winter ked increase in sublease opportuniinfluenza season. ties for fully-furnished offices in very prestigious buildings available under Some trends that have emerged or shorter leases and in smaller sizes than accelerated as a result of the pandemic in the case of standard lease contracts. are here to stay with us for longer. Landlords’ offer is also evolving, and it has There will be more flexibility in the first become possible to secure many flexible place. Tenants will combine office work solutions from traditional office landlords. and remote work and will also use If there is no second lockdown, the busicoworking spaces and serviced offices. ness community is likely adapt to the new Instead of securing expansion space in normal in 2021, and the Krakow office advance, they can choose to lease flex- market will continue to grow at a rapid ible office spaces for individual teams as pace as before. their companies grow. There is certainly no end to the office in sight. I think that Thank you for the interview. that market is evolving.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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TIME FOR
AFRICA! Why the region’s outsourcing and offshoring potential cannot be ignored.
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
Author: Elias van Herwaarden Elias leads Locationperspectives, a consultancy that assists companies in building and restructuring their business internationally. He draws on 30 years’ experience with cross-border business and over 140 location and sourcing projects for the BSS sector. Elias’ Outsourcing & More columns seek to address burning BSS matters. For further inquiries on this article or on Locationperspectives: elias@locationperspectives.com.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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LITHUANIA’S GBS COMMUNITY THRIVES IN
‘THE NEW NORMAL’
The COVID-19 outbreak has presented a challenge for everyone, including Lithuania’s GBS sector that employs almost 20,000 specialists. But what could have been a story of mass layoffs, actually turned out to be a story of growth and resilience. Thanks to careful planning and agile processes, the country’s GBS centres have adapted to ‘the new normal’ exceptionally quickly, and continue to deliver tangible value for their clients and partners.
FULL VERSION OF THE O&M IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS AND PRO PROGRESSIO CLUB MEMBERS.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
According to Eurostat, Lithuania is among the top countries in the EU for the share of young people with digital skills, with more than 90% of young Lithuanians having digital competencies. The potential for digitization is also evident in the fact that as much as 40% of jobs in Lithuania can go digital – the highest percentage among OECD members.
Author:
Laura Kavaliauskaitė, Head of GBS & ICT Team, Invest Lithuania
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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INVESTMENTS
BYDGOSZCZ OPEN TO INVESTORS.
BARR ALWAYS AT YOUR DISPOSAL Bydgoszcz has been striving for the right climate for the development of economy and creation of entrepreneurship for years. Subsequent industry reports and rankings confirm the strong position of the City on the Polish map of the most attractive business locations. How does Bydgoszcz attract new investments from the BPO/SSC sector? What support from the City can the investor count on? We are discussing these and other topics in an interview with Edyta Wiwatowska – the President of the Management Board of the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency (BARR). Outsourcing&More: How has the business services sector in Bydgoszcz developed in recent years? Does the BPO/SSC industry have a real impact on shaping the local economy? Edyta Wiwatowska, the President of the Management Board of the Byd goszcz Regional Development Agency (BARR): For several years, Bydgoszcz has been consistently implementing the poli cy of a "city open to outsourcing" and has been striving to create the best possible conditions for investors from the BPO/ SSC sector to develop their businesses here. As a result of these activities, the sector of modern business services is recording spectacular development in the City. Bydgoszcz relatively quickly became the headquarters of approx. 60 BPO, SSC, IT, and R&D services centres, and the number of jobs created dynamically increased from 1.000 in 2010 to over 11.000 today. Currently, experts rank Bydgoszcz as one of the leading cities that are important for the development of the BPO/SSC market in the country. Many major global companies, such as Atos, Nokia or Cybercom, have chosen this location and are successfully implementing projects for the largest global
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IT, telecommunications, insurance, and the current office area equals to over automotive companies, running them 108.000 m2, and another 82.000 m2 is from our City. currently being built or is at the planning stage. Special exemption from propThanks to the companies from the IT erty tax is an additional incentive from industry investing here, we have managed the City to invest in modern office properto develop a strong local specialization ties. The new office buildings offer a high that distinguishes Bydgoszcz. According standard, a convenient location in the city to last year's report prepared by the Asso- centre, easy access to public transport and ciation of Business Service Leaders (ABSL), public services, as well as numerous techthe share of IT services in the employ- nological improvements and the possiment structure of BPO, SSC, IT and R&D bility of arranging space according to indicentres in Bydgoszcz is the highest in vidual needs. Such advantages of the locacomparison to other centres in Poland tion of the office increase the comfort and (in our City they generate over 80% attractiveness of the job offers. of workplaces in the sector). Financial and accounting centres and contact We also see that the development of centres are also developing more and the business services market in Bydgoszcz more dynamically here. In addition to IT also increases the demand for coworking services, it is in the F&A industry that we offices, enabling flexible selection of space see great potential for further develop- for smaller projects that do not generate ment of the local BPO/SSC sector – espe- a significant number of jobs in the first cially as the largest number of students phase, but are usually based on a few or and graduates in the region do specialize more employees. This solution becomes in finance and accounting. an excellent alternative to remote work, thus providing employees with access to The local market of modern office space modern infrastructure with conference also swiftly reacted to such a dynamic and social facilities, while not having to be growth of the BPO/SSC industry in associated with a long-term lease. In view Bydgoszcz. Thanks to the investments, of this trend and seeing the increasing
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
demand for coworking areas, representatives of the City have started discussions with national and international suppliers of such solutions, as a result of which soon their offer will be available also to investors in Bydgoszcz.
of local human capital and the possibility of training staff adapted to the needs of investors. About half of students from all over the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship are educated at universities located in our City, and local universities cooperate with business and respond How does Bydgoszcz attract invest- to reported staffing needs by creating ments from the modern business ser- courses in consultation with entreprevices sector? What are the City's great- neurs. In order to ensure that the teaching profile is best adapted to the needs est assets? Bydgoszcz offers a stable business of the local economy, already at the level environment and access to human re- of secondary schools, the City has focused sources. It also creates a good climate on the strong, technical nature of Bydgofor new investments and the develop- szcz institutions, which can be an addiment of existing business. The attractive- tional advantage for the investor when ness to investors and an appropriate city choosing a location for the development strategy aimed at openness and ensur- of his business. ing the best possible conditions for entrepreneurs are among the reasons why Investors also pay attention to the convenBydgoszcz has received international and ient transport location of Bydgoszcz, as business awards such as the first place in well as the availability of modern office the World Bank ranking "Doing Business parks and investment areas, located within in Poland 2015", was twice awarded the ti- the administrative boundaries of the City. tle "Emerging City of the Year" in the CEE What is also significant for them is the cost Shared Services and Outsourcing Award competitiveness of this location, not only in 2016 and 2019, or received awards in in terms of the expenses necessary to other prestigious plebiscites of the real acquire an employee, but also in the rental estate industry such as CIJ Awards Poland of modern office space or the purchase and Eurobuild Awards. of land. In addition, investors can benefit from a number of investment incentives The attracting factor for investment in our City, such as property tax relief and in Bydgoszcz is certainly the potential exemptions or reimbursement of costs
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Bydgoszcz relatively quickly became the headquarters of approx. 60 BPO, SSC, IT, and R&D services centres, and the number of jobs created dynamically increased from 1.000 in 2010 to over 11.000 today. Currently, experts rank Bydgoszcz as one of the leading cities that are important for the development of the BPO/SSC market in the country.
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INVESTMENTS
Bydgoszcz is one of the greenest cities in Poland, has a rich offer of cultural, entertainment, sports and recreation events, continues to invest to improve urban infrastructure and revitalize the city centre in service to residents and entrepreneurs and constantly improves the quality of public services.
related to equipping new jobs. The City also focuses on efficient and professional investor service. For this purpose, two dedicated city companies operate here: the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency and the Bydgoszcz Industrial and Technological Park, which continue to seek further investments. Moreover, what entrepreneurs and their employees are looking for – and they find in our City – is the work-life balance. Bydgoszcz is a city that dynamically develops, and at the same time makes sure to be a place friendly to live and to pursue passions. We are one of the greenest cities in Poland, we have a rich offer of cultural, entertainment, sports and recreation events, we continue to invest to improve urban infrastructure and revitalize the city centre in service to residents and entrepreneurs, we constantly improve the quality of public services. All this makes Bydgoszcz today not only a strong economic centre, but also an attractive and friendly place to live in, develop a career, or for a tourist trip for the weekend. What is the support from the City offered to investors by the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency? We provide comprehensive support for investment processes in our City. We offer professional investment services in the one stop shop formula, as well as
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assistance in the framework of so-called post-investment care. In addition, our activities also include supporting and stimu lating entrepreneurship in the region, as well as the broad economic promotion of Bydgoszcz.
cooperative exchanges, or benefit from numerous trainings and business workshops. The Agency also supports entrepreneurs in the field of researching the potential of the local market or establishing cooperation with universities.
At BARR we give priority to investors. We offer support from a dedicated coordinator who listens to the needs of entrepreneurs and individually supports them on every stage of the investment process. These activities include aiming to find the optimal solutions for the investors, assistance in finding suitable land or built-up space for the investment and obtaining the necessary permits, support during the recruitment process or when applying for investment incentives available in the City, e.g. in the form of real estate tax exemptions. It is worth mentioning that the activities of our Agency have been particularly specialized in handling investments from the BPO/SSC industry. We also encourage investors to take advantage of BARR's online database of investment offers (www.invest.barr. pl/region/Bydgoszcz), which currently contains more than 150 hectares of land and facilities for a wide range of purposes.
The appointment of BARR as a municipal company by the Bydgoszcz authorities in 2013 has made us more flexible and much more efficient in the field of comprehensive service of investment projects in the City. Investors in Bydgoszcz are our partners and have our support in all possible areas. Such a targeted strategy brings results, both in the form of further investment inquiries that we receive, as well as international awards to Bydgoszcz as the most investor-friendly city.
An important element of BARR's offer is also the so-called post-investment care, in which entrepreneurs receive assistance in applying for available funds for the development of their activities, participate in
Thank you for the interview.
More information:
4C Unii Lubelskiej Street 85-059 Bydgoszcz Phone: +48 52 585 88 23 e-mail: barr@barr.pl www.barr.pl
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
INVESTMENTS
LIKE A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES – THE RE-LANDING OF THE KIELCE FLYING SAUCER
An original dome with skylights, collision-free traffic, original Ćmielów porcelain on the walls - these are the elements characteristic for the Kielce bus station. Although it was made in the grayest period of the People's Republic of Poland, it looks like an element of a science fiction film set. Its unique and unusual form results from practical premises. It is the architectural showpiece of Kielce. After renovation that lasted almost two years, on August 27, the cosmic bus station in Kielce was reopened for passengers. The aim of the renovation of the bus station was to adapt the usefulness of the facility designed in the 1970s to modern standards and to increase its aesthetic qualities. The building was put into use on July 22, 1984 and immediately became the glory and symbol of Kielce. Engineer Mieczysław Kubala created the, then surprising, concept of the station with one continuous platform, delineated in a circle. The circular platform greatly improved the traffic of buses that were coming to the designated sectors and departed smoothly after picking up the passengers. This obvious solution allowed architect Edward Modrzejewski, the main designer of the building, and constructor Jerzy Radkiewicz to "hide" the station building inside a circular platform. The project, at that time, was innovative, as it assumed the use of collision-free communication solutions. In Poland it was speculated that it would become a typical model for other cities. Due to the excellent and, most of all, original functionality of the station, the Kielce designers obtained a patent for the collision-free communication solutions used.
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In the "Informatory", published on the occasion of the opening of the bus station in 1984, we read: "Due to the small area limited by the existing streets, a decision to build a circular station was made. The floor plan of the station building has a diameter of 35 meters. It is
made of a steel structure with a domeshaped roof. The interior design is made of aluminum sections, glass, washed terrazzo, marble and prefabricated porcelain elements.” During the construction of the station, problems with the availability of materials, especially finishing
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
COMMUNICATION CENTER IN KIELCE Location: Kielce, Czarnowska 12 Street Investor: Public Transport Authority in Kielce Architectural design: Kamiński Bojarowicz Architekci Contractor: Budimex Construction site area: 31,730 sq m Footprint area: 1 404 sq m Usable floor area of the station building: 3 577 sq m Cubage: 18 225 cu m Building height: 22.5 m Reconstruction design: 2016 (architectural competition) Realization: 2018–2020 Investment value: approx. PLN 70 million gross
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
materials, were common and forced to look for original solutions. One of them was the wall cladding made of cullet, imported from the factories in Ćmielów and Chodzież. In the middle of the building, a wide staircase has been designed leading from the lower level to the main floor, located at the platform level. On the mezzanine that runs along the entirety, there were waiting rooms for mothers with children, afterschool clubs, cloakrooms, toilets and a large eating place. Six twin doors led to the platform, leading to twelve departure stations, covered by a wide roof. Above it, the structure of the station hall emerged with the most characteristic element – an openwork dome full of circular sphe rical skylights.
the residents and the authorities were dissatisfied. After the protests, the city bought the station in 2016. Soon afterwards, in a cooperation with the Association of Polish Architects, the City of Kielce announced an architectural competition for the modernization of the station with the necessary condition of preserving the entire original structure. Out of 9 works that entered the competition, the work by Marcin Kamiński and Bartosz Bojarowicz from Kielce turned out to be the best. The authors presented a concept in which, thanks to the use of modern materials and technologies, managed to preserve the spirit of the 1970s.
In September 2018, the reconstruction of the station began. The area at Czar nowska Street was handed over to The splendor of the Kielce saucer did constructor – Budimex. The Communinot last long. With the advent of 1990, cation Center in Kielce was reopened the situation of a large state-owned on August 27, 2020. Thanks to the investenterprise changed – it was divided into ment, more than 36 years after its hundreds of smaller private and state construction, the bus station building entities. Many of them, unable to meet in Kielce got a second life, and the city's the challenges of the free market, went inhabitants gained a modern and funcbankrupt and sold their assets. The facility tional transport hub. was registered into the list of monuments in 2013, but two years later the new – The developed bus station in Kielce owner presented the concept of trans- is a modern, integrated communicaforming the station into a shopping tion center. It was built anew, but with mall. Hardly anyone shared the inves- its characteristic shape, which makes it tor's enthusiasm at that time – both unique not only in Poland, but also in
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INVESTMENTS
Ceramic set PKS Bus Station in Kielce, author: Marta Dachowska, Design Institute in Kielce. Photo: Paula Dulnik.
Europe. It is again the "pearl" of our city. The interiors are modernized appropriate for the 21st century and the newly arranged surroundings meet the expectations of passengers while devoiding of architectural barriers. Certainly, a facility of this class will affect the transport accessibility of Kielce, the quality of travel, and the image of the city. The added value will be the translation of these advantages into the development of tourism or economic activity – emphasizes the Mayor of Kielce, Bogdan Wenta.
building there is also a city promotion room, where the investment support offer is presented, among others, by Kielce Technology Park or Investor Assistance Center. The building, which is the symbol of Kielce, does not lack innovative technological solutions – one of them is special glass forming the walls of the station, which will darken depending on the conditions outside.
The Communication Center has three levels. On level 0 there are entrances to tunnels from the street level, on level 1 – departure platforms and on level 2 there is a mezzanine with a multimedia library, the Poczytalnia na dVoRcu (Reading Room) – a place where tradition meets modernity and everyone will find something for themselves. Mediateka is a branch of the Municipal Public Library in Kielce. Its offer includes books in traditional form, magazines, audiobooks, but also board games available on-site. The inhabitants of Kielce, tourists and travelers can take advantage of many publications donated by the Regional Tourist Organizations from Additionally, thanks to the redirection various parts of Poland and the munici of some bus lines and numerous facilities palities of the Świętokrzyskie Region. for disabled people, the number of public For those eager for some unforgettable transport users will increase, also among experiences, a virtual reality zone has been this social group. In the newly opened created. Eleven stations equipped with The reopening of the revitalized station and redirection of communication here will increase the city's income thanks to carriers using the station's space and leasing space for commercial and service activities. The unique shape of the new Communication Center has a significant impact on the increase in the image attractiveness of the city. A modernly arranged space, also on the outside of the building, a stylish fountain in the fog and the omnipresent greenery make this place one of the points for organization of interesting urban zones.
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the most advanced devices, such as: HTC VIVE PRO, Oculus Quest and Oculus GO, provide access to countless games and applications. Cyclical workshops called "Virtual Reality Academy of the Future" will be organized, where thanks to technological possibilities, participants will be able to walk along the Chinese Wall, move to a virtual laboratory, visit museums or a space station. One of the main assumptions of Mediateka is to create a reader-friendly space for the exchange of thoughts, views, deepening interests and passions. The atmosphere of this place will be maintained in a club atmosphere, emphasized not only by the exclusive interior, but also by meetings with exceptional guests. The plans include the organization of events, exhibitions of works by artists from Świętokrzyskie Province and presentations of regional "pearls" of culture and tourism. More information:
Investor Assistance Centre Kielce City Hall: Strycharska 6 Street, 25-659 Kielce Phone: +48 41 36 76 571, 41 36 76 557 e-mail: coi@um.kielce.pl www.invest.kielce.pl/en www.mapa.invest.kielce.pl/en
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
IPOSTA riposta.pl
INVESTMENTS
AKADEMICKA CZĘSTOCHOWA FOR BUSINESS Częstochowa is the fourth most recognizable Polish city in the world and the thirteenth-largest. A city with a strong academic traditionand industrial focuses on the development of the economy which meets the expectations of investors. However, attractive investment areas and efficient investor service are not everything. Thorough training of the workforce and creating human resources for business is a priority – currently, around 15,000 students study in the city. In Częstochowa, despite the pandemic, the number of business entities remains at a constant level, and the number of business entities has been increasing in recent years. In 2013, the City Council adopted the "Program for Supporting Entrepreneurship and Creating New Jobs". One of the deve lopment priorities indicated in this program is: "effective cooperation of city authorities, entrepreneurs, universities and other institutions...". A continuation of the program created in close cooperation with entrepreneurs is the current presidential program Better Job Now, under which the system of subsidies and promotion of Częstochowa universities operates: "Akademicka Częstochowa" ("Academic Częstochowa"). According to government data, the fields of study that work best on the labour market are IT, construction, mechanics and machine construction, automation and robotics, and environmental engineering. In addition to specialist technical knowledge, foreign languages, especially English, as well as cognitive and problem-solving skills are essential.
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The possibility of studying technical faculties in English is provided by the Częstochowa University of Technology, which, as part of the European Faculty of Engineering, offers inter-faculty engineering studies in English. The studies are conducted by experienced lecturers from the Częstochowa University of Technology as well as lecturers from foreign partner universities. Students can choose four specializations: Computer Modeling and Simulation, Biotechnology for Environmental Protection, Intelligent Energy and Business and Technology.
research and implementation of the latest technologies in this sector, especially in the field of renewable energy sources. It is anticipated that soon, specialists from the energy sector, especially those with professional experience, will be in request on the labour market. To meet the expectations of entrepreneurs, the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology of the Częstochowa University of Technology has created the so-called practical profile – Energy. Contrary to the general academic profile, a graduate of practical studies, apart from knowledge, skills and social competences, acquire professional experience already during the studies. Students of energetics spend one day a week at their employers, carrying out practical classes.
The studies are distinguished by a multidisciplinary educational program and individual approach to the student. Classes are conducted in small, interna- Moreover, one semester of studies is deditional groups with the use of modern cated to an internship with an entrepreteaching methods. neur. The Faculty's partners in education are the largest companies in the region The energy sector has developed rapidly related to the energy sector and broadly in recent times, especially because understood environmental engineering, of the dwindling resources of conven- including: Fortum Power and Heat Polska tional energy sources. More and more Sp. z o.o., Tauron Dystrybucja S.A. branch funds are allocated to supporting in Częstochowa, TRW Polska, Sunningwell
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
To meet the expectations of entrepreneurs, the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology of the Częstochowa University of Technology has created the so-called practical profile – Energy. A graduate of this studies, apart from knowledge, skills and social competences, acquire professional experience already during the studies. Students of energetics spend one day a week at their employers, carrying out practical classes. (ISD Huta Częstochowa), Górnośląska Spółka Gazownictwa, Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów i Kanalizacji Okręgu Częstochowskiego S.A., Oczyszczalnia Ścieków "WARTA" S.A. in Częstochowa, Polontex, Częstochowskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunalne Sp. z o.o. or the Regional Development Agency. Entrepreneurs from the automotive industry and modern glassworks feel particularly comfortable in the city. The city is becoming more and more attractive for centres of modern business services and has been indicated by Cushman & Wakefield as an alternative for investors from this sector. Work in this sector is a source of jobs for qualified graduates of Częstochowa universities.
University of Technology, majoring in accounting, has launched a specialization in "Accounting in Shared Service Centers". The Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Częstochowa University of Technology, in turn, started cooperation with the Engineering Center TRW, and the Faculty of Metal Processing created glass engineering. The prestige of the university is incre asing: Akademia im. Jana Długosza was transformed into the University, and the Częstochowa University of Technology triumphs, for example, at the international competition of Mars rovers in the USA, where, in 2018, we were the best.
Establishing the University is a very important argument of the city in terms of investment. The equipment of new laboratories at the Częstochowa University of TechFor this reason, the Department nology and the Jan Długosz University of Management in the Częstochowa is often subsidized under the "Academic
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Częstochowa" program – the condition is the business justification for the establishment of such a laboratory and documented cooperation with companies from the city. Every year, about PLN 200,000 is spent from the city budget for this purpose. Author: A. Tymoshenko Translation: M. Wytrzymała
More information:
Investor Assistance Center Department of European Funds and Development City Hall of Częstochowa Waszyngtona 5 Street, 42-217 Częstochowa Phone: +48 34 3707 212, +48 34 3707 213 e-mail: coi@czestochowa.um.gov.pl, fer@czestochowa.um.gov.pl www.czestochowa.pl
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INVESTMENTS
A FLAT IN ŁÓDŹ IS BETTER THAN A DEPOSIT Two years ago, Kuba Midel started his career on YouTube with the question: “Are the streets paved with gold?”. The resident of Łódź claims that, at the age of 30, he reached the level of passive income allowing him to live off property investments. The main area of his business in recent years has been the property rental market in Łódź (including flats). The YouTube channel on which Midel shares his experience has over 123,000 followers. And it’s no wonder, who would not like to work just for pleasure in their thirties? Let’s take a closer at the market, which – as demonstrated by this live example – creates opportunities to achieve it. Mzuri, the largest company in Poland specialising in the management of rentals of flats, houses and luxury apartments, notes that Łódź is becoming more and more popular among investors interested in allocating their capital in flats for rent. In the last decade, the company have assisted in the investment purchases of approximately 1,500 such housing units. It is estimated that 30-40% of them were properties situated in Łódź (and it should be noted that Mzuri assists investors in 15 cities in Poland). What speaks in favour of Łódź?
In 2015, the ratio of rent to the purchase price of a flat was worse in Łódź than in Katowice, and it was at the same level as in Gdańsk. In 2020, Łódź has become the profitability leader among these large cities. The hypothetical profitability of the flat rental investments in Łódź is estimated by Mzuri to be 6.3%. This result is worse (by 0.5%) than five years ago; however, the drop in profitability in Łódź is lower than in most of the biggest Polish cities. Given that, at the same time, the interest rates decreased by approximately 1.5%, it turns out that investing in flats for rent – in Łódź in particular – is still Mzuri points out three major factors. today a better alternative than a deposit The first is the relatively high profitability compared to five years ago. of the investment. The report ‘Flat rental market in Łódź’, prepared in cooperation The second reason for the significant with Mzuri and the City of Łódź Office, interest of investors in the flat rental compared the changes in the profita- market in Łódź is the required investment bility of flat investments over the last value, which is relatively low. The cost of five years. The analysis included Warsaw, purchasing a flat in Łódź is still consideKraków, Gdańsk, Katowice and Łódź. rably lower than in some of the other
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largest Polish cities (excluding Silesia). In Warsaw, a similar flat costs up to twice as much and, in other municipalities, up to several dozen per cent more. The average price per square metre for a flat in the secondary market in Łódź is PLN 5,011, PLN 5,106 in Katowice, PLN 7,766 in Kraków, PLN 8,347 in Gdańsk and PLN 9,705 in Warsaw. The third reason for the prevalence of Łódź among investors seeking flats for rent mentioned by Mzuri is the dynamic growth of the city. The company points out that the perspectives are very promi sing in this area. Therefore, institutional investors also look at Łódź more and more often. Although admittedly it is not as popular as Warsaw or Kraków, its importance on the investment map of Poland is growing systematically. The following companies have already invested in Łódź: Resi4Rent, Arche
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
and Vantage Development. Additionally, new institutional investors have declared their interest in buying flats for rent in this city. In its report, Mzuri indicated that the upcoming years will definitely expand the list of funds owning properties in Łódź. The city already is one of the key locations for group investments (crowdfun ding/crowdinvesting) in Poland. It was Łódź where the first entity of this type was established in Poland – Mzuri CFI 1. They thoroughly renovated a tenement house located on Targowa Street (Number 55) and sold the flats in the building to investors and built a new property, with housing units next to it, for rent. Currently, Mzuri CFI Łódź has over 70 flats for rent in Łódź in its portfolio. Also, Revisit Home – a company that helps private investors participate in large property development projects – has its operations in the city too. It runs three parallel investments in Łódź.
The flat rental market in Łódź has (today) approximately 50,000 housing units, which is approximately 14% of the entire housing resources. A significant part of them – which also distinguishes the market in Łódź from most Polish cities – is situated in tenement houses.
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The city already is one of the key locations for group investments (crowdfunding/ crowdinvesting) in Poland.
We have already mentioned the issue of a favourable relation between property purchase prices and rent in Łódź. Let’s now have a look at the potential impact. In the past five years, the average rent in Łódź has increased by 39%. As the increase was lower than in most large cities in Poland, the gap between Łódź and other metropolises was reduced. The average rent of flats in Łódź in the first quarter of 2020 was PLN 1,103. It is more than in Katowice but still less than in Kraków (PLN 1,499), Gdańsk (PLN 1,700) and Warsaw (PLN 1,891).
The initial conclusions, however, seem to be optimistic for the investors. The report states that the beginning of the lockdown brought a freeze in new transactions across the whole country, although the situation is now improving. According to the data from June 2020, neither rent nor flat prices decreased significantly, meaning that the return on investments has not changed markedly.
support the flat rental market in the whole country, Łódź has its own characteristics which are promising. The next ten years should bring significant change. The anticipated trends are the improvement of the quality of what is on offer, the increasing role of institutional investors, the greater importance of tenement houses and post-industrial buildings, and the emergence of more (and less) attractive districts for investors allocating funds to flats for rent. Despite an increase in property prices, Łódź remains one of the most attractive Polish cities for investors who buy flats to rent. There are signs that this will not change in the coming years. We can expect that this trend will be maintained.
A moderately mild impact of the pandemic on the market in Łódź is proven by a lower percentage of vacancies (properties available for immediate rent) compared to According to the data (as of the 31st of May the largest cities in Poland. At the end 2020), the monthly net rent (the part of the first quarter, their percentage was: of the fee that goes to flat owners after 8.7% for studios (10.4% in Poland), 3.3% deducting administrative costs, media for two-room flats (7.5%), 5.6% for threeetc.) was: PLN 533 for a room, PLN 936 room flats (6.6%) and 13.9% for rooms The article was written based on the report for a studio, PLN 1,175 for a two-room (13.0%). ‘Flat rental market in Łódź’, prepared flat and PLN 1,358 for a three-room flat. This data refers to the coronavirus The flat rental market in Łódź has in cooperation of Mzuri and the City of pandemic and include drops caused (today) approximately 50,000 housing Łódź Office. by the crisis (the biggest drop concerned units, which is approximately 14% rooms in which tenants consisted mostly of the entire housing resources. A signi of students). The report from Mzuri and ficant part of them – which also distin- More information: the City Hall of Łodź points out that: in guishes the market in Łódź from most May 2020, the decreases relating to Polish cities – is situated in tenement Business Development the pandemic and the resulting crisis houses. The recent years have recorded and International Relations Bureau have not yet wiped out the increases a growth in the market and the improved Piotrkowska 104a Street, noted in the last 12 months. The authors quality of rented units (also thanks to 90-926 Lodz of the report emphasise that it is still the refurbishment of tenement houses). Phone: +48 42 638 59 39 too early to clearly assess the impact The perspectives for the future seem to Fax: +48 42 638 59 40 of the pandemic on the flat rental market. be good. In addition to the factors that e-mail: boi@uml.lodz.pl
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INVESTMENTS
STUDENTS DRIVING BUSINESS IN LUBLIN
There are many factors responsible for the success of the modern business services sector, and human capital is one of the most important ones. The City of Lublin is actively engaged in building good relations and links between local businesses and higher education institutions. For many years, the universities have been providing human resources to companies in the BSS sector, helping them to develop their personnel and to co-create specific technological solutions. Let’s find out what the new reality of this collaboration looks like and how Lublin’s students drive business. YEAR OF CHALLENGES Although it has only just begun, new academic year 2020/2021 has already brought many changes. Even though the second semester of the previous year started at the university, distance learning has already begun, and this trend is now continuing – all Lublin universities have chosen a hybrid organization of courses, combining distance learning with a traditional form of education. Only courses that require the physical presence of students are conducted in the traditional form. Freshmen who are already present in Lublin and study in the traditional form are an exception. This year is special not only because of the teaching form, but also the investments completed by universities, which are expanding their facilities to even better meet the needs of business, develop innovation, and commercialize research. Students and staff of the Faculty of Political Sciences and Journalism, and
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the Institute of Psychology of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University began the academic year at the modern Western Campus. The complex of three buildings of more than 11,000 sqm cost almost PLN 84 million. As part of the campus, construction of the new Institute of Pedagogy is also underway – the building is expected to be operational by the end of 2021. The Lublin University of Technology has also started the new academic year with a new building. The Centre for Information Technologies and Technical Linguistics was built at Nadbystrzycka Street. The complex houses modern teaching rooms and laboratories, including an audio-video room dedicated to IT students who want to develop their skills related to film and TV production. Thanks to investments like these, students have better conditions to acquire competences required on the labour market. It has practically become a standard that already in the 1st year of the Master's degree, IT students become employees
of the Lublin-based companies and thus ambassadors of the local universities.
COURSE FOR GROWTH Apart from innovations and development of their facilities, Lublin universities focus on adapting their educational offer to the real needs of the businesses. Thus, academic year 2020/2021 saw first students of International and European Union Law, Public Relations or Information Management. However, new courses related to data analysis may prove to be absolute hits, namely Business Analytics at UMCS and Data Engineering and Analysis launched at the Lublin University of Technology. Business Analytics programme is of interdisciplinary nature and combines topics from different scientific fields – computer science, mathematics, statistics, economics, law or management, and enables students to acquire skills such as the application of IT tools for the automation of processes of data acquisition, processing and visualization. The course
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
West Campus, Kampus Zachodni Maria UMCS. Curie-Skłodowska Fot. Marcin Wiechnik. University. Photo: Marcin Wiechnik.
Academic Lubllin (2019-2020)
students
60,315
graduates
14,522
internationalisation
11.12%
faculties / students business, law, administration
11,335 languages
2,415
IT & ICT
4,545 technical
5,139
students of language courses
26,629
1,433
818
771
448
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opens up employment opportunities with companies, the financial sector or consulting firms in positions such as business analyst, distribution analyst, supply chain analyst, SAP market analyst, business decision analyst or planning specialist. Similarly, the challenges of modern businesses are met by the Lublin University of Technology – big data, data processing, programming languages or administration of computer networks are some of the key elements of the curriculum of Data Engineering and Analysis course.
WHY LUBLIN? Where does the need for investments and development of Lublin universities come from? The answer to this question is quite simple. Almost every sixth person living in Lublin is a student – it’s really difficult to imagine the city without students. There are 60,315 of them at 9 universities in Lublin, and if they disappeared, it is as if the town of Zamość would be erased from the map of Lubelskie Region. It is worth mentioning that each year the ratio of foreign students increases. In academic year 2012/2013
the proportion of foreigners at Lublin's universities was 3.05%, while now it is more than three times higher (11.12%). This puts Lublin in the first place among the metropolises in terms of the internationalisation of students. However, the 6,707 international students from 106 countries studying in Lublin not only represent the academic potential of the city, but also create opportunities for companies in the business services sector to attract employees. Their language skills contribute to the development of international service centres in Lublin, which work for clients from all over the world. In view of this potential, Lublin's universities place a strong emphasis on developing the offer of foreign language teaching, focusing on practical language skills, which are then applied in business. Including language courses, students in Lublin study at 171 faculties. The greatest number of them study computer science (3,272), medicine (3,099), law (2,880), nursing (2,575), psychology (2,303), management (2,024), finance and accounting (1,915), internal security (1,607), administration (1,561) and economics (1,540).
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INVESTMENTS
3,459
International students TOP 10 countries
696
662 246
Ukraine
Belarus
Taiwan
Zimbabwe
BUSINESS – UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION FOR INNOVATION Lublin was the first city in Poland to include the academic sector in its development strategy. This step helped to establish cooperation between the Lublin self-government, universities and entrepreneurs based in Lublin. The strategy of merging academic institutions with entrepreneurs has been developed for several years and is visible at various levels. For example, last year the Maria Curie- -Skłodowska University together with the Lublin branch of Billennium IT company launched an innovative research and development project that is expected to lead to the creation of a system for early detection of brain cancer. The system will also support the treatment of patients with cancer by identifying the most effective treatment methods. Using new technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning or data analysis, students from the Institute of Computer Science and employees of Billennium are working together to save human lives. This project is a milestone in the early detection and treatment of brain cancer.
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176
162
155
USA
Thailand
India
The already mentioned COVID-19 pan demic has changed the way we function day by day, therefore Lublin universities together with local companies initiated projects aimed at combating coronavirus. The University of Life Sciences in Lublin in cooperation with Lublin-based company NOYEN and Mobile Industrial Robots developed a disinfection robot suitable for disinfecting various surfaces, and thanks to its ability to avoid obstacles, it is also suitable for working among people. The designed solution allows to maintain the cleanliness and sterility of work surfaces, thanks to which businesses can adapt their facilities to the applicable sanitary regime standards and ensure the safety of their clients and employees, while maintaining the continuity of work and projects. Another excellent example of cooperation between universities and the business community is a joint effort by the Medical University of Lublin and Biomed. As part of the collaboration the world's first drug for COVID-19 was developed, the composition of which is based on the recovery plasma, which was successfully used for the first time in March this year to treat COVID-19 patients, nota bene in a hospital in Lublin. Currently, the drug is in the phase of clinical trials
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Norway
Nigeria
Kazakhstan
and will be brought to the market after the successful completion of these trials. The company declares that the drug could be widely used to treat coronavirus as early as the beginning of 2021. The growth of a company requires human capital, space to carry out its activities, soft and hard skills to achieve the goals of the organisation. The cooperation of Lublin’s universities with business provides necessary elements for this growth, both for the city, academic milieus and companies. Besides the high quality of education and openness of local universities and colleges for different forms of partnership, also their flexibility and ability to quickly react to evolving needs of modern businesses make up the growing potential of academic Lublin.
More information:
Łukasz Goś Director of Investor Relations Office Lublin City Hall Phone: +48 81 466 25 42 e-mail: lukasz.gos@lublin.eu
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
INVESTMENTS WINNER OF 2020
OUTSOURCING STARS
BEYOND.PL INVESTS IN ITS DATA CENTER CAMPUS. AN OPPORTUNITY FOR POZNAN?
Poznan is gaining in importance on the European business and technology map. The investment in the extension of the Data Center campus announced by Beyond.pl provides an opportunity for the City to become one of the top emerging data processing centres in Europe. And to attract even more companies from the new technology sector. POZNAN TO PLAY IN A HIGHER LEAGUE Four kilometres away from the A2 motor w ay connecting Berlin and Warsaw a giant data centre campus is under construction. It is to become one of Europe’s largest facilities of the kind in terms of space and capacity offered – 45,000 sq. m and 42MW (megawatts), respectively. This new investment will promote Poznan to the league of major Central European data centre locations. – It is no longer news that the mature FLAP-D market, comprised of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin, is more and more saturated with regards to access to property and energy for the development of data centers. In consequence, service prices in these markets are increasing. As a result, the significance of so-called secondary data center markets is rising. One of the recently published reports on data centre markets forecasts that Reykjavik, Oslo, Zurich and Warsaw will become important data centre locations. In my opinion, however, due to the dynamic growth in demand for data processing, the need for such secondary centres is even greater. And therefore Poznan, likewise, is an example of an emerging location for data centres which is ideally positioned to provide
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services to customers in Central Europe, Beyond.pl decided to locate its next investincluding Germany – says Beyond.pl’s CEO ment project in Poznan – he indicates. Wojciech Stramski.
BEYOND.PL WITH NEW CAPACITY 15 years ago, the company decided to locate its first data centre in Poznan, the capital of the Wielkopolska Region. A few years ago, it built another facility that at present is the only data centre in the European Union with the highest Rated 4 Certificate issued by the international organisation ANSI/TIA-942 auditing data processing facilities. The highest level of security in several fields is one of the attributes that has made Beyond.pl’s facilities a viable alternative to those located in Warsaw. In August this year, the company decided to go one step further – to extend its campus to meet the growing demand of customers and allow it to compete not only with Polish, but also with Western data centres. According to Wojciech Stramski, foreign companies looking for a basic or backup data centre will see the proximity of Poznan to the western market as a very attractive offering. The city’s location in the heart of Europe also translates into technological advantages. – Latency from Poznan to Warsaw and from Poznan to Berlin is only 4 milliseconds, to Frankfurt – 10 milliseconds. Based on these arguments,
The scale of Beyond.pl’s investment is best reflected by the total capacity of the campus that will increase by as much as 34MW. In proportion, it will grow more than the campus space because the data centre infrastructure is being prepared to provide capacity for high-density colocation needs. Future customers may count on up to 20kW capacity per server rack, with very high energy efficiency. This is very relevant, because, combined with the target capacity of 42MW, it will allow Beyond.pl to meet infrastructure needs of the most demanding customers, both from Poland and abroad. – Demand for state-of-the-art server space is growing dynamically. On the one hand, it is required by more and more Polish companies that have accelerated or are launching digitisation projects due to the pandemic. On the other hand, we have cloud service providers entering Central European markets, companies offering SaaS solutions, and large corporations searching for providers outside Western Europe. Beyond.pl already acts as a basic and backup data centre for some global
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
brands. Ensuring similar, and often even higher, service levels in terms of physical and infrastructure security and continuity of service as facilities operating in mature markets, we are an attractive partner for these actors. Furthermore, our offer is significantly more competitive thanks to lower energy and labour costs compared to Western markets – Beyond.pl CEO Wojciech Stramski points out.
responsible for physical security and data centre management at the Global corporate headquarters. Issues related to facility security and emergency response were checked with the utmost diligence. These included the a simulated car bomb explosion or frequency of rodent poison replacement! Other important aspects taken into account by the the customer included among others energy security, redundant power supply, and high And he provides an example to support energy efficiency. his opinion. A few years ago, Beyond.pl was contacted by representatives of And, finally, the financial giant chose a global financial company. Until then Poznan and Beyond.pl’s Data Center this company had used server colocation campus. services in a few locations dispersed across Western and Central Europe. The business goal of their new project was to centralise dispersed EU infrastructure resources into one external data centre.
CAR BOMB AND RAT POISON Due to the sensitive data processing requirements and the stringent need to ensure continuity of service, Beyond.pl’s campus was subject to various analyses. The financial player attached great importance to security. Before the cooperation commenced, the facility’s capacity and level of physical and infrastructure security was verified in great detail over a 2 month period. A few reference visits had been organi sed for representatives of the customer
The scale of Beyond.pl’s investment is best reflected by the total capacity of the campus that will increase by as much as 34MW. In proportion, it will grow more than the campus space because the data centre infrastructure is being prepared to provide capacity for high-density colocation needs.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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Demand for state-of-the-art server space is growing dynamically. On the one hand, it is required by more and more Polish companies that have accelerated or are launching digitisation projects due to the pandemic. On the other hand, we have cloud service providers entering Central European markets, companies offering SaaS solutions, and large corporations searching for providers outside Western Europe.
THE POWER OF ARGUMENT This financial corporation is just one of many companies that have chosen Poznan as a place to do business. Microsoft, Lumen Technologies, Capgemini – Poznan has attracted companies for years, in particular from the new technology industry. International corporations as well as Polish enterprises decide to develop their businesses in Poznan. According to Statistics Poland’s (GUS) data, there are almost 13,000 ICT companies operating in the Wielkopolska Region. Of which over 9,000 in the Poznan Agglomeration. Interestingly, the number of IT service providers is growing rapidly. Within a year it has increased by over 1,000. Startups are another fast-growing segment. It is estimated that about 200 young technology companies operate in Poznan. Some names worth mentioning are Jakdojadę, Qpony, Legimi or Dice, have achieved international success.
good for running an IT company, and 80% positively assessed high skills and effectiveness of IT employees. This certainly speaks volumes about the competencies of Poznan specialists, and was additionally confirmed by the Outsourcing Star award in the City category, granted by the Pro Progressio foundation – Katja Lożina, Head of the Investor Relations Department at Poznan City Hall, explains. – Furthermore, the Investor Relations Department’s initiatives support and integrate the IT community in Poznan. We cooperate with local universities on a daily basis and co-organise many industry events. In 2019, we supported several events, and this year we are present at online conferences, too. Since last year, we have also organised, together with a group of Poznan employers, the pozitive techno logies conference for IT specialists – adds K. Lożina.
in the region and has been indicated as a growing centre – Growth Cluster. According to research, the city has noted a 64% increase in employment in this sector over the last 10 years. What has made Poznan one of the most important new technology development centres in just a few years?
– The city’s investment potential is multidimensional. Poznan is an important academic centre with a network of public and private higher education institutions, educating 110,000 students annually. In terms of the number of students, Poznan ranks 4th in Poland, and Poznan University of Technology is one of the best Polish technical universities, ensuring continuous access to highly skilled IT personnel. For us, this aspect is very important, as competencies are what contributes to Poland’s lead as a digital valley in Central Europe – Beyond.pl The technological potential of Poznan has CEO Wojciech Stramski emphasises. been recognised by Western analysts as – Poznan is a very good location for running well. In CBRE’s EMEA Tech Cities ranking GREEN ENERGY TO an IT business, as identified by last year’s that analyses the biggest technology ATTRACT INVESTORS? report prepared by ManpowerGroup’s clusters across Europe, the Middle Beyond.pl’s ongoing investment project Experis experts. As many as 84% surveyed East and Africa, Poznan counts among means not only new jobs for IT specia companies admitted that Poznan was the most technologically advanced cities lists, but also an opportunity to attract
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Data Center 2 is already one of the most energy efficient facilities in Poland.
new investors to the City. Among them – technology companies looking for colocation space in Europe. Does it mean that Poznan will host servers and data of giants such as Microsoft, Amazon or Google? It is not impossible, because Beyond.pl’s investment is designed to meet hyperscalers’ expectations. For Western companies, another argument in favour of choosing the Poznan campus, apart from its geographical location, may also be the fact that Beyond.pl is powered by fully by renewable energy. – Taking measures to limit the negative environmental impact of data centres is necessary. What is important and what pleases me personally, is that more and more customers make the reduction of CO2 emissions part of their corporate values and are more willing to choose partners operating in accordance with the principles of sustainable development – Wojciech Stramski points out.
by initiatives undertaken by cloud service providers. Google had pledged to use only carbon-free energy by 2030. And Microsoft is testing hydrogen technology as a power source for its data centre and for two years has successfully implemented its Project Natick. Placing data centres underwater in steel cylinders has resulted in 8 times less server breakdown than on dry land. The experiment conclusions may form the basis for the sustainable development of data centres. Beyond.pl follows this path as well. Its Data Center 2 is already one of the most energy efficient facilities in Poland. Using its full capacity it reaches a PUE (power usage effectiveness) level of 1.2 while in the Polish market this metric is at present between 1.4 and 1.6 on average.
– The mere use of thermal energy from a server room to heat our office and technical building or adiabatic cooling of the data centre bring tangible benefits, Indeed, the giants tend to use server colo- while these form only part of solutions we cation services provided by data centres apply at the moment – explains Michał that meet requirements regarding low Grzybkowski, Founder and Executive VP CO2 emissions. This is best illustrated Technology at Beyond.pl.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
In practice, technological solutions implemented at Beyond.pl’s campus enable its customers to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve significant energy savings, which translates to a great extent into reduced IT infrastructure maintenance budgets.
RISING STAR The expansion of of Beyond.pl’s campus is the third largest investment announced in the Polish data centre market, after Google’s and Microsoft’s projects with a total value of USD 3 billion. Not just customers, but also Poznan will benefit from it. – The extension of our DC campus to 42MW will allow the city to gain a stable position on the map of European emerging markets and rank among TOP3 local centres – summarises Wojciech Stramski. More information:
Investor Relations Department City of Poznań Za Bramką 1 Street, 61-842 Poznan Phone: +48 61 878 54 28 e-mail: inwestor@um.poznan.pl www.poznan.pl/invest
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WHO SHAPES THE BRAIN OF YOUR PLANES The pandemic has shocked the world, bringing it to its knees. But on the other hand, it has accelerated transformation like never before. Working together has taken on a whole new dimension, especially for the aviation industry. Airlines, airports, and service providers have had to adopt technological solutions to achieve greater operational efficiency, apply new safety requirements, and anticipate and respond to the latest uncertainties related to air operations. Pomerania has a valuable place in the aerospace industry in Poland. While the rest of Poland has been associated with the production of parts and spares for global aircraft manufacturers, Pome rania develops the brains and is a leader in data processing, security, and deve lopment of technological solutions in Aviation. Recognizing this, Invest in Pomerania has bought together all the players in the Pomerania aviation sector under the umbrella of the Aviation Hub, Pome rania! The aviation industry in the region employs more than 1,700 people and is characterized by cross-company cooperation and transfer of knowledge and experts in the field of navigation, avionics, and ground operations. The Pomeranian Aviation Hub was established by regional institutional partners, namely Invest in Pomerania, the Gdańsk Economic Development Agency, the Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport, and corporate partners like Boeing
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Global Services and Smart4Aviation with their operational and techno logical experience. Joint efforts made to promote and share knowledge are already showing results in building awareness of highclass aviation products and services created and developed in Pomera nia. Currently, the business key area of many companies from the region, especially from the 3cITy, is software development, important for the automation and optimization of work and processes in all branches of the aviation industry. The software developed in 3cITy assists pilots and aircrew, but also airport service teams, ground staff, administration staff, mechanics, and air traffic controllers, etc. Furthermore, rapid growth in the num- ber of travellers at the Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport shows the need to seek more effective and automated solutions to competitively manage the passenger traffic. In 2019, the Gdańsk airport handled a record number of 5.37 million passengers, thereby becoming one of the most important airports in Poland, and perhaps in the entire Baltic Sea basin. Hence it is the need of the hour to create a common space for aviation
companies and a communication platform for industry specialists. As mentioned earlier, Pomerania’s spe ciality is in the area of developing software and solutions that not only power the aircraft but also ensure its safety. At one of our partners, i.e. Boeing Global Services, there are two main teams. One deals with navigation data, while the other with software tools and pro ducts for customers. Both these groups are integrated and hence aviation specialists train the personnel, especially technicians without aviation education, and help them gain a perspective of a pilot or an airline manager. In return, software specialists show the latest achievements and solutions and explain how they use navigation data to plan flights or carry out physical maintenance of aircraft. Our other partner, Smart4Aviation, a manufacturer of software for the aviation industry operating on the market for 20 years, offers the best product in its class thanks to dozens of product deployments in airlines around the world. S4A Smart LOAD application helps signi ficantly reduce fuel consumption costs and at the same time, ensures compliance with the weight and balance limits.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
The aviation industry in Pomerania employs more than 1,700 people and is characterized by cross-company cooperation and transfer of knowledge and experts in the field of navigation, avionics, and ground operations.
It goes without saying that despite the current crisis, or perhaps because of it, there is a great demand for specia lized aviation staff. The task of Aviation Hub is also to encourage IT guys to develop their passion for aviation, thereby developing the variety and quality of services offered. The Gdańsk University of Technology, the University of Gdańsk, and the Maritime University offer interesting courses in fields like spatial management, navigation, oceanography, cartography, and others that provide students with knowledge and tools to work in the avia- from Pomerania as well as from other tion industry. parts of Poland. The participants not only got to listen to the expert, but In May 2020, Boeing Global Servies they also got to network with them and launched Aviation Solutions (AS), which participate in Ask Me Anything session, showcases how a given solution affects where they got to ask their questions. the aviation industry development and The first edition of this conference was what product development looks like a hit and Aviation Hub plans to make it with specialists from various depart- an annual event. Not only that, Aviation ments, such as GNS (Global Navigation Hub will also be hosting frequent smaller Services) or SD (Software Development). online and perhaps later offline meetups It is a great example of how operations and webinars. and development are conducted by two extremely different departments and The Aviation Hub is the springboard to how they affect each other, thus creating start exchanging knowledge and expea product for a target user. riences between aviation experts and enthusiasts. The development of global Setting the course, altitude, and aviation solutions in the 3cITy reafthe correct route, Aviation Hub Pome firms the region’s aspiration to be one rania organized an online aviation of the best places to run a business. conference titled “New Trends and Technological Solutions on the Avia- There is nothing left to do but to triumtion and Passenger Market: A Perspec- phantly quote the former Minister tive for the Aviation Industry", held of National Defence and President on October 13–14 this year. of Poland Bronisław Komorowski: “There is a saying that a Polish aviator will even The attention of participants of this fly on the barn door if necessary. Thus, two-day on-line event was focused ladies and gentlemen, I derive great on solutions for airlines and passenger satisfaction from telling you that this is service. The conference featured experts no longer an option."
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Author: Bartosz Wojtasiak The paper was drafted in cooperation with: Paulina Kalisz and Honorata Hencel from Boeing Global Services Adam Sadowski and Katarzyna Gadomska from Smart4Aviation More on: aviationhub.investinpomerania.pl
More information:
al. Grunwaldzka 472 D Olivia Business Centre – Olivia Six 80-309 Gdańsk Phone: 58 32 33 256 e-mail: office@investinpomerania.pl bartosz.wojtasiak@investinpomerania.pl www.investinpomerania.pl
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HR NEWS
KAROL SMOLIŃSKI JOINS DIGITAL TEAMMATES
Digital Teammates, a company that offers comprehensive rental of software robots (Robotic Process Automation), has gained a new team member. Business Development Manager Karol Smoliński is tasked with establishing and maintaining relationships with new and current clients as well as promoting the automation of routine business processes. Karol has ten years of experience in B2B Sales and Business Development in various areas – from employee benefits to consulting and IT. In the last two years he has been specialising in Robotic Process Automation.
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NEW FACES IN ADAPTIVE GROUP TEAM! Adaptive Group Team is getting bigger! We are pleased to announce that lately several new faces have joined Adaptive Group Team to help bring even better results in our work!
Infosys BPM Poland comprising, 12 years in various operational & leadership roles, 4 years in various Transition & Solution Design roles comprising 2 years as a Transition Manager and 2 years as a Solution Design & Implementation Consultant, 0,5 Below a short snapshot of our new year as a Project Manager at Philips Royal colleagues. Definitely, it is going to be Electronics Commercial & Productivity: successfull and productive cooperation co-creating a global campaign dediwith a lot of innovative ideas and substan- cated to local management sales teams tial contribution to our business. towards hitting sales targets, program planning, defining key process perforEdyta Krzemińska, Marketing & PR Lead mance measures, creating deployment Adaptive SAG – over 12 years of overall communication framework. business experience in Marketing & Advertising, with a solid expertise in Monika Ciupińska, Program Manager, Public Relations, media planning & buying Senior Consultant Adaptive SAG – Over and internal communication. A marketing 14,5 years of relevant business experipractitioner with a demonstrated history ence comprising 3,5 in people services Citi of working in the financial industry as well Bank, Travel Agency, 5 years as Manager as healthcare and beauty area. Graduate Shared Service in at Solar Polska, 2 years as of Lodz University, with master’s degree a Team Leader at Fujitsu Technology Soluin Sociology, specialization in Methods tions SSC. Graduated from Lodz Univerand Techniques of Social Research. She is sity, B.A of Marketing and Management fluent in English and basic French speaker. and Warsaw School of Economics, M.A. of People Management. Monika has broad Aleksandra Krajewska, Program Manager, experience in managing end-to-end tranSenior Consultant Adaptive SAG – over 16 sition, people and project management, years of work experience in finance and implementation of tools, processes and accounting in the BPO and SSC/GBS envi- improvements. She is very open and ronment at Philips Royal Electronics and devoted person, focused on the task.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
FIVE ADAPTIVE GROUP EXPERTS PROMOTED! Agnieszka Łuczak previously Project Leader, is now on the position of Project Manager. She has been a part of Adaptive Group Team since of 2017. Agnieszka is professional with over 18 years of experience in SSC, BPO and Banking sector. She is expert in Controlling and Reporting Processes with hands-on experience in finance reporting and customer service. Agnieszka has excellent organizational skills and ability to build and keep very good relationship with Clients.
Agata Opłatowska previously Consultant, has been promoted to the role of Project Leader. She has been a part of Adaptive Group Team since the beginning of 2017. She has a lot of experience in HR and Finance & Accounting processes, in particular, for Shared Services & Outsourcing centers. Agata is creative, open and precise about her work, flexi ble when it comes to projects involving business trips which require going abroad for longer periods of time. She has an eye for detail and is appreciated for her mature approach and composure.
Katarzyna Ciupa previously Process Officer, is now on the position of Process Expert Adaptive Group. She has been working with us since December 2019. Katarzyna has excellent communication skills and experience in cooperating with muticultural teams, which she developed during her study years in the Netherlands. She took part in multiple projects, which required analytical skills, extensive problem solving as well as ability to reach a consensus. She is a dedicated employee with a proactive attitude and ability to adapt to constantly changing needs of contemporary business environment.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Aleksandra Stablewska previously Board assistant / Administration Specialist, has been promoted to the role of Administration Lead / Board Assistant. She has been a part of Adaptive Group Team Since June 2018 . Aleksandra is a communicative and responsible person who is characterized by very good organizational and interpersonal skills. Ola cooperates perfectly with the team and is involved in the performance of the tasks entrusted to her.
Dominika Jóźwiak-Bąk previously Consultant, is now on the position of Project Leader. Since beginning of 2018 she has been a part of Adaptive Group Team. She is Professional with over 15 years of experience in BPO, Construction Industry, Accountancy sector.Expert in F&A, Procurement and Supply Chain processes with experience in people management, accounting and payroll processes and finance reporting. Dominika is task-orientated, has strong analytical and organizational skills.
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CAREER & DEVELOPMENT
THE PRICE OF ILLNESS IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT, NOT ONLY DURING A PANDEMIC The international community has proved completely unprepared to fight against the coronavirus, even though every business owner had come into contact with other, less dangerous viruses in the past. Even seasonal flu, too often underestimated or even ignored, turned out to be dangerous and exposed companies to various costs. We are confronted more and more frequently with the question whether employers know how to effectively take care of workers’ health and safety in the new reality?
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Driven by curiosity, I looked through several websites, including the website presenting the reports published by the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). The image I saw does not fill me with optimism. The data provided by the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) indicate that between January and April 2019, the total of 9.2 million medical certificates of temporary inability to work were issued. Majority of such certificates, i.e. 60%, were issued for 1 to 10 sick days, and 33% were issued for 11 to 30 sick days. This means that in 93% of cases, the costs of employees’ illness were borne by the employer. Only in the first quarter of 2019, the num- ber of paid sick days reached 102.9 million, of which the total of 85,800,000 sick days were taken due to workers' own illness. The analysts from the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) calculated that 17% of these 85.8 million sick days were caused by respiratory diseases, which gives us the total of 14,500,000 sick days due to the common cold, seasonal flu, pneumonia and other even more dangerous diseases (please note that last year, we did not even mention coronavirus yet). Taking into account the fact that this is the statistics for the first quarter of 2019 and not specifically targeting the increase in respiratory diseases in spring and autumn, we will multiply the number of sick days by 3 to get the annual total. What is the result? 43,500,000 sick days due to illness. If we divide this figure by 252 working days per year, this gives us the total of 172,620 people who did not work for the entire year. I wonder how many companies from the list of Poland’s 100 largest companies would be able to stay dormant for an entire year? PKN Orlen employing about 21 thousand employees, PGNiG with about 25 thousand employees, LOTOS Group with 5.1 thousand employees, PGE with about 42 thousand employees, PZU with about 42 thousand employees, KGHM with 34 thousand employees – all these entities would not see a single employee in their workplace for an entire year. The six largest organisations in Poland would cease to operate, and there would be thousands of petrol stations closed down, there would be lack of electricity supply, there would be problems with gas supply... The situation
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
would also be critical if it affected other companies with which we are cooperating on a daily basis. Let's divide the total of 172,000 absentees from work for a year into the locations we visited every day before the coronavirus pandemic: Biedronka (the largest private employer in Poland) employs 67 thousand people, Lidl – about 18 thousand, Dino – 16.5 thousand, Carrefour – 16 thousand, Auchan – 22 thousand, Eurocash – 21 thousand, Tesco – about 15 thousand. This already gives us 175.5 thousand people. Can you imagine such a void within the Polish economy?
tant – can we afford to pay for 93% of paid sick days? The problem is certainly not a new one, but there are new ways of reducing the negative impact of sickness absence on the organisations. Environment, health and safety (EHS) experts, doctors and paramedics who fought the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Poland, Lombardy and the USA, as well as labour market experts from Antal have jointly developed a Healthcare Audit service according to the EVIPER System based on the current recommendations of Poland’s Chief Sanitary
Only in the first quarter of 2019, the number of paid sick days reached 102.9 million, of which the total of 85,800,000 sick days were taken due to workers' own illness. The coronavirus pandemic will leave a lasting imprint on the world we have known so far, causing permanent changes. Since the seasonal flu or common cold can expose organisations to such signi ficant costs, the pandemic risk becomes not only a social factor but also a business one. Here comes the change: and here we have a sparkling bon mot for this occasion: the Chinese word for “change” is composed of two Chinese characters, one of which signifies “opportunity” and the other “threat”. It is worth keeping this in mind when preparing to build new strate gies that take into account new threats. The time of crisis that the coronavirus pandemic will trigger will be a test for both managers and employees. The supervisory boards will take a critical look at how effectively the executive boards responded to the imminent clash with reality. The execu tive boards, in turn, will assess the managerial staff – how efficiently they shifted from brick-and-mortar to selling online and how quickly and safely they transitioned to a virtual workforce (wherever it was possible). The managers, on the other hand, will have to make adjustments to the number of teams and will leave those who will be able to manage teams in a more difficult economic period and will be able to achieve their goals. We will have to deal with all this in a short (hopefully) period of time. Long-term lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic are more impor-
Inspectorate and the WHO. The EVIPER System, once implemented and properly maintained: • will help protect workers from infection in the future through appropriate preventive measures, • will enable the identification of “clean” and at-risk zones, • will indicate the security measures implemented within the organisation, • will help choose personal and collective protective equipment, and most importantly, • will help the employer formulate procedures to minimise the risk of infection and the spread of the virus in the working environment. Such security systems in the new postCOVID-19 world, which we will get to know shortly, will not only guarantee the company’s survival and sustainable growth, but may prove to be a very important element of competitive advantage in the era of fighting for the best human resources. After all nothing is more valuable than one’s own life and health. Author:
Artur Migoń, V-ce President, Antal
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CAREER & DEVELOPMENT
THE FUTURE IS FLEXIBLE
DEFINING THE NEW ERA OF WORK
As many parts of the world gradually emerge from the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming clear that the world of work and employment markets have been profoundly altered. Within this shifting environment, many opportunities have been revealed or accelerated. As organisations plan for their future beyond COVID-19, asses sing altered working patterns, brought about by enforced lockdowns in countries around the world, can inform their approach to workplace optimisation. Those who embrace the transformation opportunity will position themselves ahead of the curve. To do so, organisations must now navigate this unchartered territory and the new set of employee expectations that have arisen, defining the new working parameters for a new era of work.
THE CHALLENGE TO CHANGE Whilst many businesses across the globe have proven themselves to be responsive, resilient, and resourceful under such unique circumstances, the bigger challenge they now face is establishing new working norms, informed by their learnings from the pandemic experience. The focus thus far has been on keeping their own business operations afloat; the next obstacle to overcome is enabling their own workforce, and wider society, to thrive in the new era of work.
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Employees want a balance of office and remote work, and to have their work environments and hours accommodate their personal circumstances. They appreciate the value of working remotely where they can concentrate on “deep thought” work and avoid lost time commuting, and they still see the benefit of spending time in a shared office environment where teams can collaborate face to face.
In a global study by The Adecco Group as much as 80% of employees said their employer is ‘responsible’ for ensuring a better working world after the pandemic. Meanwhile, 73% said the government is responsible, and 72% of the employees said that they themselves were responsible. As such, the gauntlet is being laid down to all parties who have the power to deliver change, but the overwhelming consensus is that employers are the most trusted to drive this forward. Employers have earned employee trust during the pandemic. Companies are now the most trusted to “reset normal” – more than any other institution. In the case of companies, to meet the expectations placed on them to deliver, it will require a new breed of leader and approach that can and will prioritise the emerging trends that have been accelerated by the pandemic – specifically around flexibility, workplace policies and addressing skills gaps. This is a key moment in time that we have never seen before. Business leaders have been given an unprecedented opportunity to hit reset on pre-pandemic working norms and shape the future of work in a way that allows the workforce and businesses to thrive. Those who do not embrace these challenges risk being left behind. This presents a rare and unique opportunity for businesses to re-think their operating models and pivot toward working styles that will benefit both management and employees long-term. One element worth looking at is flexibility.
THE FUTURE IS FLEXIBLE While flexible working was already on the rise, the pandemic lockdown propelled this once ‘emerging trend’ forward, and one of the biggest verifications from the research is that flexible working is here to stay. This is not just a measure of necessity in times of forced lockdown – but a desired practice to be embraced sustainably for the future. Both business leaders and workers at large agree that greater flexibility enhances not only employee work-life balance, but overall business performance. So, what does this new model of flexi bility look like? In an ideal paradigm, employees want a balance of office and
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
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CAREER & DEVELOPMENT
Almost eight in 10 C-level managers believe that business will generally benefit from allowing increased flexibility around office and remote working. Also executive management see that employees will personally benefit from having increased flexibility around office and remote working. remote work, and to have their work environments and hours accommodate their personal circumstances. They appreciate the value of working remotely where they can concentrate on “deep thought” work and avoid lost time commuting, and they still see the benefit of spending time in a shared office environment where teams can collaborate face to face, inspire each other, and foster a shared workplace culture.
working is the best way forward. And although employees expect their employers to force them to spend more than two thirds of their time in the office in future, they would ideally prefer to only spend half of their time there, with the balance spent working remotely.
managers believe that business will gene rally benefit from allowing increased flexi bility around office and remote working. Also executive management see that employees will personally benefit from having increased flexibility around office and remote working.
49% OF EMPLOYEES WANT TO SPEND AROUND HALF THEIR WORKING WEEK REMOTELY
Additionally, eight in 10 workers said it is important to be able to maintain a good work/life balance after the pandemic, That’s why three quarters of workers say And it’s not only employees who see and half of workers said that their that a mix of office-based and remote the benefits. Almost eight in 10 C-level work/life balance has improved during
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Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
thirds of workers and is likely to remain and potentially grow in influence. A similar majority also feel that employers should revisit the length of the working week and the hours that employees are expected to work. Within this scenario, key performance indicators related to output and impact would be the main metric by which a knowledge-economy employee is measured, as opposed to how long they have worked. Employees would have flexibility in framing their hours and working style, so long as they complete the tasks they are contracted to do and deliver the results expected of them. This would be a significant departure from what was once the norm for many businesses, where “time at desk” was consi dered important in assessing whether an individual employee was a productive and contributing team member. For the model to be a success, the high levels of trust that have been established between employees and employers during the pandemic must continue. In fact, over three quarters of employees say that feeling trusted to get the job done will be important after the pandemic. These perspectives illustrate that that there will not be a return to the ‘normal’ that we experienced in times past. The workplace is a fluid concept and for the first time en masse, we are no longer seeing it as a physical space. To not be left behind, organisations will need to alter the lens through which they view their workers, the jobs they do, and the conditions in which they do them.
KEY TAKEAWAYS the lockdown. There is universal approval of flexible working, across business structures and geographies, across genera tions and parental status. It is a clear affirmation that the world is ready for ‘hybrid working’.
During the pandemic, individual autonomy over work schedules tripled! The value of this autonomy is also something that workers are keen to retain in future with three quarters saying it is important to maintain flexibility over their working schedules.
IS THIS THE END OF THE 9–5? The work that we do is changing, the working environments we inhabit are changing, and there is also a rising call to rethink how roles are commissioned, and how productivity is assessed.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Closely linked to this, we see an emerging view that employee contracts should evolve to focus more on meeting the needs of the business than on set hours. This view is currently shared by over two
• It is clear that there will be more flexi bility in our future, but the question of how this is sustained in the longer term beyond the pandemic remains a key challenge for businesses. • With all workplace parties calling for greater flexibility, it is imperative that everyone is involved in aligning on the optimal model. Listening to employees to identify which elements of flexible working have worked well and where there remains room for improvement, is the first step to establishing the new norm.
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CAREER & DEVELOPMENT
• To ensure success, leaders must consider the shifts that need to be made in working styles, communication rhythm and team organisation when adopting a hybrid working model, and avoid simply applying the structures of the past. • With the preference being an even split between office and remote working, leaders will need to consider the functionality and purpose of the office and how the shared work space can bring the most value to a workforce that can and will work anywhere in the world. • As flexibility increases and employees gain greater control over working schedules, they will also look to gain greater autonomy over how to manage working time. • As the importance of knowledge-based work increases, the practice of compensating an employee based on a fixed set of hours during a certain time of the day, rather than results delivered, will no longer stand as reference for a working relationship. • Historically, for many jobs, wages have been calculated on the basis of attendance rather than impact. Going forward, the concept of correlating output with hours will be outdated. Many individuals work at a different pace to each other, and work volumes are often not linear. • Redefining the measurement of productivity is complex and goes to the heart of Industrial Relations and Labour
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The workplace is a fluid concept and for the first time en masse, we are no longer seeing it as a physical space. To not be left behind, organisations will need to alter the lens through which they view their workers, the jobs they do, and the conditions in which they do them.
Legislation. An individualised approach must be considered going forward. In an era of work vastly different from the one based on an industrial 9–5 scheme, it is inevitable that the hours based model of productivity measurement will be revisited.
PREPARING FOR TOMORROW The world of work will never return to the ‘normal’ that we were familiar with before the pandemic struck, and it is clear that the prior version of ‘normal’ did not work well for a lot of labour market participants.
a new working model. And we have a rare window to do so. Arguably, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world of work more radically than any other single event in our working lifetime. Defining how we use this opportunity to reset and transform our workplaces is now in the hands of all labour market participants. The decisions made by employers today will influence their status as an employer of choice for many years to come. The war for talent will be won and lost on the battlegrounds of flexi bility, skills investment, leadership and trust. The organisations that are able to “reset normal” will not only secure the best talent, but will also be the most effective in managing their human capital to create sustainable success for their organi sations, for the individuals they employ, and for society at large.
However, the shift towards flexibility, lifelong learning and multi-dimensional leadership will never be fully realised unless enabling structural changes are made. The current system is failing to meet the demands for specialist skilled workers in growing sectors, mental health issues at work are on the rise, and an Author: increasing number of workers are strugthe Adecco Group experts gling to juggle the competing demands of a busy personal life and a satisfying and successful career. It is therefore vital that employees, employers, and policymakers share the responsibility of shaping
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Making the future work for everyone
www.adeccogroup.com
CAREER & DEVELOPMENT
OUR ORGANIZATION DOES NOT STAND STILL
Interview with Joanna Czyżewska, Leader in the HR and Payroll Area, PKP Energetyka. Outsourcing&More: Over 4 years ago, PKP Energetyka decided to create its own Shared Services Center. What processed are delivered from your SSC? Joanna Czyżewska, Leader in the HR and Payroll Area, PKP Energetyka: The scope of services provided by Shared Services Center includes support for financial and accounting processes (accounts payables, accounts receivables, debt collection, travel & expenses and banking operations), HR and payroll processes. From June this year we also started delivering other administrative and logistics activities (warehouses management, waste management, operation of company petrol stations). You are responsible for HR and payroll matters for over 4,000 employees of the PKP Energetyka Group in various branches in Poland. What process improvements did it take to manage such a large project? One of the role of the Shared Services Center was to standardize and streamline HR and payroll processes for the entire PKP Energetyka Group. We started by describing ‘as is’ processes, and then together with the business we brainstormed about how we can improve and automate them. We searched for the potential technology that would increase quality
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and efficiency of processes. To measure our performance we implemented key performance indicators. We have implemented many improvemenets including robotization of processes (RPA – Robotic Process Automation), electronic document flow or SSC service desk & contact center. RPA technology is the used to automate repetitive, routine tasks that have been executed by our professionals. By implementing the "zero paper" strategy, we have implemented electronic HR forms in the workflow system. The introduction of electronic HR forms allowed us to significantly shorten the time of creating, printing and sending documents to employees. Our staff can execute certain activities themselves through the employee self-service portal. To support our employees who work in the field without access to computer we introduced two solutions – so called "Info kiosks" available at the workplace where employee can for example, apply for a vacation, and SSC Contact Center where through free phone number employee can apply e.g. for leave, request a salary certificate or submit an application for additional benefits. We successively equipped our employees with mobile devices so that in the future they can also address their requests thought mobile phone.
In 2018, PKP Energetyka received the prestigious KAIZEN Awards Poland in recognition of the innovative and effective implementation of the "Kaizen" methodology. Please tell me what the Kaizen concept is and how you managed to implement it, involving all employees. Kaizen is a philosophy of continuous improvement (it can be used both in business and private life). It refers to the continuous improvement of processes. Improvement takes place gradually through the selective elimination of all detected non-conformities (MUDA). Improvement takes place with the partici pation of employees at GEMBA. KAI + ZEN = CHANGE FOR BETTER It's not about working more, it's about working smarter. KAIZEN is about building a culture of continuous improvement in the organization and often changing the existing habits. Changing habits can be particularly difficult for employees with long work experience. In order for the implemented solutions to be stable, they require time to adapt. It is necessary to be aware of the KAIZEN culture at every level of the organization (example comes from above, strength comes from below).
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
By implementing the "zero paper" strategy, we have implemented electronic HR forms in the workflow system. The introduction of electronic HR forms allowed us to significantly shorten the time of creating, printing and sending documents to employees.
The topic of COVID-19 has definitely dominated our reality. What were the biggest challenges for your SSC team in recent months? How did you face them? It was and still is a very difficult time and also a time full of challenges. But, to the contrary, thanks to the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, the organization accelerated the implementation of many projects related to automation, such as electronic flows of incoming and outgoing correspon dence from the company, paper elimination initiatives. In this difficult period we implemented SSC Contact Center and advanced reporting in Power BI. It is a tool with visual and interactive forms of reports is conducive to analyze data and drawing conclusions quickly. Reports are available through internet browser and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, thanks to which we have an ongoing overview of how the COVID-19 epidemic affects our organization. Using the tool, I have better overview of the work in my area. By analyzing the data in a friendly way, I can draw conclusions and implement further improvements. What does recruitment at PKP Energetyka look like in the post-covid times? What kind of employees are you looking for? Regardless of whether it is post-covid time or not, in addition to domain know ledge, we are looking for people open to challenges and open to new knowledge and new experiences, as well as looking for new solutions and innovations.
Outsourcing&More | November–December 2020
Can employees count at PKP Ener getyka on a system of non-wage bene- fits and development opportunities? Yes. The PKP Energetyka Group has an extensive range of non-wage benefits, ranging from privileges related to being in a railway family, through benefits from the social benefits fund, medical care and life insurance. Our organization does not stand still. Through continuous develop ment, improvement and automation of our processes, our employees acquire unique competences and knowledge. In addition to creative thinking and problem solving, there is constant improvement of the necessary substantive knowledge.
You run your own internship program, thanks to which students have the opportunity to gain knowledge from the best experts in the energy industry. And what can we learn from this young generation, just entering the labor market? The young generation are the people who were born with a smartphone in their hands. They are open to new solutions, continuous improvement but unfortunately, they quickly get bored with what they do and need new challenges from time to time. Thank you for the interview.
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Infrastructure and cloud services for business
Voice and video conferencing solutions
Protected Internet access and network projects
Security Operations Center as-a-service
