Professional Częstochowa

New jobs for the inhabitants of Częstochowa have been one of the priorities of the Częstochowa local government in recent years. Better Job is the one that meets expectations, gives satisfaction, a sense of security, enables development and fulfilment of ambitions. Better Job is also done by qualified and committed employees.

We want the labour market in Częstochowa to become the market of a socially sensitive employer who cares about its employee, knowing that it is his greatest capital.

Entrepreneurs from Częstochowa are aware of the necessity and importance of investments in the development of human resources.

Activities in the field of staff training cannot only take place inside the com pany. Entrepreneurs, already at the stage of secondary schools, look for their future employees and try to influence the profiling of their qualifications.

The cooperation between entrepreneurs and schools, both at the secondary and higher level, is the only chance to educate qualified staff and follow the real needs of the local labour market.

The task of the local government is to create a platform for agreement between these interdependent areas – education and business. That is why the Center for Better Workplaces was created and this is the idea behind the whole Better Job Now programme.

The Better Job Now program is based on three pillars of action: • The "Fair Play" program promotes the principles of fair play on the labour market in Częstochowa: employing employees (minimum 80% of the staff) directly, under contracts that do not bypass the provisions of labour law and other initiatives within the scope of corporate social responsibility. • Center for Better Workplaces located in the building of the City Hall of Częstochowa, at Waszyngtona 5 Street, room 112 in the Investor Assistance Center.

CFBW also includes a website called "Teraz Lepsza Praca" ("Better Job

Now"), enabling students of secondary schools, entrepreneurs and residents who want to change or find a job to meet in one place; • Goal: Your Development involves many initiatives aimed at improving the qualifications of people who focus on developing their professional competences to get a better job.

As part of the Program, an Employee Rights Ombudsman was appointed, who act in agreement with CFBW.

Częstochowa is a city of well-working and honest people, work culture of Częstochowa residents is very high and industrial traditions – often cultivated from generation to generation, results in qualified employees in the scope of the heavy industry and services industries. Entrepreneurship and creativity in Częstochowa helped the city flourish during the partitions and successfully overcome political transformation. Today, SMEs and family businesses are still the power of the economy in the region and confidently cooperate with the world's largest corporations. All thanks to the quality of staff, their creativity and education.

HOW TO TALK WITH TEENAGERS

The Częstochowa local government decided to use the time of the pandemic and the time of one-of-a-kind holidays to familiarize young people with the possibilities offered by the city... but this time in their area and their language. When in December the country found out what the winter break in 2021 would look like, the Investor Assistance Center in Częstochowa shot a video promoting technical schools in the city. Musicians from Częstochowa were invited to the project. One of them was Piotr "Dziker" Chrząstek, one of the pioneers and promoters of Polish hip-hop, leader of the band NEFRE, founder of the HIP HOP Elements festival, and the other one was MIKSER – a rapper from the young generation, freestyler. They are both known to the young audience and can communicate with them perfectly.

RAP AND MINECRAFT

The music video and the schools' offer with a grain of salt was just an introduction to having fun online. When young people could not take full advantage of the winter break in science and spent even more time at their computers than usual, the city offered them to co-create the urban space. The Zawodowa Częstochowa website was created, and the youth of primary and secondary schools were invited to build the educational complex of their dreams at MINECRAFT. On the website, students had to familiarize themselves with the offer of technical schools and use the acquired knowledge in their online activities.

The base project for this task was a drawing made by one of the students of the Fashion and Advertising Industry School Complex. The players had to expand and rebuild following their idea for an ideal school. The school was to be created following the principles of sustainable development and the Smart City concept, maintaining equal opportunities and access to education, as well as respect for nature.

As it happens in Częstochowa, this competition became the nucleus of a completely new idea for the development of urban space by young people... For now, still online.

PROFESSIONALS

There are still not enough professionals in the labour market. The generation gap and the stereotypical approach to vocational education result in a constant staff deficit. The city hopes that such activities will make youth aware of the value of a solid technical education. The 2020 pandemic situation helped somewhat. It showed how much technical skills are valuable and which have suffered the least from the crisis.

Author: Anna Tymoshenko Translation: Magdalena 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

REIMBURSEMENT OF EVEN MORE THAN HALF OF TWO-YEAR EMPLOYEE PAYROLL COSTS FOR THE BSS IN ŁÓDŹ

The Polish Investment Zone (PIZ) provides a new formula for the functioning of the Economic Zones in Poland.

It offers exemptions from corporate income tax and makes these exemptions available to the sector of modern business services on a preferential basis. The revised regulation enables our company to take advantage of tax benefits regardless of where our registered office is located. The location only determines the extent of the support that we can obtain.

The baseline quantitative criterion – how much money we have to invest to meet the quantitative requirements set by the PIZ mechanism in Łódź is PLN 80,000,000 for the industrial investments.

THE SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES FOR WHICH PUBLIC AID MAY BE OBTAINED MODERN SERVICES FOR BUSINESS (BPO AND SSC), IT AND R&D

IT

related to software publishing and consultancy in the field of IT and related data processing, website management (hosting), and other services related to the provision of infrastructure for information and computer technologies

SSC / BPO

in the field of financial audit, accounting and bookkeeping, consultancy related to management and services of head offices In the case of broadly defined modern business services (e.g. programming, financial and accounting services or R&D services), this threshold is reduced by 95%, and in Łódź it amounts to merely PLN 4,000,000.

QUANTITIVE CRITERIA IN LODZ

(REQUIRED INVESTMENT VALUE [PLN])

MICRO

1 600 000

SMALL

4 000 000

MEDIUM

16 000 000

R & D

architectural and engineering as well as in the field of technical research and analysis, research and development works, specialized industrial and interior design, consultancy in environmental matters

BIG

80 000 000

OTHERS

call centers, repair and maintenance of computers and communication equipment

BUSINESS SERVICES

4 000 000

depending on the size of the company. A small company is eligible for public aid of 55%, a medium-sized company – 45% and a large company – 35%. In other regional cities in Poland, these thresholds are usually 10% lower in all these categories. In other words, a large company which invests PLN 10 million in Łódź is eligible for public aid in the amount of PLN 3.5 million while, for example, in Wrocław it will be only PLN 2.5 million.

What does this aid provide?

The investor receives aid in the form of a long-term exemption from corporate tax (CIT). In Łódź, the amount of aid is calculated on a project-specific basis and investors can use it over a period of 12 years of business activity. In principle, corporate income taxpayers are taxed at a rate of 19%.

In Łódź, salaries in the sector of business services in the IT segment are 13% lower than the national average. In the area of finance and accounting, they are on average 9% lower. About 30,000 people work in the sector of modern business services in Łódź and this number is growing at a rate of approximately 14% annually.

SIZE OF THE COMPANY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

YEARLY TURNOVERT

ANNUAL BALANCE SHEET

MICRO

SMALL

MEDIUM

BIG < 10

< 50

and

< 2

< 10

< 250 < 50

>250 >50

or

< 2

< 10

< 43

>43

Outsourcing&More: What expenses are included in the investment – what costs will allow us to reach the threshold of PLN 4,000,000?

Mateusz Sipa, City of Lodz Office: In the case of the services sector, the main cost item for the investor are, of course, salaries of employees. Therefore, apart from expenses associated with the purchase of computer hardware, office equipment or software, an entity operating in the Polish Investment Zone and benefiting from public aid may also include its 2-year employee payroll costs (gross employee wage costs plus the obligatory contributions, such as the social insurance contributions, paid by the entrepreneur from the hire date) in its overall investment costs. We can safely assume that the average gross salary in the sector of modern business services is PLN 8,000. This means that if we employ about 20 people, we will be able to reach the minimum threshold (irrespective of the previously mentioned cost categories).

Why Łódź?

Depending on the level of unemployment, there are different thresholds for public aid in the regional cities in Poland for the new investments. In the case of Łódź, it is 35%, 45% and 55%, In the latest global ranking of the best economic zones, prepared every year by the team of fDi Magazine (periodical of the Financial Times group), the Łódź Special Economic Zone (ŁSEZ) has been named as the third best in the world. It has also been recognized as the best zone in Europe for small and medium-sized enterprises.

* the information presented in this article only provides a basic insight into the functioning of the Polish Investment Zone and does not fully cover the objectives of that tool.

Author: Mateusz Sipa, Vice Director Business Development and International Relations Bureau, City of Lodz Office / Attorney-at-law

More information:

Business Development and International Relations Bureau

Piotrkowska 104a Street, 90-926 Lodz Phone: +48 42 638 59 39 Fax: +48 42 638 59 40 e-mail: boi@uml.lodz.pl

THE CITY OF KIELCE CREATES THE GROUND... FOR BUSINESS!

The city of Kielce has a constantly growing potential for the development of the office sector: 20,000 students, well-developed metropolitan functions, and companies that have been operating for years make a favorable climate for investment.

The favor of the investors of Mayor Bogdan Wenta, who considers good contacts with entrepreneurs as a priority of his local government activity, is not without significance. An expression of this is his proposal for resolutions on real estate tax exemptions for newly constructed office and production buildings, which were adopted by the Kielce City Council. The resolution on the exemption from property tax for the initial investment in the field of newly constructed office buildings was a response to the trend and expectations of investors visible throughout Poland. It is worth paying attention to this act of local law, because it is an important progress in creating economic development in Kielce.

During the session of the City Council of Kielce on February 11 this year, Kielce councilors adopted a number of resolutions dedicated to helping entrepreneurs operating here or planning to start business in Kielce. – In this way, we tried to encourage developers and construction companies to refer to this resolution and take advantage of tax exemptions under the real estate tax – says Bogdan Wenta, Mayor of Kielce. The adoption of the resolution will enable entrepreneurs carrying out initial investments to obtain real estate tax exemption for a maximum period of 3 years. The resolution introduces a real estate tax exemption for newly constructed buildings with a usable area of at least 4,000 m2, related to business activities, where at least 80% of the usable area will be high-standard office space.

This is an extremely important step for a still developing city such as Kielce, where human capital and competitive rental prices are also a powerful bargaining chip.

TAX RELIEFS FOR OFFICES – WHAT ELSE?

A particularly important document is also the adopted resolution on real estate tax exemption for newly constructed buildings or their parts and structures related to business activity in the field of production.

The draft resolution introduces a real estate tax exemption for newly constructed buildings or its parts and structures related to business activities in the field of production, constituting an initial investment, located in the Kielce. The adoption of the resolution will enable entrepreneurs carrying out initial investments to obtain real estate tax exemption for a maximum period of 3 years.

– Companies from the modern business services sector choose only attractive locations in terms of office space, creating high-quality jobs, which in the long run translates into the image of a city open to investors, also from the IT and BPO sectors. The real estate tax exemption for newly built office spaces is a clear sign for these entities, and for developers, that Kielce wants to be at the forefront of cities with top-class office space and attracting the modern business services sector.

This is extremely important because the out sourcing industry is vitally interested in expansion in regional cities, and the key factor is access to ready-made office spaces ensuring IT security and freedom of space arrangement, giving the company the opportunity to develop in the future.

– MAYOR OF KIELCE, BOGDAN WENTA

The resolution adopted at the February session is a continuation of the tax policy adopted by the City of Kielce, aimed at encouraging companies already operating on the Kielce market to make reinvestments here, as well as attracting domestic and foreign investors to locate their branches in Kielce.

NEW OFFICE AND SERVICE CENTER

Recently, a decision was also made to develop plans for the last large, available investment area in the city. It is about 65 hectares in total between the S74 expressway, the eastern border of the city and green areas excluded from development.

The Mayor's decision and the formation of the team were crucial. Most importantly, there is a real chance that we will soon get to know the route of Kielce's eastern bypass. It is extremely important to provide communication services in this area. The vast majority of the area in question is located in zone "C" of the Kielce Protected Landscape Area. This means that in the areas intended for development there are quite serious restrictions resulting from the provisions that protect the natural and landscape values. The plan is to include the area around the existing office buildings and the existing plan for the university campus which is adjacent to the grounds. The city planners therefore decided that it would be best to develop a concept for the entire area of 65 hectares. As a result, the communication system and media distribution will be more coherent. The city decided to make an unusual move: it commissioned an external company to develop a concept for the development of such a large area.

The concept will significantly facilitate further work on the spatial development plan. Metropolitan services, office buildings and areas will be created, e.g. for cultural units and research centers. At the same time, the city does not want to allow a situation where in the area where one function dominates, life dies when the office is finished. Therefore, it is assumed that approx. 15% residential buildings to complement the entire area with this function.

GREEN ROOFS AND RETENTION WILL PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE NEW VISION OF THE AREA

The use of blue and green infrastructure is also to be important when creating a spatial development plan. It is about green roofs, enabling the cultivation of plants on them and retention, i.e. the collection of rainwater, which is a problem with too much development of green areas. In general, the entire development will give the impression of an area with a lot of greenery.

– We definitely want the most perfect project to be created, taking into account nature protection – announced Mayor Wenta.

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