Young, talented…and just 2½ hours away

POLAND is rated one of the most attractive BPO investment locations in Europe in a report, Onshore, Nearshore, Offshore: Unsure?, published in March by Jones Lang LaSalle) and currently almost people 45,000 are employed in the 300 BPO locations.

What makes Poland a suitable location for call centre service outsourcing?

The economy is growing faster than the rest of the European Union — GDP for 2009 is forecast to be more than two per cent, making Poland one of the few countries with a positive GDP index.

Geography Any call centre in Poland is within two-and-a-half hours flying time of any European capital.  Every business day 20 flights leave Warsaw for the UK and another six airports each have at least another 10 flights.  The one-hour time difference between Poland and the UK makes communication easy.  And it means far less night working, increasing the comfort of agents and influencing the cost.

Workforce Poland, the sixth largest country in the EU, has a population of over 38m, 47 per cent of whom are under 35.  They have a high level of education (2m students, 455 universities and colleges) and a great career mobility — a perfect asset of young and talented staff.  Attrition is below 15 per cent and salary expectations lower than in western Europe.

Languages The workforce available in Poland speaks not only English (97 per cent  of university graduates speak English) but also other western European languages (French, German). Taking advantage of Poland’s central location we can also find employees who speak eastern and central European languages.  It means that projects can be carried out in several European markets simultaneously. Foreign language education is obligatory from 10 years of age.

More than 2m Poles are currently in other European countries (UK, Germany, Ireland, etc.), half of whom left for less than 12 months.  During those sojourns they not only raise their language skills but also increase their levels of cultural affinity and awareness.

Call Center Poland holds the title of Company of the Year 2004 by British-Polish Chamber of Commerce.  In November 2008 the company received the Reliable Outsourcer 2008 award in a competition organised by Outsourcing magazine. The title was granted on the basis of surveys among the company’s clients about its outsourcing services.

Daniel Kruczynski is multilingual call centre director of Call Center Poland; d.kruczynski@ccp.com.pl