Flexicurity, a combination of the flexibility and security of the term at work, is not a new concept. It started a dozen years ago in Denmark. Shortly thereafter, the concept was also presented in Poland. But why does the idea still struggle to break through in the Polish labour market?
Flexicurity – Danish theory and Polish practice
Denmark’s flexicurity model combines employment flexibility with security. It is characterized, for example, by the possibility of choosing the place of work (remote, stationary, hybrid), the size of the hours or freedom as to the type of contract. All of this is so that you can fit your work into your lifestyle, but also constantly develop and improve your competencies, so that you can be a qualified employee, attractive to employers.
It would seem that globalization and access to the latest technologies make it even easier to put this concept into practice. And yet – most Polish companies (as well as employees) are far from practicing this approach. Why? On the one hand, we observe unfavourable labour laws and the reluctance of businesses to introduce flexible rules. On the other hand, one can see the “traditional” approach to work ingrained in many employees: the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. model, an indefinite contract and closure to other forms of employment (project work, self-employment, part-time).
Will this change? Perhaps. The pandemic has caused something that only two years ago seemed impossible – the companies have switched to the home office, and the vast majority of employees found this way of working to be better and more efficient than the full office. When remote work became a reality in the Polish market and managers were just learning how to manage remote teams and how to work to achieve their goals, we at Talent Place already knew how to organize activities to grow in our key areas. We were a remote friendly company long before the pandemic. We were already encouraging remote work (we wrote about its benefits here, for example), and it’s not the only thing we’re betting on in our company. That’s exactly right! We work flexibly and safely, in accordance with the elements of flexicurity.
Flexicurity at Talent Place
Any recruiter who chooses to work with our Community of HR experts quickly learns that flexicurity is not just a cool concept, too perfect to be true. It’s just that it’s a viable and mutually beneficial way to work well together. We give individuals joining our team a choice:
- workplaces: from the Krakow office, remotely from anywhere in the world, hybrid.
- working time: project-based as a freelancer, full-time or part-time as an RPO recruiter,
- The number of projects carried out: we try to match the current needs of each of our recruiters
- Contracts: full freedom and the ability to move seamlessly between types of contracts,
- training: we care about the development of our recruiters and want them to excel in their field.
Does someone say you can either work flexibly or with security? We prove that it is not at all necessary to choose between one or the other. Those looking for freedom of choice in terms of employment contract, time and place of work will find it all at Talent Place. Those for whom job security is most important will also enjoy working with our Community. And since we encourage a work-life fit approach for everyone (i.e., matching work to lifestyle and current needs, as we have written more about), we are open to various types of cooperation: for example, one can be employed part-time as an RPO recruiter and additionally carry out recruitment projects as a freelancer. What does it look like to work in such a model? This was told by our recruiter Natalia Szubert. That’s why if someone asks you what the Danish concept of flexicurity looks like in practice, you can answer that it’s just like the Talent Place Community.
