You announced soon that you plan to enter the stock exchange. Are not you afraid of  

 

your downturn. The stock exchange has been very chimerical recently.  

 

The problem has been so serious that not all the issues can be scrupulously planned. On the other hand, the process of confirmation of our prospectus by the Financial Supervision Authority has just ended and we are ready to conduct IPO (initial public offering) in the first half of this year. The stock exchange has stabilised itself and investors looking for stocks with high potential return on investment can always be found. So we are calm about the debut at the stock exchange parquet floor.  

 

 

 

Where are you going to invest financial means acquired at the stock exchange?  

 

We intend to conduct domestic and foreign acquisitions for which we have got used to for some time. We will take over companies of similar-to-our profile of business activity and stable market standing.. We wish to be one large company in the field of personnel outsourcing. And to acquire the position of the leader in Europe.  

 

 

 

‘Big’ words ...  

 

We have already been the leader in the Central and Eastern Europe and nowadays we will more actively attack this Old Europe as well as markets in the Eastern Europe.  

 

We open our businesses in Holland and Germany. We develop our own companies in Russia and other countries of that region: Tadzhikistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia. The former Soviet republics have been the mine of human resources for us. We delegate people to work in Moscow where wages are considerably higher. The market in the East has got the unimaginable potential; it has grown intensely and thanks to that we will reach high margins on our business activity. Of course, provided that you use efficient methods of staff recruitment. We make our efforts to avoid labour-consuming and difficult solutions, e.g. searching people in Moscow to work in Moscow. The one who first gain full knowledge on a particular market, identify its chances and potential will the one who wins and occupies the position of the leader. Maybe we will be the number one there in 5-year time. This is the question of good strategy. We copy the Polish model which has been perfectly proven.  

 

 

 

What is the standing of your company conducting business in the British Isles?  

 

Our English company has been in a very good shape; we make use of the popularity of this direction in Europe in the process of economic migration from Poland. Our London office covers Great Britain and Ireland with its business activity, that is the markets which got opened for our staff and at which a Polish worker has got its renown. We have grown there thanks to that such workers from Poland willingly go for support provided by Polish agency in the search of work at the British Isles.  

 

It should be also mentioned about other counties where we have been present. Our company in the Czech Republic has been getting on well. We have been in the forefront of employment agencies in our southern neighbours. For Czech customers we implement employment projects based on staff from Poland and Romania. Business activities of our foreign offices and co-operation with local business units conducting their business in our line enable to transfer staff to Poland. At present, we have recruited staff from Ukraine and Vietnam.  

 

 

 

Has importing people from abroad been the only method of coping with staff shortages?  

 

Nowadays the market has been more and more demanding and it has been more and more difficult to acquire a good worker. Some business areas, for example building, have already suffered serious staff shortages. Requirements in terms of remuneration and at the same time labour costs in companies increase. Workers from abroad are an attractive alternative in such cases. Additionally, we fight with staff storages and rotation by means of organisation of unique loyalty programmes, which provide Work Service staff with extra profits and enlarge their conscientiousness and loyalty. In this way we wish to keep them at our company and further at our customers.  

 

 

 

Staff has become mostly-searched goods.  

 

So, on one hand it procures difficulties, on the other – this is a good situation as it is possible to obtain a higher profit margin when he / she is acquired. Currently, good recruitment, staff searching, acquiring them from other companies, persuading that we offer better and more interesting terms and conditions of work is by all means some kind of achievement. At present it looks so that the most important issue is to find a able-to-work person. Then to make him / her know what to do and afterwards – to make him / her productive. Struggling to lower staff rotation, to increase their loyalty towards an employer and eliminate hours of work spent on sick leave is another step to take.  

 

 

 

In what way do you achieve it?  

 

We have got special motivation systems, for example rewards for a lack of sick absence.  

 

 

 

I understand that you promote a healthy mode of life: taking care about oneself and not being sick?  

 

Please, do not laugh, these rewards really help. Obviously, we have got also systems of control. If a person often ails, we check if these are not fictitious ailments. In this way we eliminate not conscientious workers, what, consequently, contributes to the quality of services provided by us and the customer satisfaction.  

 

 

 

Can companies like yours not cope with market requirements and – within a particular period of time – not to deliver staff?  

 

Of course. Therefore, we have been constantly monitoring the labour market and taking the responsibility for education of our customers. As the expert at the market, we are able to promptly assess whether or not offered terms and conditions of work and remuneration enable to successfully end a recruitment project. If we are to recruit people from the neighbourhood of Wrocław for the minimum remuneration or for 1400 PLN gross, on the basis of our experience we know that this is not possible. Then we negotiate terms of remuneration with our customer, and - in case of no understanding the market situation by him – we reject such an order. We focus at these customers who are able to offer attractive and – above all – market-determined terms and conditions of employment for staff, and as a consequence, also for us.  

 

 

 

Is an increasing remuneration not a problem for you?  

 

If wages rise, we find it easier to find staff in this situation. It is worse when a customer does not accept the rise of remuneration, and requires from us to find staff on the basis of old terms, accepting a high staff rotation. The market does not allow for such practices any more. The present tendency is to pay well, to have and keep constant staff and raise efficiency of the process thanks to that. This is the question of the strategy.  

 

 

 

And has Work Service changed its strategy or has it continually dealt with staff outsourcing only?  

 

Currently we have developed advanced services within which we include outsourcing of functions, obviously, based on suitably well-chosen and motivated staff. Taking part in international conferences in our business field, we see, that outsourcing is the future of the market of work service, that is the market of all services related to work. Therefore – as it befits to the leader – we move together with the world trend. We have already applied the outsourcing of the whole production, that is not only provision of a worker, but also management of the whole company. As an example we can give an example of the company which produces a luxurious brand of cars. We created the whole production company from the scratch. We choose such places for investments where there are still a comparatively large human potential. Moreover, we work over projects of organisation of production in food and cosmetic business lines.  

 

 

 

What disturbs your business activity most?  

 

The bureaucracy. Difficulties in acquisition of work permits for abroad workers. And that staff documents have to be kept for 50 years, and that every time he / she changes his / her work, it is necessary to issue a tax form (PIT) and to make medical examinations. It would be a great solution to have standard e-tax forms, e–invoices and electronic work certificates. Can you imagine that on an annual basis our Group spends half a million PLN on postal services.  

 

 

 

You and your colleagues are the establishers of the company. Are you not tempted to sell this prospering company?  

 

We have been expecting to enter the stock exchange. This is our method to acquire a large volume of capital required for further growth of Work Service. Of course, if we have an idea for new business, then we consider such an proposal. Now we believe in our business and we are sure that there are still a lot to be done and to be earned. All of this is the matter of calculation. Moreover, I am just 33 years old, so I do not take several millions and will not retire earlier, as I would die out of boredom .  

 

 

 

Well, but you have had got one big crisis, when you over-invest abroad.  

 

Yes, it is true. It was difficult. Our loss was at the level of two and a half million. But the lesson was learnt well. Nowadays we have implemented our clear and consistent strategy, work with the best managers and introduced efficient methods of supervision and monitoring of the company.  

 

 

 

Are you not afraid of similar crises?  

 

We have already gone through it. The model of managing our company has significantly changed since then and there has been no danger of repetition of such a situation. The stock exchange has additionally led to full transparency of our business and “iron” financial discipline. Then the only method was to employ good and expensive experts. They drew out our business from the crisis.  

 

 

 

But probably it has not been any special problem for you? This is you who look for people to work.  

 

That is true, but sometimes it is the most difficult if you want to find staff for yourself.
From the academy to the stock exchange.
Work Service has been the leader at the market of temporary employment agency in Poland. Such market giants such as, among others, Telekomunikacja Polska or Volkswagen have co-operated with us.
The Wrocław company is the winner of numerous awards for its business activity, such as so the prestigious “Teraz Polska” promotion emblem.
By the Polityka weekly Work Service has been classified at the 425th place in the rank of the 500 largest Polish companies.  

 

As the anecdote says, the establishers of Work Service, three students from the Wrocław Academy of Economics: Tomasz Szpikowski, Tomasz Misiak and Tomasz Hanczarek, started its business activity in a small room rented from the academy, where the first office was located. Purchasing an elegant suit was one of the first investments. They travelled across Poland and recruited people for temporary work on their own. And a more and more demand for such work emerged as foreign supermarkets built more and more of their shops where seasonal staff was particularly wanted. After 9 years of business activity, the company has gained the trust of 1200 customers and employed approximately 100 thousand people annually. It plans to make a debut at the Warsaw Stock Exchange and it anticipates to acquire around 70 million PLN. S.W.  

 

 

 

Interview by Rafał Suś  

 

In private terms, Tomasz Szpikowski, the president of Work Service, is keen on motorisation; he even takes part in car rallies. He is 33 years old. He lives in Wrocław where he graduated from the Department of Management and IT Science at the Academy of Economics, specialisation: HR Management. In 1999 together with his friends he established Work Service, temporary employment agency and became its president. He is the laureate of the award of the Entrepreneur of the Year in the category of New Business in 2003 granted by Ernst & Young and the title of the Manager of the Year granted by Businessman Magazine”.