BPO/SSC industry to boost Polish economy (ABSL survey)

The business services sector may provide a major boost to Poland’s crisis-hit economy, the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL) has announced. According to ABSL’s latest research, the industry, which employs nearly 310,000 people in business process outsourcing (BPO), shared services centers (SSC/GBS), IT and research and development (R&D) centres across the country, has quickly adapted to new ways of operating. Around one- third (35%) of the surveyed companies shifted to remote work in the first half of March, one day after Poland closed its schools, and about 85% of the companies followed suit within a few days.

The great majority of the business services centres were adequately prepared to deal with the crisis and to implement relevant action plans. Thanks to our international presence, we could learn from the experiences of other markets, where the virus hit earlier, said Marcin Nowak, Head of the ABSL Management Board.

As reported by ABSL, around 10% of the surveyed companies expect to handle more business processes in the near future, which may give additional stimulus to the second largest employment sector of the Polish economy.

The industry’s activities have not been suspended and despite facing global challenges, Poland has been offered a further development opportunity, thanks to its excellent infrastructure, human resources and location, said Paweł Panczyj, Strategy & Business Development Director.

ABSL’s research notes that the current crisis has prompted an unprecedented - but very successful - experiment in remote work. According to the survey, around two-thirds (66%) of the industry’s employees used to perform their jobs from home before the pandemic outbreak. Nowadays, the surveyed companies declare they are ready to transition 35% of all employees to fully or partially remote work.

Source: ABSL