The Polish government has launched a website providing its citizens with advice on moving back home, writes Magda Jelonkiewiczin Warsaw
DURING THE American financial crisis of the 1930s, the Polish government prepared a booklet for Polish emigrants living in the United States encouraging them to return home, buy land, and build new homes.
Almost 80 years later, a similar project has been launched. On Monday, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with Polish immigrants in London and launched a programme, "Do You Have a Return Plan?" (Masz plan na powrót?), providing information for those who are considering, or in the process, of moving back to Poland.
The comprehensive guide, which is available online (powroty.gov.pl) is divided into different sections, each devoted to a different part of life; the necessary formalities to be carried out before and after the move, the move itself, work, taxes, finance, family, health and social benefits.
The website content is available in a 176-page booklet Powrotnik (The Returner) which will be distributed in Ireland and the UK on St Nicholas's Day, December 6th.
The website has proven an immediate success with over 10,000 visitors from Poland, the UK and Ireland within 24 hours of its launch. It is not surprising, giving the fact there has been a serious lack of information available for Poles wishing to return home. Up to now people have been relying on the personal experiences of their friends who had returned after living abroad.
In contrast, there has been a lot of information for Polish people planning to leave home and move abroad, with group and community portals easily found on the internet listing essential information on how to make a new start. Until now, there hasn't been an equivalent for those moving back to the country.
The "Do You Have a Return Plan" project is filling a gap. But the big question is - who and how many will return?
Judyta Holubowicz, who has been living in Dublin for over three years, believes that the new project has not been created to influence or convince people to come back, "as we are living in free Europe and anyone can work wherever they wish.
"I think those who have a place and people to come back to in Poland will do so. Once they have fulfilled their dreams in Ireland, they want to start a new chapter back home," he says. "For now, I will stay in Ireland. I have my studies to be finished while my husband is developing his own business. We are thinking of coming back to Poland, but it is not our time yet."
According to Pawel Kamionka from Polish Radio London (Polskie Radio Londyn) some people who just miss Poland wake up one day and decide to move back on spec.
THE MAJORITY OF Polish sociologists and demographers believe it is the people who could not survive emigration who are going back. They are people who had difficulties finding good, lasting jobs or who were laid off and became unemployed. Those who have been successful, settled down and integrated into the foreign society have no reason to move back.
This is backed up by research from recruitment agency Headcount Solutions, who in conjunction with the Polish Professionals in London carried out a study aimed at finding out how many Poles living in the UK were considering a move back home in the current economic climate.
"The result was overwhelming in so far as Polish professionals have no intention of returning to Poland in the short term. Lifestyle, work environment, international exposure (personal and professional) and experience gained, culminating in fine tuning their English skills are the motivational factors to stay."
Séamus Pentony of Headcount Solutions tells The Irish Times: "If they do decide to move back, the main reasons would be a very good job and family reasons."
A similar survey was conducted by the Polish online job portal Praca.pl, which revealed that people who are returning are those who have achieved some professional success abroad, saved some money and are now ready to move back home. Again, the personal reasons played a major role.
"I think that those who emigrated after 2006 will be coming back, as this is the second wave less prepared for life abroad. Those who emigrated between 2004 and 2005 will not come back first. This first wave - about 850,000 - have settled and will not return," according to Prof Krystyna Iglicka from the Centre of International Relations in an interview in the Polish daily Polska.
Michal Boni, the prime minister's principal adviser, says there will always be a number of people who will leave Poland.
"It is down to a conscious life choice of an individual who wishes to include a stay abroad in his life strategy. This is a sign of a modern world, where people leave the country, return and then leave again," he says.
There are no figures available from the Polish end as to the numbers who have come back. Those who have returned from Ireland and Britain often have to readjust to their native culture. The dramatic differences between western Europe and Poland are still clearly noticeable for those going home, maybe not so much in the cities but in the towns and the countryside.
"Trains are almost always late, usually dirty. Good roads are hard to find. Some shop assistants wear perms like in the 1980s, topped with the green eye-shadow," says Adam Kuczek who came back to Wroclaw recently after four years in Ireland. "Having said that, it is my country and I enjoy it with all its aspects, even when I cannot afford a weekend in Barcelona, shoes cost me half my salary and property is more expensive than in Berlin."
PATRYCJA KOSCIANSKA, who spent three years in Dublin, misses the politeness of the Irish. "There seems to be a lack of respect for one's personal space. Everybody is rushing and pushing around. People can queue orderly only at an ATM."
Similarly, looking for a job in Poland can be challenging. However, experience gained abroad is attractive to foreign investors and international corporations. Having that as part of a CV can reduce the recruitment process to a minimum.
"In terms of employment, my Irish experience landed me a job as a financial analyst in HP within three weeks," says Adam Kuczek. "I was a model employee, with experience abroad and the knowledge of outsourcing."
There is a huge difference in pay rates. The Polish job portal Pracuj.pl, in conjunction with wynagrodzenia.pl (a webpage compiling information on renumeration across different sectors globally) has published information on minimum rates of pay in the European countries. In Poland, it is €311.44 per month (as of January 1st, 2008), while in Ireland it is €1,499.33 per month (as of July 1st, 2007) and in the UK €1,185.06 (as of 1st October 2008).
The average salary in IT is €15,882 per annum, with 25 per cent of workers earning more than €25,000. In marketing and sales, the average income is €13,000 per annum, with the high-end jobs paying more than €22,000.
McDonalds is currently advertising openings with a renumeration package of about €6,400 per annum, while the average construction labourer earns about €2.60 per hour.
Many young returned Poles discover the Polish company culture is different to what they were used to in Ireland.
"At interviews, I had to object when I was asked personal questions like if I was planning to get married and have children. When it comes to differences at work, the Polish people seem to be afraid to take initiative. They rarely come up with ideas to improve anything, for the simple reason that 'this is the way we've been doing it for ages'. There is also this respect bordering on fear of your boss," says Patrycja Koscianska who now works as an infostaff manager specialising in IT recruitment.
Meantime, the Government is hoping that changes in the Polish tax system to be introduced from January 1st may attract thousands of immigrants back home . . . and keep them there.
The current tax brackets of 19, 30 and 40 per cent will be replaced by two of 18 and 32 per cent. Additionally, the tax credits earned in the EU countries including Ireland, as well in Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland, will be transferable to Poland. According to Ministry of Finance statistics, everybody will gain in the change as 99 per cent of taxpayers fall within the first tax bracket, which is below €23,000.
So is it the time to leave Ireland and come back to Poland? Polish people living abroad will have to decide that for themselves.