The report on the quality of work in the European Union, which was commissioned by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), was published in July 2023. The author of the report is sociologist Dr Agnieszka Piasna, who defended her PhD thesis on issues related to the quality of the labour market in the EU at Cambridge University in 2009.

The European Job Quality Index (EJQI) report was created in 2008 and is updated every five years. The latest version supplemented it with data from 2021. The index is built around six main dimensions:

1. income quality,
2. forms of employment and job security,
3. working time and work-life balance,
4. working conditions,
5. skills and career development,
6. collective interest representation.

In each of the six areas surveyed, Poland was among the weakest six out of 27 EU member states. This added up to the second worst result in the European Union. Only people working in Greece are in a worse situation than workers in Poland.

The income quality dimension measures the predictability of earnings (the ability of responders to estimate their own earnings in the nearest future) as well as a subjective evaluation of the adequacy of earnings for making ends meet. Poland scored 62 out of a possible 100 points in this category, with Germany (81.1 points), Luxembourg (79.2 points) and Finland (78.9 points) ranked on top.

The quality of forms of employment is measured by the share of workers who have temporary jobs because they cannot find permanent work and the share of part-time workers who cannot find full-time jobs. Therefore, only non-standard work that is reported as involuntary is included as an indication of poor job quality. Job security was examined by responders answering the question "I might lose my job in the next six months". Poland scored 86.3 points out of 100 in this category, with all EU countries scoring above 80 points.

Working time and work-life balance assessment was based on the percentage of people working more than 48 hours per week. The percentage of female and male employees in shift patterns and working at weekends was also taken into account. Another factor was the extent to which working hours fit with family or social commitments. Out of 100 points awarded in this area, Poland scored 70.9 points, with only Greece registering a worse score.

Working conditions were examined in terms of their intensity: the expected pace of tasks, the number of impassable deadlines and the need to work after hours in order to meet tasks on time. The level of autonomy of employees was also examined, i.e. whether they can plan the sequence and timing of tasks themselves and have the ability to set aside an hour or two for personal emergencies.

This category also included physical risk factors, such as working in noisy environment or by doing monotonous, repetitive movements. In this area, Poland was fourth from last in the EU, with worse working conditions recorded in Greece, France and Cyprus. On the other hand, the Netherlands, Estonia and Germany boast the best working conditions in Europe.

Opportunities for skills and career development were assessed on the basis of the percentage of the population aged 25-64 who had participated in education or training in the four weeks prior to the survey. Respondents were also asked how much they agree with the statement "My job offers good prospects for career advancement". Here too, Poland ranked fourth from last with a score of 26.1. Sweden, the best in this dimension, scored 41.4 points out of a possible 100.

The representation and visibility of employees' collective interests was examined on the basis of the percentage of employees covered by collective bargaining opportunities with their employer. Also taken into account was trade union density at country level, and the representation of female and male employees in company structures such as works councils, as well as the regularity of management meetings with employees. Here Poland scored only 30 points out of 100. The best representation of employees' interests is found in the Nordic countries such as Sweden (78.2 points), Denmark (75.6 points) and Finland (71.8 points).

Overall, Poland’s EJQI is currently at 27.9 points out of 100. Only Greece fared worse with 13.4 points. First in the ranking are Denmark (87.6 points), Sweden (82.3 points) and the Netherlands (79.2 points). Poland’s score has declined since the last update of the report in 2017 (it included data up to 2015) when it stood at 32.2 points and ranked our country fourth from last in the EU.

The indicators for working time and work-life balance and also working conditions have deteriorated the most since 2015. In both of these dimensions we got about 10 points less each for 2021 and since the last edition of the report we have been overtaken by Romania and Spain. This certainly puts an interesting perspective on the frequent complaints of Polish employers about Zoomers, to whom, as it turns out, they offer increasingly poorer employment conditions.