Human Resource Policies in Travel Companies Indexed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Travel companies in many countries are faced with a strong phenomenon of seasonality in tourism, and this has a negative impact on the financial standing of these companies. Decrease in tourist demand after high season has an effect on the amount of employees' remuneration employed in travel agencies, but also on the phenomenon of workplace reductions. For several years we have observed in Poland the lack of human resources in tourism and hotel industry, with young educated workers looking for employment in Western countries, where they can count on much higher remuneration for the same work. This situation has forced the entrepreneurs to develop human resources management policy aimed to increase the comfort of work, wage growth and provide career paths through the introduction of attractive incentive schemes for employees. The purpose of this research is to identify the models of human resource polices at the leading tour operators listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland. The following working hypotheses were formulated, i.e.: H1 The leading tour operators in Poland are aware of the risks of competitive labour market, H2 The leading tour operators in Poland have developed human resources management policy which is effectively implemented by them. The research is based on qualitative analysis of scientific papers and reports as well as source materials from leading tour operators in Poland. In this study, a few methods of data collection were applied, i.e. "desk research" method, exploratory method and also deductive reasoning. The results of the study may constitute an interesting source of knowledge for other travel companies in Poland about the prevention methods related to difficulties in business.