CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES RELATED TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF UKRAINE WORKERS ON THE POLISH LABOR MARKET

Research background: One of the main challenges on the job market is creating a so called employee market. A low unemployment rate and constantly decreasing number of people of productive age cause employers trouble in finding qualified workers and are faced with the challenge of creating solutions allowing subjects to recruit the right employees. This article is focused on the challenges that the Polish work environment is currently facing and possibilities that come with inflow of foreign labour. Purpose of the article: The aim of this article is to examine the opinions of Polish employers in regards to hiring people from Ukraine and to try to answer whether the inflow of employees from beyond the eastern border can solve the problem of a lack of employees on the Polish job market. The research problem was examined by answering the following research questions: What is the readiness of Polish managers to hire citizens from Ukraine? What experience do Polish employers have in hiring citizens from Ukraine? What is the level of relations built between Polish and Ukrainian employees? What is the level of engagement and competence of Ukrainian workers? Data and Methods: Quantitative research was carried out using the author's survey questionnaire. Research was directed at 600 responders with a response rate of 15%. During the interpretation of research tabular forms of data presentation, descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistics were used. The analysis was made using the statistical package STATISTICA. Results and conclusions: Conducted research showed that one the factors contributing to the elimination of the lack of available labour is hiring employees from abroad, especially from Ukraine. Additionally it was found that in the case of hiring Ukrainian employees there were no significant mental or cultural differences.