Poles worked too hard by employers

The Gazeta Wyborcza daily highlights an anaesthesiologist at a hospital in the southern city of Głubczyce, who died on duty after five days of working continuously at the facility.

Personnel working in other professions do not fare well either.

From among 1,400 employers controlled last year by the National Labour Inspectorate, half of them failed to keep record of working hours adequately, while a third of them did not grant legitimate free days to staff.

According to the inspectors, companies prefer to be fined for breaching regulations rather than fulfil their obligations.

Under the Polish labour code, the five-day working week of personnel on employment contracts cannot exceed 8 hours per day, or 40 hours per week.

According to a report issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Poles the second busiest of the 34 OECD countries, after South Korea.

The average Pole works 40.7 hours per week, 10 times longer than the Dutch and 5 times longer than the Germans.

Professor Mieczysław Kabaja, from the Institute of Labour and Social Studies, believes the extended work hours are the effect of the employer’s market, with an average of 25 applications per post in Poland. (ab/pg)