Although majority of Poles work under an employment contract, young people do not get too much attached to this form of employment. As results from the survey "The young vs. labor market" ("Młodzi a rynek pracy") conducted by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, 26 percent of students of the final years of the course of study intend to establish their own company. It is a good move, since the Hi-Tech Startup project organized by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation and Entrepreneurial Poland (Polska Przedsiębiorcza) shows that young Poles have a huge innovative potential.
According to the survey carried out by the Foundation, 78 percent of working Poles are employed under an employment contract, which is also the most desirable form of employment - the rate of full-time employees that are satisfied with that form of their employment equals 95 percent. Civil law employment contracts are far less popular, with 12 percent of respondents employed under them, and so is one's own business activity - run by 10 percent of respondents. Interestingly, as many as 85 percent of respondents running a sole trader activity are satisfied with this form of employment. As far as so-called junk contracts are concerned, the situation is somewhat different. This form of employment is preferred merely by 25 percent of employees. When working on the "The young vs. labor market" report, The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation looked also at the professional plans of the students entering the labor market.
There were rather no surprises there - most Poles appreciate the feeling of safety provided by the employment contract. They are glad that their employer pays the contributions to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) for them and offers them paid leave. Disadvantages of such contract include, above all, high contributions which reduce their salary and lack of flexibility, says Krzysztof Kaczmar, President of the Management Board of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. What may come as a surprise is a high percentage of people with their own micro-enterprise who are satisfied with such form of their employment.
Only 60 percent of students want to be employed exclusively on the basis of employment contract, 14 percent plan to start their own business, while 12 percent would like to combine both forms. Whereas 66 percent of Poles claim that employment contract gives them the feeling of safety, only 39 percent of students share this belief. What induces the young to start their own business most is the feeling of independence (80 percent). For the young it is also important to have the possibility to implement their own plans and live a successful life. Yet they have many concerns.
The young have positive approach towards running their own business but they require institutional assistance. 28 percent of future entrepreneurs admit that financial support is most important, emphasizes Sławosz Sawicki, head of strategic projects coordination at Citi Handlowy.
The latent potential of the young as well as the innovativeness of their ideas are confirmed by the projects presented in the Hi-Tech Startup program. The most promising projects included, inter alia, a foldaway shower cabin which enables totally automated process of taking a shower with a very low consumption of water. This solution was designed for the elderly and the disabled.
The ideas entered in the program encompassed also various fields of medicine. One of them included child artificial hand and forearm printed individually with the use of 3D technique controlled by electrical biosignals. Currently, children do not have access to technologically advanced prostheses due to enormous costs of their replacement - the project might solve this problem. Another idea involves a therapeutic system enabling improved muscle regeneration after training thanks to taking a bath in a special bath that uses the method of electronic muscle stimulation.
The Hi-Tech Startup project gives young talented people a chance to make their innovative ideas come true. Such ideas not only make our life easier, but also significantly contribute to the improvement of its quality, emphasizes Jacek Aleksandrowicz, Vice President of the Management Board of Entrepreneurial Poland.
The objective of the Hi-Tech Startup project is to commercialize technological concepts, which will allow their authors to find employment in organizations interested in their technological solutions, to sell their concepts to investors or to start their own business activity. 106 technological ideas were entered in the program. From among them, the jury chose 50 projects with the greatest potential, the best-designed development strategy and clear description of the key product or service. The ceremony summarizing the project will be held towards the end of February or at the beginning of March 2016.
