Corporate social responsibility and the optimisation of employment costs

The need to optimise employment costs does not raise any doubt, especially at present, during the coronavirus pandemic. What, however, is it supposed to be – should employers look at short-term effects only, and so as soon as possible lay off workers who are currently unemployed?

Or should they take into account the experience of previous crises, which show that both demography and “bad” fames about employers who do not care about their jobs during the turmoil have a direct impact on the difficulty of finding those willing to work?

The answer to these questions also involves the approach of a particular organisation to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human resources marketing, which, in particular, have become particularly important in recent years.

1. Introduction

A good employer is met not by hiring employees at times of prosperity, but by how he behaves towards them in times of crisis. This maxima should be the motto of the CSR activities of employers during the coronavirus pandemic.

It is important to remember that sooner or later the economy will return to normal tracks and then valuable workers will again become the "most important resource" of the organization deciding to be or not to be. But what does this approach mean in practice? Well... first the place must be fought at all costs to keep jobs.

The legal tools for reducing the cost of employment without reducing the number of employees alone give all entities, regardless of their economic situation, the Act of 26 June 1974 Labour Code 1 – Further k.p.

1. Time-out resulting from the c.p.

With regard to the speed of introduction of solutions to optimise employment costs, first place to be replaced Article 81 k.p. the interruption for which implementation is not required to obtain the consent of the social partner.

Although, of course, this issue should be consulted both with the trade unions and with the advice of employees (if, of course, such representations work in the workplace).

In such a case, although the employee does not perform the work, he remains ready to perform the work and may be called upon at any time, in return for which the employer pays him the remuneration resulting from his personal grade, set by an hourly or monthly rate, and if such a component of the remuneration has not been distinguished in determining the conditions of remuneration, 60% remuneration.

However, there is no obligation to pay other allowances and benefits arising from the right of establishment or from the employment contracts themselves. However, in any event, this remuneration may not be lower than the minimum wage for work determined under the Act of 10 October 2002 with minimum pay for work[2].

It can therefore be noted that the ‘optimality’ of such action occurs only when the remuneration of employees is multi-component and the value other than the basic wage is important. Otherwise, interruption can only be a solution in the short term, since in practice the savings from its introduction are rather symbolic.

3. Use of late leave

A certain “saving” solution is to send workers on late leave. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, many employers benefited from this possibility, even though its legality raised some doubts.

Eventually, this practice was confirmed under Article 15 gc Act of 2 March 2020 specific prevention, prevention and eradication solutions covid-19, other infectious diseases and the resulting crises 3 (Next: uCOVID-19), which states that during the period of the outbreak or outbreak, declared due to COVID-19, the employer may grant to the worker, within the time limit indicated by him, without the employee's consent and without the leave plan, leave unused by the worker in previous calendar years, up to 30 days of leave and the employee is obliged to take such leave.

4. Suspension of the right of establishment

Undoubtedly, the "optimisation" of employment costs is affected by the possibility of suspending, in whole or in part, the application of an occupational law defining the rights and obligations of the parties to the employment relationship.

However, this ‘operation’ requires more time, since according to Article 91(24127) This is due to the need to conclude an agreement with the representation of employees and inform the competent district labour inspector.

This suspension may not take longer than by 3 years, but most importantly during that period, do not apply under the law resulting from these provisions the terms of employment contracts.

Therefore, in practice, workers are deprived of their rights under the suspended provisions on a daily basis, only if this does not apply to the regulations of the General Court and to the provisions of other laws and implementing acts.

5. Amendment of the right to work

Another possible "saving" action is to change the right of establishment either in consultation with trade unions or in the absence of acceptance by the employer of the social partner unilaterally. Following this change, staff should be offered agreements amending or refusing to sign them, amending notices.

However, in the latter case, as indicated by the judgment of the Supreme Court of 10 October 2019 4 , termination of the employment contract as a result of non-acceptance of new employment conditions is subject to a block exemption within the meaning of Article 1(1) Act on 13 March 2003 special rules for the resolution of employment relations with employees for reasons not affecting workers 5 (Further: u.z.g.) Thus, as a last resort, this procedure may lead to dismissal of employees, although the employer did not plan to do so.

6. Optimising employment costs on the basis of uCOVID-19

The legal tools mentioned above to maintain jobs apply to all workers, regardless of their current economic situation.

However, during the period of the coronavirus pandemic, the legislator decided to introduce by virtue of uCOVID-19 specific arrangements for entities which, following the occurrence of COVID-19 there has been a decrease in turnover or a decrease in revenue and therefore a significant increase in the burden on the wage fund.

In relation to these entities, it is possible to obtain financial support from the State in order to maintain jobs.

Interestingly, the legislature for the time being first in such a clear way, it has extended the entity scope of the persons to whom the remuneration can be paid, since according to Article 15g(4) uCOVID-19 ‘employee’ means not only an employee within the meaning of Article 2 k.

or temporary employee, but also a person who, in accordance with the provisions of Polish law, is employed on the basis of a contract of employment or contract of order or other contract of service, to which according to the law with 23 April 1964 - Civil Code 6 the provisions on commissioning shall apply where the insurance is subject to: pension and pension obligations.

Irrespective of the activities financed by the State, uCOVID-19 It is expected for employers who have had a drop in turnover and who still want to keep jobs, special legal institutions. first of which it is possible to reduce continuous daily rest (Article 132(1) (k.p.) to not less than 8 hours, and uninterrupted weekly rest (Article 133(1) k.p.) to not less than 32 hours, containing at least 8 hours continuous daily rest.

However, in order to compensate the worker for the right to rest, the legislator introduced a new term "equivalent rest period" in terms of the difference between 11 hours and the number of hours of the shorter rest period used by the worker to be given to the worker within a period not exceeding 8 weeks. The introduction of this new organisation of working time does not require social partner interaction.

However, in the event of a desire to extend daily working time, no more than 12 hours, in the accounting period not exceeding 12 months and the application of less favourable conditions of employment of workers than those resulting from employment contracts, it is necessary to conclude an agreement with the representation of workers. Because regulations resulting from uCOVID-19 are recently very widely discussed, so they will not be subject to further analysis.

1. Responsibilities of employers in the event of dismissal of more workers resulting from universal law

However, even if the above mentioned actions do not give the expected results and the employer has to decide to part with a certain group of employees, then the rules of the law, where justified by the number of employees, should be used.

If the employer's actions are limited to the simple application of the requirements contained in the Act, it will be difficult to consider it unusual, which could be commended as a distinction to others.

To some extent, the implementation of this strategy may be reflected in the proper implementation of the monitored exemptions in question. Under Article 70 Act on 20 April 2004 promoting employment and labour market institutions[7].

This provision provides that, regardless of the implementation of the group exemptions referred to in u.z.g., an employer wishing to exempt at least 50 employees during the period 3 the months are obliged to agree with the district office of employment competent for the place of employment of that employer or competent for the place of work, the scope and form of assistance for redundant workers, including disabled workers, concerning in particular:

• 1. Labour mediation;
• 2. Professional guidance;
• 3. Training.

This programme is to be addressed not only to workers who are expected to be laid off or who are in the process of notice, but also to former workers during the period 6 months after termination of employment or business relationship. The programme may be implemented by a county employment office, employment agency or training institution. And since it can also be financed by the employer, its involvement or lack of it will constitute the implementation or absence of CSR.

8. Summary

Regardless of the implementation of the above mentioned provisions, to show yourself as a good employer who in future will have assets that attract the best candidates to work, however, something more needs to be done. There are many ways of doing this, including the Voluntary Departure Programmes called PDOs) and Uutplacement Programmes.

However, the introduction of each of them requires adequate preparation and analysis of their advantages and disadvantages, as different scenarios related to the specificity of their activities and to those employed should be applied to different organisations.

These programmes will be presented more broadly in the next editions of the Bulletin.

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[1] i.e. Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1040 as amended

[2] i.e. Journal of Laws of 2018, item 2177 as amended