Polish Post to cut 2,400 jobs as part of large redundancy programme
Polish Post plans to lay off 2,400 workers as part of a large redundancy programme to be continued in 2010, according to the country’s media. In the first half of 2009, the company already cut 1,800 jobs, the Polish News Bulletin service reported. The Polish trade unions have been informed about the decision and asked the management to justify the dismissals. Polish Post employed about 100,400 people in 2007.
Andrzej Polakowski, the president of Polish Post, claimed that the lay-offs would help the company to save ZL 10 million (€2.45 million) during this period. In addition, Polakowski has confirmed plans to sell parts of the company’s fixed property worth ZL 80 million (€19.6 million) to use this money for further investment.
In the first six months of this year, Polish Post made a gross profit of ZL 220 million (€53.8 million) with turnover amounting to ZL 3.6 billion (€880.7 million). According to the company’s expectations, the gross loss in 2009 should not exceed ZL 185 million (€45.3 million).
During the last ten years, mail volumes in Poland have increased considerably. However, more modernisation is needed due to the low level of transit time performance.
In addition, Polish Post has been facing competition from smaller postal companies emerging in the last few years. In 2006, a competing postal operator InPost started rolling out a network of retail outlets offering letter services to individuals and business customers. InPost has already established 800 retail outlets in 200 Polish cities and towns.
Polish Post lost one of its biggest customers, TP (Polish Telecom), to its Krakow-based rival. InPost, the first independent postal operator, belongs to the capital group INTEGER.pl, a market leader in distribution of addressed and non-addressed advertising mail. INTEGER.pl has 75 regional branches, 15 central warehouses, 42 regional warehouses and 91 trans-shipment points, with Integer couriers delivering parcels in more than 500 cities in Poland. The group employs 7300 people.
Polish Post focuses on national postal operations and postal financial services. On the growing Polish express and parcel market, it plays only a minor role with a rather weak position. After Poland joined the EU, international shipment volumes in this sector increased significantly and now make up almost a quarter of the market.
Over the last few years, international companies acquired Polish companies with DHL being the clear market leader, followed by UPS. Other major competitors of Polish Post in the express and parcel sector are TNT, DPD and GLS, while two leading Polish courier companies are OPEK and Siodemka. The B2B share of Polish Post is relatively low as business customers extensively use competing courier companies due to better service quality.
