Ukrainian Women Are Starting to Take On Male-Dominated Jobs in Poland

Polish companies are increasingly offering "male jobs" to Ukrainian women who fled to Poland because of the war. Employers are pursuing two goals at once: filling vacancies in roles traditionally held by men — a shortage felt across every sector of the Polish economy — while giving Ukrainian refugee women the opportunity to find work and earn a living in Poland. This is reported by the analytics centre of employment agency Gremi Personal.

The logistics sector was among the first to adapt, now offering women positions as warehouse order pickers. At some warehouses the weight of parcels has been reduced to make the work physically manageable for women. The start of the "high season" in logistics and retail is also driving up demand for workers with specific qualifications — forklift operators, for example. Special training schools have been opened for Ukrainian women to meet this demand.

"Previously this work, carried out by so-called 'forklift operators', was done exclusively by men. Now women who left Ukraine to escape the war can master the profession completely free of charge after a week-long course and receive the relevant certificate. We have launched our own forklift operator school at one of our logistics partner companies. For women, it is an opportunity to get a job with a salary 40% higher than unskilled workers receive. For Polish employers, it is an opportunity to fill vacancies they currently cannot fill due to the shortage of men," says Anna Dzhabolda, Head of Recruitment at Gremi Personal.

In addition, some food-industry companies (meat-processing plants and fish canneries) have introduced a special shift schedule for women from Ukraine so that they can work part-time shifts and still have time to care for their children.

In the coming weeks, the number of job openings for women is set to grow as the manufacturing "high season" gets underway. Over the past week alone the number of vacancies rose by 10–15%. Without language skills or prior experience, Ukrainian women in Poland earn around 3,400–3,600 zloty per month (23,500–25,000 hryvnias). The work is available at food-industry plants, logistics warehouses and in the service sector.

According to data from Poland's Ministry of Family and Social Policy, nearly 180,000 Ukrainian citizens have already found employment in the country — more than a third of all adults registered in the PESEL system (Poland's national identification number). Almost 75% of them are women. Approximately half of workers of Ukrainian origin perform unskilled labour in Poland. The ministry reports that the most common workplaces are warehouses, the food-service industry and hospitality. In total, 1.1 million refugees from Ukraine have received a PESEL number, of whom more than half are children.