You check your work schedule on Monday and plan the rest of your week around it. Then, on Thursday evening,
your manager sends a message: “Your Friday shift has changed. Come in at 8 a.m. instead.” Or perhaps you receive
a WhatsApp message on your day off asking you to be at work in two hours.
For many young workers in Poland, especially in cafés, restaurants, retail and other shift-based jobs, last-minute
schedule changes can become a regular problem. But having a “flexible” job does not necessarily mean your
employer can change your working hours whenever they want.
The first thing to check is your type of contract.
If you work under an umowa o pracę, Polish labour law provides much stronger rules around working time. Your
employer is responsible for organising your working hours and informing you about your schedule. Working time is
also subject to rules on daily and weekly rest.
This means a manager cannot simply treat every employee as permanently available. A workplace may sometimes
need to adjust a schedule, but repeated last-minute changes that interfere with required rest periods or ignore the
agreed organisation of working time can be a problem.
Your situation may look different if you work under an umowa zlecenie. This is a civil-law contract rather than an
employment contract, so many Labour Code rules on schedules do not apply in the same way. The contract itself
becomes particularly important. Check what it says about when and how you are expected to perform the work.
Whatever your contract, one-sided “flexibility” should make you cautious. If your boss expects you to be available
every evening in case someone calls in sick, that affects your life even when you are technically not working. You
may be unable to attend university classes, make appointments, take another job, or simply plan your free time.
It is also worth distinguishing between being asked to take an additional shift and being told that you must. A
message saying, “Can you work tonight?” is not necessarily the same as an instruction to work. Do not
automatically assume that every request from a manager is mandatory.
Keep records of your schedule as well. Take screenshots when shifts are published and save messages about later
changes. Record the hours you actually work. This can be particularly useful if schedule changes also lead to unpaid
overtime or disagreements about your salary.
If constant changes are becoming a problem, ask your employer for clearer rules. How far in advance are schedules
normally published? Who can change them? Are you expected to respond to messages outside working hours?
What happens if you genuinely cannot accept an additional shift?
Young workers sometimes avoid these questions because they worry about appearing uncooperative. But there is
nothing unreasonable about wanting to know when you are expected to work.
If you believe your employer is violating working-time or rest-period rules under an umowa o pracę, you can seek
advice from a trade union, labour rights organisation, or Poland’s National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa
Inspekcja Pracy – PIP).
Jobs sometimes require flexibility. Emergencies happen, colleagues become sick, and schedules need to change.
But flexibility should not mean living permanently on standby. Your employer manages the workplace. That does
not mean they should control every hour of your week.