Work Service: From a Student Dormitory to the London Stock Exchange

Work Service is the first company in Polish history to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Two former university friends are behind its success: Tomasz Misiak and Tomasz Hanczarek.

MARTA LASEK: Although they are no longer formally on the company's management board, they still make the most important decisions. They are a perfect duo, based on opposites. Misiak (born 1973) speaks factually and precisely, while Hanczarek (born 1969) can play the guitar even during serious business negotiations. They founded Work Service in 1999 as a group of four; the other partners were Tomasz Szpikowski and Robert Apiecionek. They all studied at the then Academy of Economics in Wrocław. "We knew each other mainly from the student government; each of us ran some kind of activity. I was the president of a student foundation, and it was through it that I learned the practical side of business," Misiak recalls.

Boots, Jarocin, and "Krew"

Hanczarek wore combat boots until his second year of university, had a mane like a lion, and played bass in a band called Krew (Blood). Their greatest success was performing on the main stage of the Jarocin Festival. At the university, he was involved in the student government. "I met Misiak in my third year. He was just starting his studies, but I spotted him in a crowd of a thousand young people. Although we have completely different characters, it was clear he was active and driven. I have a knack for people."

They began organizing preparatory courses for university entrance exams in ten academic centers, as well as summer business academies and the National Academic Information Network. Later, they founded a company focused on promotion before finally discovering the temporary work sector.

Business Read from Books

"I chose a specialization in HR management during my studies. When I started in 1993, four years after the fall of communism, it was something very exotic. HR was associated only with a personnel clerk or the institution of labor mandates. But I was lucky because I had a great lecturer, Prof. Tadeusz Listwan. I read about the idea of creating an HR company in textbooks while preparing for classes," recalls Tomasz Misiak.

Tomasz Hanczarek: "We found a niche in the market: there were no similar companies in Poland at that time, so from the beginning, our only competition was foreign entities. But let’s be honest, they didn’t care much about Poland. So we were alone in our market. And although we had to compete with international giants, we paradoxically had an advantage. We told companies: 'We are poor, from a poor country. Those others are fat, lazy cats. We will do better because we want it more.'"

The Road to the Top

Their first headquarters was in the "Ślęzak" student dormitory. "In the beginning, we only had 40 employees, but luck was on our side. While still a student, I told a friend about the idea of forming an employment agency. After some time, she called me saying that the company she worked for needed such a service. It turned out to be Praktiker [today Praktiker's parent company has collapsed, but it was a giant back then – ed. note]. That’s how we got our first big order," Misiak recalls.

Gradually, other large and important clients began to appear: Dębica, Volkswagen, Lucas Bank, and the European Leasing Fund. In 2004, the partners bought out Robert Apiecionek's shares. Business flourished, and the company began developing other services beyond temporary work, such as outsourcing. Soon, however, the winning streak was to end.

Hard Landing

Misiak: "We made a mistake by trusting the strength of financial markets. We wanted to enter the Warsaw Stock Exchange and acquired Exact Systems, a leader in quality control processes. This is, incidentally, one of the best companies in our portfolio today. But at the time, we bought it with money we didn't actually have. We were counting on raising capital from the stock exchange."

Unfortunately, at the same time, global markets were hit by the global financial crisis, and Work Service's debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange was delayed. Eventually, it didn't happen until 2012. As a result, Work Service had liquidity problems and had to seek an external investor. At that point, Tomasz Szpikowski decided to leave the company, stating he was burned out. "Out of the founding group, only the two of us remained," says Hanczarek. They risked a complete restructuring of the company, involving a series of layoffs and cutting organizational costs across many departments. After a year, the company was back on track.

Politics Interferes with Business

Misiak now considers his involvement in politics a mistake. "Our financial crisis was compounded by an image crisis related to a contract for job-seeking services for employees laid off from shipyards, which we eventually withdrew from," he admits. From 2007–11, he was a senator for the Civic Platform (PO). In 2009, his company signed a sole-source contract with the Industrial Development Agency for consultancy for workers laid off from shipyards in Gdynia and Szczecin. Misiak was accused of winning the contract because he had previously been the chairman of the Senate National Economy Committee in the fall of 2008 when it was working on the shipyard industry law.

When the matter came to light, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced he would file a motion to expel Misiak from the PO. Ultimately, the senator left the party and the parliamentary club himself. In a later report, the Ministry of Treasury stated that the selection of Work Service as the consultancy firm for laid-off shipyard workers was conducted according to the law. In 2011, Tomasz Misiak unsuccessfully ran for re-election as a candidate for the Presidents' Union - Citizens electoral committee for the Senate.

Hanczarek has served on the Wrocław City Council for several terms on behalf of the PO. "In my case, it started with involvement in the student government. Even then, we wanted to change the world around us. But anyone who thinks that political involvement can help a company is deeply mistaken. Politics does provide life experience, but in a healthy business, it gets in the way. Because in politics you constantly have to fight someone, and we are people of building and consensus. As an example, I’ll mention our management team in the company. Everyone is still with us to this day; not a single person has left," Hanczarek adds.

After 15 years of activity, Work Service achieves 2 billion PLN in annual revenue. The company's market value is estimated at 900 million PLN. It is listed on the GPW (Warsaw Stock Exchange) in the WIG80 index, which is the list of the 80 largest listed companies in Poland. It employs two thousand people and additionally leases out 50,000 workers. It has three thousand clients. "We cannot boast about them due to confidentiality clauses, but suffice it to say that out of 53 banks in Poland, 43 are our clients," reveals Tomasz Hanczarek.

Is Temporary Work Not So Bad?

Despite financial success, Work Service often faces accusations of exploiting workers because it employs them only temporarily rather than on traditional employment contracts. Hanczarek: "Temporary employment contracts are full-value statutory contracts, with full Social Security (ZUS) contributions, vacation, and sick leave. They only differ in the notice period. In the case of temporary employment contracts, this period is a maximum of one week, whereas for traditional employment contracts, it is up to three months."

According to Hanczarek, talking about exploitation in the context of temporary work agencies is unfair. "We only earn money when our employee has work. That’s why we do everything we can to ensure they have a position, if not in one company, then in another. That’s what this business is about. The real problem in Poland is the abuse of civil law contracts; many companies offer 'contracts for specific work' or 'mandate contracts' to employees who are actually treated exactly like full-time staff. Employment agencies fight against such practices and reduce the gray market," Hanczarek argues.

He provides figures. In the Netherlands, 90 percent of people start their careers through temporary work. In the UK, temporary employment agencies provide work for 6.5 percent of all workers. In Poland, this figure is only 1.4 percent. "After all, we often pull people out of economic exclusion; we return the long-term unemployed to society! In the long term, employment flexibility makes society wealthy and the economy competitive," Hanczarek maintains. He also ensures that at Work Service, civil law contracts actually primarily concern students who do not wish to be permanently tied to the company.