Przemysław Gacek, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ 2023 Poland winner, is no stranger to entrepreneurship. His uncle founded a company in southern Poland, and his parents also briefly tested the entrepreneurial waters. In the late 1990s, several of his colleagues ventured into startups of their own.
Shortly after graduation, Gacek joined a large consulting company in London as part of an internship program. Working abroad for an international company was one of the possibilities he considered when thinking about his future. However, he quickly realized that this type of work did not meet his expectations and he began to consider the second scenario – starting his own business. He was inspired by the activities of one of the London publishing houses, which was responsible, among others, for the publication with employer profiles addressed to students and graduates. It was accompanied by a website, and Gacek believed that such a solution could be adopted in Poland.
“I wanted to show young graduates a path toward better work,” he says, recalling coming up with idea for Grupa Pracuj. “And that’s how we started in early 2000.”
At a time when internet penetration in Poland stood at just 14%, Gacek developed a recruitment website that functioned as a job board for students and graduates. Today, Grupa Pracuj is one of the largest Polish public companies and a leading provider of technological solutions for employee recruitment, retention and development across several European countries.
The company now operates several job classified websites and offers a SaaS-based talent acquisition suite that better enables employer-employee matching. It’s listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and employs almost 1,100 people across Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.
“The company has gone from being a startup, then a startup with an investor, to a developed company that has implemented many investments – those that were very successful, as well as unsuccessful ones that were valuable lessons for the future,” Gacek says.
Focusing on the bigger picture
While providing valuable resources and practical support to both employers and employees has been the focus of Grupa Pracuj, Gacek and his partners have also co-created and supported initiatives focused on reducing inequalities in recruitment for years.
“The aim is to equalize opportunities on the labor market, provide a better start for young people and support education,” Gacek says. “Better education means an easier start in the labor market and candidates more suited to the needs of employers.”
One such initiative is the Partnership with Beyond Theory Foundation (Polish name: Zwolnieni z Teorii), which has been ongoing for six years now. The foundation has allowed students from Polish schools to independently organize social projects and acquire future-proof competencies. More than 2,800 initiatives have already been organized with tens of thousands of students participating in the project.
Additionally, based on the latest knowledge in the field of recruitment and technology, Grupa Pracuj supports the Teach for Poland Foundation to improve the quality of education. EduLeadership, the most important part of the activities of the Foundation, is a free development program for teachers who start working in schools. The program shapes leadership attitudes, teaches effectiveness in working at school and provides tools and competences for effective development of teachers and their students. Each EduLeader supports approximately 400 children and 4,000 people in their environment.
“As part of the EduLeadership program, we work to improve the quality of the education system so that children in Polish primary schools have the opportunity to discover their potential during their formal education and are prepared for the current and future requirements of the labor market,” Gacek said. “EduLeadership program is a great opportunity for primary school teachers to develop their skills and introduce positive change in the Polish education system.”
Grupa Pracuj also cooperates with the Batory Foundation on a scholarship fund that supports young technological talents. Scholarships have been awarded to 76 students, with an additional 10 scholarships given in the current academic year.
Creating a culture of giving
Charitable giving extends to Grupa Pracuj’s company culture as well. The company offers financial support for charitable ideas that its employees bring to the table, supporting various local initiatives each year from children’s hospitals to hospice care.
Since 2006, Robota.ua, a leading online job board on the Ukrainian market that posts job adverts for both common jobs and specialist professions, has been part of Grupa Pracuj. In response to the war in Ukraine, the company paid Robota.ua team’s salaries in advance for several months. Transport and accommodation were organized for employees who decided to come to Poland with their families, and Grupa Pracuj also donated PLN1 million to humanitarian organizations working for Ukraine in Poland. An additional UAH5 million went to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Looking ahead
As for his future, Gacek says his ambition is to create a leading HR tech platform in Europe. He emphasizes how his organization focuses on sharing knowledge and integrating the HR industry.
“For over two decades, we have been faithful to the mission of creating a good future for talents in Poland,” he says. “My company actively co-creates and supports initiatives for professional recruitment, the development of digital competencies and counteracting inequalities as well as shaping a sustainable environment.”
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