Employee’s second job: what it means for the company and what sick leave will change from 2027

According to Statistics Poland (GUS), in Q2 2026, 720,000 people worked in more than one place, 40,000 more than a year earlier. For a manager, this raises questions about team workload, contracts, and sick leave, which will operate differently from January 2027.

A second job within a team is now a normal situation. Statistics Poland’s Labour Force Survey (BAEL) shows that in Q2 2026, 720,000 people had more than one workplace. A year earlier there were 680,000 of them, and in Q1 of this year 691,000. That is an increase of about 6 percent over the year.

A manager often does not know who on their team has an additional job, and does not have to know, because as a rule the law does not require the employee to provide that information. However, the company feels the consequences of a second job directly: in schedules, in contracts, and in sick leave. From 1 January 2027, a new rule for issuing sick leave certificates will be added to this.

How many people really earn extra and where the different figures come from

Data on multiple employment measure different things, which makes them easy to get confused about. Statistics Poland counts people who formally work in more than one place, and that number is rising. Eurostat, in turn, gives the percentage of workers with more than one job. For Poland, it stood at 4 percent at the end of 2025, the lowest in the history of this data series (the record was 7.5 percent in 2009).

This is not a contradiction. The number of people with an additional job may rise while their share among all workers remains low. The two measures also use different methodologies and reference periods, so they cannot be compared directly.

A third group of data comes from private company surveys, which define “earning extra” much more broadly. In a Gi Group survey, 49.8 percent of Poles declare additional work, and 38.9 percent devote 10–19 hours a week to it. More than 20 hours a week are spent on extra work by 15.8 percent. Only 15 percent of respondents do it because they lack money for basic needs. More common reasons are “above-standard” expenses (28 percent) and savings (25.1 percent).

Anna Pietraszko from Grupa Progres points out that, apart from rising living costs, candidates mention skills development, experience in another industry, and the desire to test themselves in a new role. Our conclusion: an additional activity can be a development project for the employee rather than a sign of crisis. So a conversation about it does not have to begin with suspicion.

Fatigue that comes to work together with the employee

Anyone doing extra work for more than 20 hours a week is, in practice, working one and a half full-time jobs. We did not find studies directly linking multiple employment with burnout, but the background is clear. In a study by Amilon and UCE Research, 32.9 percent of employees report mental fatigue or symptoms of occupational burnout.

This is also visible in ZUS statistics. In 2025, mental and behavioural disorders were the second cause of sick leave absence: 34.1 million days, or 14.1 percent of the total. Musculoskeletal system diseases ranked first, with 42.4 million days.

Overload cannot be solved with phone calls after hours. Under Article 128 of the Labour Code, an employee is at the employer’s disposal only during working time. Someone who has a second job simply will not answer. For a manager, this means one thing: urgent matters need to be planned during working hours rather than assuming the team is always within reach.

What an employer can require, and what they cannot

Since 2023, Article 29⁴ of the Labour Code has been in force. According to it, the mere fact of working for another employer or on another legal basis cannot be grounds for notice or termination of the contract. Exceptions include a non-compete agreement and special regulations, for example those concerning drivers’ working time.

The Code also does not impose a general obligation to inform one’s boss about additional work. In 2017, the Supreme Court held that an employer may demand such information under Article 22¹ of the Labour Code, but only when justified by the employer’s interest.

A non-compete agreement remains the tool for protecting the company. It must be in writing under pain of invalidity, and from 20 June 2026 it can also be concluded in the eUmowy system. A ban in force during employment does not require compensation. A ban after the end of employment usually lasts from 6 to 24 months, and the compensation may not be lower than 25 percent of the remuneration for the period corresponding to the length of the ban.

Problems begin with the effects of a second job. These include concealing it despite a non-compete agreement, lateness, failure to follow instructions, disclosure of confidential information, or working for a competitor. If there are doubts about a specific contract, the decision should be consulted with a labour law lawyer.

Sick leave for one job: what changes from 1 January 2027

Today, a person with two bases for insurance, for example an employment contract and a mandate contract in another company, receives a sick leave certificate for each of them. From January, under the new Article 17(1d) of the sickness benefit act, a doctor will be able, at the patient’s request, not to issue sick leave for a specific basis if the health condition allows that work. Without such a request, the sick leave will cover all bases, as before.

In practice, someone with a hand injury will be able to lawfully be on sick leave from warehouse work while at the same time conducting remote training sessions. The employee will have to inform the benefit payer that the sick leave was issued for another insurance basis. Periods of incapacity for work from several bases will be added together, and the same days will be settled only once.

For the employer, the calculation does not change: they still pay sick pay for the first 33 days of illness in a year, and for employees over 50 years of age, for 14 days. In 2025, workplaces and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund spent PLN 14.17 billion on this purpose, 11.2 percent more than a year earlier. Total sickness absence cost PLN 34.88 billion.

Controls are also increasing. Companies employing up to 20 people can check an employee on sick leave independently, without ZUS as an intermediary. ZUS itself carried out 219,700 sick leave inspections in the first half of 2026, which ended with 10,500 decisions to suspend benefits totaling PLN 18.55 million. In our opinion, after January it will not be enough for inspectors to determine whether the employee worked at all. They will also have to check whether the sick leave covered that particular job.

What to do in the team before January

The regulatory change is a good moment to put in order issues that in many companies have so far operated on the basis of guesswork. We suggest a few steps:

• review non-compete agreements and check who really needs to be covered by them,
• specify in the policy in which situations the company asks for information about additional work, and justify it with its interest,
• train managers on the new sick leave rules before the first such certificate reaches HR,
• plan team availability during working hours instead of counting on contact in the evening,
• watch for signs of overload in regular one-to-one conversations.

Editorial conclusion: 720,000 people with more than one job are still a minority of workers, but a growing one and increasingly better protected by law. Companies that choose clear rules and conversation instead of bans will find it easier to retain people. This matters because, according to the World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs Report 2025,” 65 percent of companies in Poland expect recruitment difficulties.