Parliamentary committee rejects obligation to respond to job applicants
Private sector employers still will not be required to inform candidates about the outcome of recruitment. The Ministry of Labour concluded that the effects of a statutory mandate could be disproportionate to the benefits.
The Sejm Petitions Committee on 22 October closed work on petition no. BKSP-153-X-983/26, as reported by pulsHR.pl. The author of the petition wanted the employer to provide every candidate with the recruitment result within 14 days of the job interview. In the event of a refusal, they would briefly state the reason for it. The information could be provided by email, by phone or in writing. The committee also rejected MP Piotr Polak's motion to submit a desideratum in this matter, that is, a formal request for analysis, to the Ministry of Labour.
MP Polak recalled that the Labour Code does not provide for such an obligation. Regulations on local government employees and the civil service do impose it, but the act on employees of state offices no longer does. There are no uniform rules for the entire labour market.
Dominik Wasilewski from the Office of the Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurs Ombudsman spoke out against the new regulations. The small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector employs around 7 million people, and in many micro and small companies there is no one responsible for HR. With 20 to 80 applications per position, responding to every candidate would usually fall to the owner. Zenon Rycerz from the Labour Law Department of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy assessed that the 14-day deadline with a justification for the refusal could be difficult to meet, and the new regulations could increase bureaucracy. He added that the ministry has not been receiving signals that the lack of feedback is a serious problem.
Informing candidates about recruitment results is part of a good organisational culture, and the idea itself deserves support. However, introducing such a rigorous obligation into the Labour Code would require a thorough analysis of its scope and potential effects, and these could be disproportionate to the benefits achieved.
MPs limited themselves to an appeal for recruitment processes to be conducted with respect for the dignity of both sides. Market data show the scale of the phenomenon. In a Pracuj.pl survey from a few years ago, 79 per cent of recruiters worked in companies without rules for providing feedback, and fewer than one third of companies replied to all candidates. According to a Randstad report cited by Forsal.pl, 62 per cent of candidates indicate lack of response as the second biggest barrier in recruitment after pay.
For companies, this means that the standard of contact with candidates remains their decision, and job candidates at private companies cannot demand a response on the basis of the regulations.