Minimum wage in Poland 2027: what changes for employers

The minimum wage in Poland in 2027 is PLN 4,950 gross per month for full-time work and PLN 32.30 gross per hour under an umowa zlecenia (civil-law contract of mandate). The new amounts apply from 1 January 2027, in a single increase for the whole year. For an employer this means +PLN 144 gross and +PLN 173.49 in total monthly cost for every minimum-wage employee.

What the 2027 regulation sets

The amounts are set by the Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 14 września 2026 r. w sprawie wysokości minimalnego wynagrodzenia za pracę oraz wysokości minimalnej stawki godzinowej w 2027 r. (Council of Ministers regulation on the minimum wage and the minimum hourly rate in 2027). It was published in Dziennik Ustaw on 15 September 2026 (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1213). The government adopted the regulation on its own because the Social Dialogue Council (Rada Dialogu Społecznego) did not agree on the amounts within the statutory deadline (government announcement).

• Minimum wage: PLN 4,806 → PLN 4,950, i.e. +PLN 144, or about 3%.
• Minimum hourly rate: PLN 31.40 → PLN 32.30, i.e. +PLN 0.90.
• A single increase, from 1 January 2027: the amounts apply for the whole year.

What else goes up with the minimum wage

What lies behind these rows:

• Night work allowance (art. 151⁸ Kodeksu pracy, the Labour Code) – 20% of the hourly rate derived from the minimum wage, so it depends on the number of working hours in the month. In 2027 it ranges from PLN 5.63 per hour in months with 176 hours to PLN 6.88 in May, which has only 144 working hours.
• Downtime pay (wynagrodzenie przestojowe, art. 81 § 1) is due when the employee is ready to work but cannot do so for reasons on the employer’s side. It may not be lower than the minimum wage.
• Amounts exempt from deductions (art. 87¹). In enforcement under writs of execution, other than for maintenance, the protected amount is the minimum wage after deducting contributions, the income tax advance and PPK contributions; for cash advances it is 75% of that amount, and for disciplinary fines 90%. For deductions made with the employee’s written consent (art. 91), the minimum wage is protected for the employer’s claims and 80% of it for other claims. The amounts in the table are calculated for an employee aged 26+ with PIT-2 and no PPK, and for 2027 using the 2026 tax rules.
• Severance pay on dismissal for reasons not attributable to the employee, in companies with at least 20 employees (ustawa z dnia 13 marca 2003 r., the Collective Redundancies Act), may not exceed 15 times the minimum wage in force on the day the contract is terminated.

Overtime pay, the night work allowance, length-of-service and special-conditions allowances, long-service awards and retirement severance pay do not count towards the minimum wage. Bonuses and awards, on the other hand, do.

How much a minimum-wage employee will cost

Employer contributions in 2027 on PLN 4,950 gross:

• pension 9.76% – PLN 483.12;
• disability 6.5% – PLN 321.75;
• accident insurance 1.67% – PLN 82.67 (the rate for companies with up to 9 insured persons; in larger ones it may differ);
• Fundusz Pracy and Fundusz Solidarnościowy (Labour Fund and Solidarity Fund) 2.45% – PLN 121.28;
• Fundusz Gwarantowanych Świadczeń Pracowniczych (FGŚP, Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund) 0.10% – PLN 4.95.

That is PLN 1,013.77 in contributions in total, and the total cost is PLN 5,963.77 a month instead of PLN 5,790.28 in 2026. If the employee is in PPK (Employee Capital Plans), the employer adds another 1.5%: PLN 6,038.02 instead of PLN 5,862.37. For 20 minimum-wage employees this means PLN 41,637.60 in additional costs per year without PPK, while an employee aged 26+ with PIT-2 will take home PLN 3,703.93, provided the tax rules do not change.

Do contracts need to be changed

• The minimum wage applies from 1 January 2027 regardless of what the contract says. If the salary is below PLN 4,950 for full-time work, the employee must still receive at least that amount for a full month, and the employer pays the difference.
• An aneks (contract amendment) is not always required for this, but it is often advisable: the documents will show the current amount and there is less risk of errors in top-up payments. Whether you need one depends on how pay is set out in the contract.
• Hourly pay under an umowa o pracę (employment contract): a full month at full time must come to at least PLN 4,950.
• Part time: the minimum wage is pro rata, so for half time it is at least PLN 2,475.
• Umowa zlecenia: at least PLN 32.30 for every hour spent performing the contract, so hours must be recorded accurately.

How to prepare your 2027 budget: a checklist

1. List the employees on a salary below PLN 4,950 for full-time work and those on a zlecenie rate below PLN 32.30.
2. Budget +PLN 173.49 a month for each minimum-wage employee (+PLN 175.65 if they are in PPK).
3. Check positions slightly above the minimum wage: if a newcomer almost catches up with an experienced employee, others may need a pay rise too.
4. Recalculate night shifts using the new allowance.
5. Review your pay regulations and other internal documents where amounts are linked to the minimum wage.
6. If you sell services with a large labour component, update your pricing for your clients.
7. If you use staff leasing, agree the 2027 rates with your agency in advance.

The general rules on pay, including the minimum wage and deductions, are explained by the Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy (PIP, National Labour Inspectorate).

Staff leasing and the new minimum wage: how STARKO helps

In staff leasing from STARKO the people are formally employed by us: contracts, wages, ZUS (social security) and paperwork are handled by STARKO, and the client receives a single invoice. The team is easy to scale up for the season and scale down when there is less work, and we replace a worker who turns out not to be a good fit free of charge. How duties are split between the agency and the client is described in our article How staff leasing works, and the terms of cooperation on our page for employers.