Scheduled to open this week, Ernst & Young’s new shared-services center in Wrocław will employ 200 people, possibly more in the future, to provide financial and accounting services. The city beat out more than 40 others last year in a competition to host the investment.

E&Y’s investment is but the latest evidence of a long-term continuing trend. According to Dziennik – Gazeta Prawna’s figures, there are over 300 outsourcing investments already running in Poland. Together they employ around 40,000-45,000 people, and some experts forecast that this will nearly double over the next few years.

Companies such as Citibank, IKEA, IBM and Sony already have outsourcing investments in Poland and others are weighing the idea – just counting those being prepared together with the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, over 30 are currently in the works. And one advantage Poland has over other economies which are attracting outsourcing investments is language – in countries such as China or India, for example, it can be difficult to find employees who speak at least three languages, experts say.

The arrival of these new consulting and service companies is offering some relief to local unemployment rates. And cities such as Lublin and Białystok, located along Poland’s FDI-poor “eastern wall,” are working hard to compete with their peers in the western part of the country, offering attractive investment terms and assistance with matters such as local infrastructure.

NK, GP