Poland is a land where any one law is subject to various and inconsistent interpretations. Take for example to issue of residency permits for foreigners. Each ‘wojewoda’ office interprets and practices application of the law and associated standards in without regard to a set of standard operating procedures, despite such procedures existing in theory. The result? An army of Uber drivers come in under questionable circumstances, while established academics and professionals have difficulty with timely information, adjudication and issuance of permits, whether temporary or permanent. What is the result? Businesses cannot count on administrative officials to apply the law consistently, costing them recruitment and placement opportunities. Poland’s professional cadre of foreign employees, digital nomads, or even simply spouses or retirees is adversely affected as a result. This is important because a healthy, integrated economy and society depends on mobility and employment within established legal frameworks. But why is this happening? The answer, in my view, is that Poland fails to recruit and retain a professional cadre of ground-level administrative personnel, suffering from high employee turnover rates and low institutional memory. Low pay is the basic issue; higher pay is then therefore a large part of the solution. Better management and increased consistency in application of law is another answer. Who has the political will to encourage cross-wojewoda cooperation? Whatever that answer may be, the first step is to bring about an awareness of the problem at hand. Hence this essay.

But wait… there’s more! The larger question at hand is to develop a greater service-oriented culture. Whether we’re talking about electronic tax forms that won’t work properly, unresponsive and indifferent Straż Miejska response, or any other public-sector matters, unless and until management promotes and rewards an administrative culture in which providing solutions is the priority rather than maintaining barriers to compliance, then Poland will continue falling short of meeting its highest potential. ©℗

Zdecydowaliśmy się wydrukować ten tekst w oryginalnej wersji językowej. W naszym przekonaniu tłumaczenie go na język polski mogłoby zgubić jego wyjątkową poetykę