Every fourth Pole (25% of respondents) declares that they intend to take up temporary work in the first quarter of 2026. This is the highest result in the history of the survey conducted since 2023 and an increase of 6 percentage points compared with the same period a year earlier. The group most likely to plan to earn extra money is pupils and students – as many as 67% of them have such an intention.

Among the reasons for taking up side jobs, respondents mentioned the need for money for additional expenses (59%), and more than half of them pointed to high living and maintenance costs (52%).

“Inflation in Poland is slowing down, but everyday living costs still remain very high. The winter holidays and travel season are also ahead of us, so Poles are looking for a way to quickly earn extra money,” says Krzysztof Trębski, CEO of Tikrow. He adds, “At the same time, there are more and more temporary job offers, e.g. for a few hours a day, hence the growing interest in this form of earning extra money.”

Companies want to hire temporarily. The greatest demand is in production

Despite the calmer period that is the first quarter of the year, companies are not giving up on using temporary workers at all. 69% of them admit they have such plans at the beginning of 2026. A decrease of only 1 percentage point compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, along with an increase of 6 percentage points compared with the same period last year, shows that this form of employment is increasingly becoming a permanent part of the business model of Polish enterprises.

“In 2026, the minimum wage will increase only slightly, by 3% compared with the previous year. But this is still a real increase in employment costs for entrepreneurs, contribution amounts, and the hourly rate. All this translates into increased interest in temporary workers, who carry out assignments exactly when the company needs it,” says Krzysztof Trębski.

As many as 79% of companies in the manufacturing sector intend to use support from temporary workers (an increase of 7 percentage points compared with Q1 2025). Similar plans are held by 64% of logistics companies (up 2 percentage points) and 61% of retail companies (up 7 percentage points).

Rising employment costs and a seasonal increase in orders are the key reasons why companies plan to hire additional workers in the first quarter. 42% of company representatives mentioned each of these reasons.

The Side Job Index is an analytical tool developed by Tikrow, the owner of an app with instant job offers and instant workers. Its main goal is to quickly assess how many companies plan to rely on side workers in a given period, carried out quarterly on a representative sample of logistics, manufacturing, and retail companies. Additionally, the study includes the workers’ perspective and shows how many Poles intend to look for side work.

Employers’ opinions were collected in the Ariadna research panel on a nationwide sample of N=280 professionally active people in managerial positions. Fieldwork period: 12–18 December 2025. Method: CAWI.

Employees’ opinions were collected in the Ariadna research panel on a nationwide sample of N=1087 people. Quotas were selected according to representation in the population of Poles aged 18 and over by gender, age, and size of place of residence. Fieldwork period: 13–16 December 2025. Method: CAWI.