Wanting to change jobs, it is worth looking at the forms of employment currently in place, especially if your employer remains your choice.

Not sure which contract is the most advantageous for you? Check out the most popular types of contracts and their advantages and disadvantages.

Employment contract

A consensual statement of intent by the parties, according to which one party (the employee) undertakes to provide, on a continuous, recurring basis, to the other party (the employer), work of a certain type. The other party, in return, will employ the employee for a salary.

Advantages of an employment contract:

  • The employee may exercise the rights to which he is entitled under the provisions of the Labor Code (such as vacation leave)
  • The employer is obliged to pay social security contributions
  • protection from termination
  • guarantee of minimum wage – in accordance with current minimum wage regulations
  • The right to additional pay for overtime work

Disadvantages of an employment contract:

  • The employee may not entrust the performance of his work to another person
  • strictly define the place and time of work
  • work under the supervision of management

Commission agreement

In the case of a commission contract, the contractor (the person accepting the commission) undertakes to perform a specific legal act for the principal (the person giving the commission).

Advantages of a commission contract:

  • does not create a subordination relationship
  • possible conclusion in an oral formula, although the written form is the rule
  • lower ZUS contributions
  • no strictly defined working hours

Disadvantages of the commission contract:

  • the contract may be free of charge
  • the Labor Code’s provisions on labor wage protection do not apply. The contractor is only entitled to the salary specified in the contract
  • no obligation to confirm the termination of cooperation
  • The period of work on a commission contract does not count as seniority
  • civil court has jurisdiction to hear claims, no preference for the contractor to pay court fees.

Work contract

A contract in which it is the order taker who undertakes to perform a specified work and the orderer to pay a fee.

Advantages of a work contract:

  • The person accepting the order can decide where, when and how to perform the work
  • The order taker does not have to perform the work personally (unless stipulated in the contract)
  • work performed without management

Disadvantages of a work contract:

  • provisions of the Labor Code on the protection of salary for work do not apply
  • civil court has jurisdiction to hear claims, no preference for the order taker to pay court fees
  • The risk as to the performance and quality of the work is borne by the order taker