Company: Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs
Company Description: The Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs is a representative organization of entrepreneurs, a member of the Social Dialogue Council, whose overarching goal is to ensure proper development and security for the most important entities on the Polish labor market - employers and employees. It represents the interests of enterprises and institutions associated within the Federation.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Public Affairs
 Nomination Title: FPP and GENESIS PR - Increasing the legal limits of meal voucher benefits for employees
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
July 2020 - February 2022
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated campaign or program, OR written answers to the questions for this category? CHOOSE ONE:
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 251 words used. If the word count is more than 25 words over the limit, please deduct one (1) point from your score.
The Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs (FPP) and GENESIS PR aimed at increasing the legal limits of employee meal voucher benefits, to be granted by employers. It was important for the gastronomic sector, dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and could help and develop the sector. Proposed solution would also bring more incomes for the state budget thanks to higher VAT. The final result of the activities was regulation of the Minister of Family and Social Policy on 22.02.2022 increasing value of food benefits from 190 PLN to 300 PLN, an increase of 58% and first such regulation since 18 years. The project was initiated in response to the expectations of Polish entrepreneurs, who pointed to the lack of adequate solutions in the Polish legal system enabling the provision of additional non-wage benefits to employees related to food, which could contribute towards increasing the level of satisfaction among the staff and positively influencing productivity.
This issue is regulated by the Regulation of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of 18 December 1998. The applicable regulations allow employers to finance food product and meal vouchers only up to 190 PLN per month - any expenses above this level constitute an additional basis for the calculation of social security contributions, which significantly reduces the attractiveness of additional benefits. The amount of 190 PLN for meal vouchers, amounting to only approximately 9 PLN per working day, is entirely dethatched from the current market reality - its level has remained frozen since 2004.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 227 words used.
The initial activities consisted in an analysis of the scientific literature, a study of legislation in other countries and an estimate of the economic effects of potential options for increasing the scope of benefits related to employee meal benefits, taking into account the impact on all crucial sectors - the labor market, the enterprise sector, and public finance.
The analyzed publications included:
- Economic Effects of a Liberalisation and Value Adjustment of Luncheon Vouchers (IHS Vienna, 2014)
- Impacts of the meal voucher system (VIA Brussels, 2013)
- Fiscal Prerequisities and Budget Impacts of Existence of Voucher Systems in the Czech Republic (Prague School of Economics, 2008)
- Food at Work (World Bank, 2005)
Target audiences to be reached:
- Decision makers: government
- Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
- Business environent - employers
- General public - employees
The general tactics included the following stages:
- Stage I - conceptual and analytical activities (July-September 2020)
- Stage II - communication activities (October 2020 – May 2021)
- Stage III - cooperation with stakeholders and government administration (December 2020 - February 2022).
Due to the divergent opinions of legal experts, the key issue in the discussions with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has become the question of determining the extent to which the submitted proposals should be implemented under the amendment to the Act, and to what extent by changing the regulation.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2019. Even if your initiative started before 2020, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2020 only (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
The prepared substantive materials and the conducted media campaign provided a solid basis for starting discussions with the government administration. Initially, in December 2020, FPP initiated talks with the then Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology - due to the fact that the role of this ministry was to develop solutions supporting entrepreneurs from industries most severely affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including restaurants. The proposed solutions received the directional approval of the Ministry of Development, however, the approval of the Ministry of Finance in the scope of the assessment of the effects of the proposed solution on the state budget was necessary to make a decision on their implementation. Working contact with the Ministry of Finance on the fiscal consequences of the proposed solutions was carried out from February to May 2021. Due to changes in the government structure, from August 2021, the Ministry of Family and Social Policy became the leading ministry in matters subject to the proposed regulation.
In the period from October 2020 to May 2021, 6 press releases were prepared and widely distributed, presenting in a clear manner the need to unfreeze the amount that employers can spend without additional contributions for food benefits for employees, as well as communicating the most important arguments and conclusions of the conducted legal and economic analyses to a wider audience.
The appeal of the gastronomic sector to the Prime Minister in Polish dailies was also prepared and the petition of the sector online at Avaz.
- You have the option to reference here any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 231 words used.
Outcomes
The final result of the activities carried out is the regulation of the Minister of Family and Social Policy of February 22, 2022 amending the regulation on the detailed rules for determining the basis for the calculation of contributions for retirement and disability pension insurance, which increases the current value of food benefits for employees exempt from social security contributions from 190 PLN to 300 PLN, which is an increase of 58%. This has been the first instance of the amendment of this regulation in 18 years.
As much as 17 separate versions of the economic analysis and 12 versions of the draft legal acts were prepared. The result of the media campaign was a wide publicity of the problem of insufficient incentives to finance the food benefits of employees by employers. The result of the media campaign was a wide publicity of the problem, also connected with the subject of the ongoing public debate - difficult situation of the restaurant industry in Poland related with COVID-19.
In total over 10,100 articles were published in media. The media campaign that was carried out had a wide impact in the public sphere. Such a strong message could not be ignored by the government administration. Therefore, at the beginning of 2021, the Polish government began to signal that the introduction of incentives related to subsidizing meals by employers was being considered.
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