POLAND – Hewitt Associates has announced the opening of a 300-person human resources outsourcing centre in Krakow, Poland.

The center will be opened by Jim Konieczny, head of global HR outsourcing operations for the firm. It “furthers its ability to serve its growing number of global HR BPO [human resources business process_outsourcing] clients”.

“Approximately 300 Hewitt associates will work at the Krakow center, providing customer service support to Hewitt's HR BPO clients in Europe. In addition, Hewitt will conduct pension administration and software development services from the new facility,” the company said.

"Krakow fits perfectly into Hewitt's global HR BPO strategy," said Bryan Doyle, president of HR outsourcing for Hewitt. "With this Central European operation, we are extending our capabilities to support our growing portfolio of Europe-based clients, and offering a multilingual workforce."

Hewitt has had a HR consulting office in Warsaw since 1996, serving almost 300 global and European clients. This is the first time that Hewitt has provided HR BPO services in Poland.

"We are delighted to set up our European regional HR BPO operations in Krakow," said European HR outsourcing chief Richard Jones. "There are strong economic, cultural and language connections between Poland, Germany and other European countries, so we expect the Krakow center to serve as an attractive resource for our global and European clients."

Earlier this week the European Commission said Poland’s “very comprehensive pension reform” was being undermined by special treatment to certain groups.