Are you an employer who is struggling to find employees? Have you thought about using the services of a temporary employment agency, but aren’t sure if it pays off? Are you also considering hiring foreigners, but don’t know what formalities are involved? We are going to explain everything!

Temporary employment agencies, as the name suggests, offer services related to the provision of workers for a temporary period. Such a solution is ideal when your business has periods of the year when you need more employees than usual and do not want to hire them permanently, or you need a substitution for your employee for a short period of time. The potential employee is then hired by that agency, but delegated to work for your company in accordance with the so-called “three-party relationship”. That is convenient for both employers and employees.

Benefits for employers

First – you save time. You don’t have to delegate a special employee to manage the recruitment processes, and as a result, they can take care of other emerging matters in the company. It also saves money – you don’t incur huge costs associated with paid advertisements, hiring recruiting staff or keeping a full-time employee when you only need them during busy periods. There are no restrictions in terms of industry, skills or mode of employment – all you have to do is present your needs to the agency, so that they can provide you with candidates who meet your requirements.

However, if a particular employee has proven himself and we want to keep them for a longer period of time, we need to keep in mind the limit of employment by the agency – such a person cannot be assigned to the same employer for more than 18 months within 36 months. If we want to have such a person on board for a longer period, then it is better to employ them directly at our company under a fixed-term employment contract. An exception to this rule would be if the employee replaces your other employee – in that case the time limit is 36 months within 36 months.

Benefits for employees

From the employee’s side, choosing a temporary employment agency is also a great idea, especially if such a person has no experience and wants to gain it, or has not yet decided what they want to do for a living and would like to try working in different domains. Thanks to a temporary employment agency, they also have stable employment and, despite the short periods of assignments, they do not have to worry, because the agency, taking care of the continuity of work, will find another one for them.

What’s more, the employee doesn’t lose out on terms and conditions either – a temporary employment contract operates on the same terms as a standard employment contract, which means that social security and pension contributions are paid and the employee is entitled to vacation leave.

What about hiring foreigners?

Hiring foreigners comes with many benefits, such as satisfying the shortage of workers in the Polish market, but it also involves a number of formalities that vary depending on the foreigner’s country of origin. Certainly, Ukrainian citizens currently enjoy the greatest ease in labor legalization matters. Although the processes for Ukrainians are easier, you should not underestimate them.

So how to hire an employee from Ukraine?

 For the time being, Ukrainian citizens legally residing in Poland do not need a separate work permit or even a special permission called “Starost’s information”. This means that we can hire such a person for any position without obtaining permit from the district authorities.

However, when hiring a person from Ukraine, you must remember to submit one of the following applications: Notification of entrustment of work to a foreigner (PL. Powiadomienie o powierzeniu wykonywania pracy cudzoziemcowi) or Declaration of entrustment of work to a foreigner (PL: Oświadczenie o powierzeniu wykonywania pracy cudzoziemcowi). The first document must be submitted up to 7 days after the foreigner starts working. This can be done online or at the relevant Labor Office.

Note that this document is not the basis for applying for a work visa.

If the employee wants to obtain a work visa (for example, due to the exhaustion of the limit of visa-free days or the desire to visit other EU countries), then it is strongly recommended to submit a Declaration of entrusting work to a foreigner. In this case, it should be requested before starting working, and then officially confirmed whether the foreigner took up work or not.

Note: As the regulations related to the legality of the stay of Ukrainian citizens are constantly updated due to the dynamically developing situation in Ukraine, it is recommended to follow the news constantly.

It seems too complicated? There is a way!

If you decide to hire an employee from Ukraine through a temporary employment agency, it will be incumbent on that agency to complete all the paperwork. However, if hiring through a temporary work agency is not possible, and you don’t feel like managing the legalization of work for such an employee yourself, there are companies that will fully support you in all formalities related to this.

Do you have any more questions bothering you? Schedule a consultation now or have us handle your case!

The article is based on the knowledge of employment specialists from magfin.pl, a consulting and service company responsible for legalization of residence and work for foreigners, as well as company registration, accounting or real estate and credit intermediation. We invite you to use our services. Our consultants are available at the following phone number: +48 531 510 005.

Zuzanna, November 12th, 2024.