Service
Workers do the job on your site but are employed by the provider: they do not count towards your permitted share, and we handle wages, contributions and migration reporting. The arrangement is executed as a provision-of-workers contract under Chapter 53.1 of the Russian Labour Code.
How it works
Outstaffing solves exactly one problem that recruitment cannot: it takes foreign workers out of your headcount.
When it is the only option
For construction the 2026 limit is 50% instead of the previous 80%. Once it is full you cannot put another foreign worker on your payroll — but you can through outstaffing, because they are on the provider’s payroll.
Pours, installation, harvest, pre-holiday warehouse. Hiring 60 people for three months and then making them redundant is slow and expensive. Here you pay for a period, not for a permanent position.
A site in another region where you have no branch and no HR officer. The provider handles employment and records locally.
The client requires immigration liability to sit with a contractor holding the relevant activity code (78.2). Outstaffing satisfies that both formally and in substance.
Price
| Component | What it is | Share of the rate |
|---|---|---|
| Worker’s wages | Net pay for your region and trade | ~55–65% |
| Taxes and contributions | Income tax and social contributions paid by the provider | ~25–30% |
| Administration and support | Documents, notifications, HR records, replacement | ~5–10% |
| Provider margin | The service itself | ~5–10% |
Comparing "cheaper or dearer than payroll" only makes sense together with what you stop paying: HR administration, downtime from turnover, searching for replacements, fines for migration breaches. On sites of 30 people or more, outstaffing usually comes out neutral on cost and ahead on manageability.
Process
Activity code, region, current headcount. We show how many people you can take on payroll and how many are better placed off it.
Roles, skill grades, shift pattern, volume. The rate is fixed per worker per month or per shift.
Executed under Chapter 53.1 of the Russian Labour Code. Roles, rates, replacement procedure and liability are annexed.
From the existing pool, 1–2 weeks; for a rare qualification from a visa country, 5–8 weeks.
Monthly acceptance certificate for hours actually worked, replacement within 90 days, all migration notifications handled by the provider.
Terminology
These all describe one service, but only one name is legally correct.
| What people say | What they mean | The correct term |
|---|---|---|
| Outstaffing of foreign workers | Worker on the provider’s payroll, working for the client | Provision of workers (Ch. 53.1 Labour Code) |
| Outstaffing of migrants | The same thing, colloquially | Provision of workers |
| Staff rental | Colloquial synonym from the 2000s | Not a legal term |
| Staff leasing | Outdated name for the same arrangement | Not a legal term |
| Agency labour | Transferring workers outside Ch. 53.1 | Prohibited by Art. 56.1 Labour Code |
FAQ
Agency labour is prohibited by Article 56.1 of the Labour Code, but the service the market calls outstaffing is lawful in the form of provision of workers under Chapter 53.1. Only private employment agencies accredited by Rostrud may conclude such contracts. Checking a provider’s accreditation is part of a client’s due diligence.
No. The share is calculated from your company’s average headcount, and a worker under a provision-of-workers contract is employed by the agency. This is the main reason construction companies moved to the arrangement after the share was cut from 80% to 50% for 2026.
The rate consists of the worker’s wages (55–65%), taxes and contributions (25–30%), administration and support (5–10%) and the provider’s margin (5–10%). The actual figure depends on trade, region, shift pattern and volume — a crew of 30+ is notably cheaper per head than five. We send a quote for your roles within one business day.
With outstaffing you get people and assign their tasks yourself, paying for man-months. With outsourcing you hand over a function and pay for output: tonnes moved, square metres cleaned, volume completed. In that case the contractor manages the people.
Yes, this is a common scenario when the share is exceeded: part of the crew leaves your payroll and is employed by the agency, continuing on the same site. The procedure needs care — we run it together with your HR department and fix the dates so there is no gap in immigration status.
Agency labour has been prohibited in Russia since 1 January 2016, explicitly, by Article 56.1 of the Labour Code. The word "outstaffing" has nonetheless stuck as the market name for the service. Legally, what the market calls outstaffing is the provision of workers (personnel) and is governed by Chapter 53.1 of the Labour Code.
The key requirement of that chapter: such contracts may only be concluded by a private employment agency accredited by Rostrud, the federal labour service. Accreditation has clear conditions — share capital of at least 1 million roubles, no tax arrears, and a director with relevant higher education and experience. The register of accredited agencies is public.
The practical conclusion for a client is simple: before signing an outstaffing contract, check the provider in the register. Without accreditation the contract risks being recharacterised and the workers treated as yours, with all the consequences for your permitted share and immigration liability. This applies to any contractor, including us: ask for the documents and check the register.
The permitted share is calculated from the average headcount of the business entity. A worker engaged under a provision-of-workers contract is in an employment relationship with the agency and does not enter your average headcount. That is exactly why the arrangement became sought-after after Decree No. 1995 cut the construction share from 80% to 50%: companies whose limit is full keep operating by moving part of their crew off payroll.
One caveat worth knowing in advance: the arrangement is not universal. Chapter 53.1 restricts what workers may be sent to do and prohibits, for instance, sending them to replace employees on strike or into an organisation carrying out redundancies. We check this before signing, together with your activity code and region.
A separate practical case is workers from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Here the arrangement wins on time: entry is visa-free, and citizens of Kyrgyzstan, as an EAEU state, need no work patent, so deployment takes 3–5 weeks against 5–8 for visa countries. Patents, renewals and notifications for those who do need them are handled by the provider — the client does not need a dedicated person in HR for it.
We came into outstaffing from international recruitment rather than HR administration, and it shows in two things. First, qualifications: we do not only move people already in Russia onto our payroll, we bring in workers against a specific skill grade from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, selected on work video. Second, speed: our own recruiter network in the source countries produces a first shortlist in 48–72 hours, with a full cycle to arrival of 4–8 weeks.
Send us your positions and timeline — we will come back with pricing, start dates and the legal setup. First shortlist within 48–72 hours.
We'll send pricing, lead times and the paperwork involved for your positions. No commitment.