Outsourcing in Ukrainian employment market

Global competition is the reality we face today in all business areas.  The majority of companies’ management worldwide views outsourcing as an effective and substantial business tool that provides an opportunity to concentrate on the core of their business.

According to Nikolai Ganzha, President of Acumen Outsourcing, a Professional Employer Organization that started into outsourcing in 2002, the majority of companies using outsourcing services in Ukraine are Western. 

In early years of the market economy in the Ukraine recruitment agencies were the companies which declared and used such a tool as outsourcing to help their customers solve different HR issues being a mediator between a client and an employee.

Later on companies which core business was outsourcing appeared on the market and Acumen Outsourcing was the first on the local market.

The whole process is as follows - an employee is registered with the outsourcing agency, relieving the employing company of cumbersome administrative responsibilities.

“Today many recruitment companies announce that they provide outsourcing, but in fact, when the client applies for this service, it appears that they do not really provide it, but mentioned it in their advertisement as an agency promotion,” said Nikolai Ganzha.  “Thus, the real number of companies providing outsourcing in Ukraine is much smaller then announced,” he added.

Acumen Outsourcing is the largest Professional Employer Organization in Ukraine.  The company was established in 2002 and in 2005 became the winner of “Choice of the Year” contest as “The Best Outsourcing Company” in Ukraine.  Acumen Outsourcing is a British company which serves its clients through  the network of 8 offices in Ukraine and representative offices in Georgia and Khazakhstan.  The company manages more then 1500 employees and is the leader in workforce management for production companies. 

Unlike the majority of other agencies in Ukraine, Acumen Outsourcing core business is hiring and managing manual workers for the production companies.  Acumen Outsourcing is the only company on the local market which set up a labor safety department, a crucial thing to comply with the local legislation while doing work on the production sites.

That department is accountable for: compliance with labor and fire safety regulations, specialized permits registration, obtaining permits for high-risk works, trainings of employees, medical examination, etc.  Acumen Outsourcing worked during 5 years with 5 plants of international giants and thus gained deep experience in implementing large-scale projects for workforce management of non-production personnel. 

In addition Acumen Outsourcing offers its clients administrative employees like secretaries/receptionists, personal assistants, accountants and IT specialists.

“The demand for industrial workers is higher than for administrative ones.  And for obvious reason: industrial production requires bigger number of people involved.  Outsourcing of such personnel requires the solutions of many specific and additional tasks as opposed to outsourcing administrative staff.  These issues are labor and fire safety, high risks work permits, transportation, insurance, meals, cloths,  etc. – local outsourcing companies simply do not have enough resources and experience to provide such service, and they avoid such clients. ” - Nikolai Ganzha, President of Acumen Outsourcing said. 

Ukrainian companies make up only a small percentage of Acumen’s clients. They are the companies that intend to enter the international stock market and need to improve their financial picture by moving their personnel, financial and documentation control to an outsourcing agency. 

International governmental and non-governmental commercial projects also use Acumen Outsourcing services to provide not only employees, but also the necessary infrastructure – legal entity registration, legal address, staff administration (payroll, business trips, insurances, cars, communications), secretarial services, work places and meeting rooms.  In addition to that Acumen Outsourcing provides registration of work and residence permits, organization of invitation letters, visa support, hotel reservations, meeting in the airport, interpreter services, registration at the local state bodies (the “OVIR”), personal income tax returns preparation according to the Ukrainian legislation requirements.

To sum up, Acumen Outsourcing renders the following services: workforce management for production companies, out-staffing, temporary personnel, staff leasing, HR administration and payroll outsourcing, HR audit, confidential payroll, administrative services for foreign contractors and foreign companies, etc. – thus, being a “One Point of Contact” for the clients and decreasing their administration expenses.

www.acumen.com.ua