When you need people from abroad, the first question is not only which country to bring them from, but also who will be their employer. You have two options: hire them directly, through international recruitment, or get them on site through staff leasing, from a temporary work agency. Both work well, but for different situations.
In short
- International recruitment: we find and bring in the workers, and your company hires them directly, with an individual employment contract.
- Staff leasing: the workers are employed by the temporary work agency, which handles everything, while you get the people on site and pay for the service.
Within SSM Holding we cover both models: recruitment through SSM HR Services and leasing through SSM Global Workforce, a licensed temporary work agency.
How international recruitment works
In this model, SSM HR Services sources, selects and brings to Romania the workers you need. After arrival, they become your company's employees.
The process has five stages: selection, work permit, visa, arrival and onboarding. We organize the interviews in the country of origin, which you can attend, verify experience and run practical tests where needed. The work permit (aviz de muncă) is obtained from the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) in your company's name, and we prepare the file together with you.
What stays with you:
- the individual employment contract, with at least the legal minimum wage;
- payroll, time tracking and your obligations as an employer;
- housing and transport, if you provide them;
- training and onboarding into the team, with our support in the first months.
Cost: recruitment starts from €500 / person. Paperwork is priced separately, and prices do not include VAT.
It is a good fit if:
- you need people long-term, for permanent positions;
- you have an HR and payroll department that can take on new employees;
- you want the workers to be a direct part of your team;
- you can provide or arrange housing.
How staff leasing works
In leasing, the workers' employer is SSM Global Workforce. They handle selection, contracting, training, placement, administration and payroll, housing and transport. In short, they handle everything. You get the people on site, coordinate their daily work and pay for the service under the contract signed with the agency.
The main advantage is flexibility. You can grow the team when you have a lot of orders and scale it down when volume drops, without handling hiring and contract terminations yourself.
It is a good fit if:
- you have activity peaks or projects with a limited duration;
- you do not have an in-house team to administer foreign workers;
- you do not want to deal with housing and transport;
- you want to test working with foreign staff before making a long-term decision.
The differences that matter in practice
Who the employer is
In recruitment, your company. In leasing, the temporary work agency. This determines who signs the employment contract, who pays the wages and who is responsible for the administrative obligations.
How much administrative effort you take on
In recruitment, after arrival, the workers enter your HR and payroll processes. In leasing, the administrative side stays with the agency, and you focus on organizing the work.
How flexible you can be
Recruitment is designed for stable teams, built for the long term. Leasing lets you adjust the number of people based on volume.
What the costs look like
In recruitment, you pay for the recruitment service and the paperwork, and then you have the usual employer costs. In leasing, you pay a rate to the agency, which includes the staff costs and the services provided. Which option works out better depends on the length of the engagement, the number of people and how much of the administration you can handle in-house. It is worth requesting both quotes and comparing them over the same period.
How to choose
Answer four questions:
- How long do you need the people? For an indefinite period, recruitment usually makes more sense. For limited or variable periods, leasing.
- Is your volume constant? If it fluctuates a lot, the flexibility of leasing matters.
- Do you have in-house HR and payroll capacity? If not, leasing spares you an administrative burden.
- Can you provide housing? If you do not have a solution, leasing includes it.
There is no single right option for everyone. A construction company with long-term projects may prefer direct hiring, while a logistics center with seasonal peaks may gain more from leasing.
What stays the same in both options
- The workers come from the same 9 countries: Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cuba, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana.
- The length of the process depends on the country, from 3-5 months for Cuba to 10-12 months for Pakistan.
- The legal steps are the same: work permit, long-stay visa for employment, single permit (permis unic) after arrival.
- Integration into the team depends largely on how you welcome people at the workplace.
Not sure yet which model suits you? Request a quote, tell us how many people you need and for how long, and we will recommend the right option: direct recruitment or leasing through SSM Global Workforce.
