Employee outsourcing - is it for you?

Nowadays, the concept of outsourcing has become very fashionable in the business world. Virtually all departments of the company can be outsourced: production, logistics, procurement, customer service, cleaning, security, financial management and accounting. Employee outsourcing is gaining popularity. However, the interaction of the organization with employment agencies is still evolving and is reaching a higher level. Today, not only production companies cooperate with companies dealing with employee outsourcing. Increasingly, these services are used by large corporations that no longer want to look for managerial talents on their own, motivate their employees, or even conduct regular, day-to-day HR activities. Can you also successfully use employee outsourcing in your company?

Employee outsourcing and the provisions of the Labor Code

The Labor Code regulates employee outsourcing in Art. 231, concerning a merger or acquisition of a company. The above provision states that in the event of the acquisition of a workplace, the new owner becomes a party to the existing employment relationships - along with the material components, he takes over the employees of the acquired organization.

Important! The current and the new employer are jointly and severally liable for the obligations arising from the employment relationship, arising before the takeover of the organization.

According to Art. 231 of the Labor Code, employee outsourcing consists in the transfer of employees between the current and the new owner of the workplace. From the point of view of employees, the situation does not change - job positions, hierarchy, division of duties, place and conditions of employment are preserved.

What tasks do companies dealing with employee outsourcing belong to?

In business terms, employee outsourcing is the delegation of HR functions to be performed by an external company, usually a temporary employment agency. These agencies can only deal with certain activities related to human capital management.

The possible tasks of an enterprise providing services in the field of employee outsourcing include:

• conducting the recruitment process,

• signing a contract with employees on behalf of the appropriate employer (the agency acts as the representative of the organization),

• payment of salaries,

• sending employees for periodic examinations,

• organizing substitutions,

• conducting trainings,

• implementation of incentive systems,

• providing mentoring and coaching services.

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Employee outsourcing - advantages and disadvantages

An entrepreneur who decides to use the employee outsourcing service may benefit from the following:

• lowering costs - employment agencies often maintain databases of candidates, they can also conduct several recruitments at the same time, so using their offer becomes cheaper than undertaking HR activities on your own,

• access to professional knowledge - agencies specialize in HR processes, so they have more knowledge and are aware of the current trends on the labor market,

• streamlining the recruitment, selection and introduction process,

• the possibility of reaching and acquiring qualified specialists,

• acceleration of HR processes.

On the other hand, employee outsourcing is also associated with negative phenomena such as:

• no direct contact with the employee at the stage of hiring, motivating, training,

• low level of identification of the employee with the company - the employee is on the one hand accountable to his employer, and on the other hand, to the employment agency,

• low social acceptance of employee outsourcing,

• no possibility to directly track the development of the employee's potential.

Is employee outsourcing for you?

When running a small business, it is not profitable to use the services of an employment agency to attract and manage employees. Employee outsourcing is useful in large corporations where HR processes are carried out massively. No recruiter is able to maintain a closer or longer relationship with the employed person, so entrusting personnel functions to an external organization seems to be an activity devoid of major threats. In small enterprises, where direct contact between the employer and employee is on the agenda, it is definitely more profitable to conduct the HR area on your own.

There are, of course, intermediate solutions. The employer may commission an external agency to conduct recruitment, and at the selection stage, he may verify the candidates' application documents, arrange meetings with them and implement them to work. In this way, the optimal relation between the costs of acquiring a new employee and establishing a closer relationship with him will be maintained.