A new law all but prohibiting the supply of temporary staffing, or outstaffing, in Russia, effective 1 January, will have a significant impact on the local labour market, though it may not affect recruiters as much.

Alexander Pokrasov, Antal Russia head of outsourcing and specialist recruitment practice, told Recruiter the new law would have a negative impact on the labour market and create “additional difficulties and bureaucracy in relations between employers and employees”.

However, only 15-20% of recruiters in Russia provide outstaffing, or it is very low in their portfolio, “thus many players won’t be affected by the new law at all”. 

Russian recruiters are not looking kindly on the new law though, mostly because the law has not been specifically defined, he added. In some cases, temporary staffing will be allowed but its supply will be regulated and restricted to a maximum of nine months.

In a recent blog on its website, the Russian arm of international law firm CMS says only accredited private employment agencies and legal entities will be able to supply staff as of next year, though there may be some delay in agencies gaining accreditation.

The Russian government implemented procedures for accrediting agencies in October, but CMS says the procedure “has not yet been worked out in practice”, leading to a concern that agencies may face a delay in gaining accreditation.

Because of this, Pokrasov says the new law may be postponed.

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