CONVINUS Global Mobility
CONVINUS Global Mobility Insights - Herbst / Fall 2025 Example: A Swiss plant engineering company has a project in Turkey. It brings in external Turkish specialists to complete this project on schedule. If there are interruptions in the project, the external specialists do not usually have to be paid. However, if the company were to bring in additional skilled workers from Switzerland to Turkey, it would have to continue employing them even during interruptions or consider how best to resolve such a situation for the company. Obtaining the relevant permit from the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security alone takes around four to eight weeks, so a slightly longer lead time is required. Various industries also experience significant seasonal fluctuations, such as agriculture, the hotel and catering industry, and logistics, as more workers are needed in certain months. 2. Access to skilled workers and expertise Many countries lack qualified workers, for example in the fields of health, IT, skilled trades and engineering. Companies are increasingly turning to external personnel in order to fill vacancies quickly. In addition, specialised expert knowledge, which is essential for projects, is difficult to find. Example: A Swiss pharmaceutical company hires a US expert for a special research project. The expertise is not available within the company itself, nor at any of its other locations. Such experts often do not want to commit themselves to a specific company, as their focus is on research itself. External international teams are also often hired to bring in new ideas and perspectives, which can promote innovation. 3. Cost advantages and competitiveness Companies can reduce costs without having to invest in expensive training and further education for their own staff. They can take advantage of lower wage struct- 24
CONVINUS Global Mobility Insights - Herbst / Fall 2025 tures in other countries to achieve cost advantages and reduce expenses, as there is generally no obligation to administer personnel and wages. Example: A Swiss insurance company relocates its claims settlement team from Switzerland to Poland. By relocating the team to Poland, the company benefits from the low labour costs at the new location. To build up the team, it will usually be necessary, at least initially, to send employees from Switzerland to Poland so that they can support the development of this area on site and ensure that the Swiss company's applicable standards are introduced and complied with. In a second step, it is usually examined whether it makes sense to use external personnel for long-term deployment on site instead of employees sent from Switzerland to Poland on a long-term basis. External personnel are often employed on a project-by-project or situational basis, for example to ensure capacity utilisation during peak periods. This generally does not result in any long-term costs for the company in terms of salaries, social security contributions or severance payments. 4. Internationalisation and market presence When a company opens a new location abroad or starts a project, external personnel from that country are often employed. This allows the company to take advantage of these individuals' local knowledge of the market, language and culture. It also enables the company to offer better customer presence and customer service on site. Customers also feel more comfortable when their contact persons come from their region. In addition, these locally familiar employees are better able to respond to specific customer requests or identify specific customer needs in advance. Example: A German mechanical engineering company uses local technicians for maintenance work in China. Instead of building up its own workforce in China, it opted for external personnel, particularly in view of the financial and administrative costs involved. 25
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