Project reference · Employment and payroll
First the desks, then the payroll.
A European software-engineering company came to Ukraine to build a development team. We equipped its first office and helped it hire. Years later it needed one of its senior people employed in Ukraine, and it had no Ukrainian employer of its own. We became that employer: one service agreement, one invoice a month, fifty monthly pay runs, and an exit agreed a month ahead.
50 monthly pay runs, each one calculated, invoiced, paid and reported
Payroll
1 invoice a month for salary, taxes, reports and our fee together
Control
No local company the client had to open, staff or close for it
Structure
8 years from the first office to the final settlement
Relationship
The shape of it
Two engagements, years apart
The first engagement lasted months, the second lasted years, and the client came back to the same supplier for both.
The brief
What the client actually needed
The first call came as the company was moving into its first office in Ukraine. It needed computers on the desks by Monday, a contract a Ukrainian bank would accept, and developers.
We bought and leased it the equipment under a short service agreement, had a company seal made so the contract could be stamped for the bank, and agreed a fee per placement for developer searches. We also priced a dedicated Ukrainian company that we would set up, run and later hand over. The client chose to grow on its own: it hired its own recruiter, and we handed over our search lists so that no candidate was called twice.
Three years later the company came back with a different question. One of its senior people was to work from Ukraine full time, and the company had no Ukrainian employer for that role. We designed the arrangement, signed one service agreement with the company, and from the first month ran it like any other payroll.
Why it matters
Work in Ukraine needs a Ukrainian employer
A foreign company usually cannot keep someone who works in Ukraine full time on its home payroll. The work needs a Ukrainian contract, Ukrainian tax and social contributions, personnel records and monthly reports. Opening a company for one role is slow and costs money every month to keep compliant. An employer of record carries all of that, and the company pays one invoice.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
A stamp before the money moves
The bank needed a stamped contract before it would clear the client’s first payment. The client had no seal in Ukraine, so we arranged one the same week.
Equipment without capital spending
Laptops, a desktop and phones were bought by us and leased to the client. Each device was listed on a numbered act of transfer, so everyone knew what had to come back.
Prices the client could read
Our offer priced each part separately: local employment, payroll, set-up. When we later costed a different structure, the client chose to keep the one that worked, and we kept running it.
The same four steps, fifty times
Every month: a calculation for approval, one invoice, the client’s payment, then salary, taxes and reports paid and filed.
Rules that changed mid-contract
When Ukrainian employment rules changed, the contract, the working-time order and the pay order were amended and signed within days.
An exit agreed a month ahead
When the role moved on, the last working day was set a month ahead. Unused leave went into the final settlement, and every registration was closed on the agreed dates.
What we did
Equip, hand over, employ, close
- Year 1 — Equip. A service agreement, leased laptops, a desktop and phones, a company seal for the bank, and developer searches for a fee per placement.
- Year 1 — Hand over. A priced plan for a company of its own, which the client declined. When it hired its own recruiter, our search lists went to it.
- Years 4–9 — Employ and pay. One service agreement and a local employment contract, then a calculation, an invoice and a pay run every month, with leave records and contract changes.
- Year 9 — Close. Termination on an agreed date, a final settlement that included unused leave, and every registration closed.
- Year 11 — Advise. A call about setting up in another European country, and introductions to others with the same question.
The service changed with what the client needed. The supplier did not.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client and its people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail. What we will not do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Need someone employed in Ukraine before you have a company there?
Tell us the role, the start date and the monthly budget. We will show you the contract, the monthly cycle and the exit, line by line, before anything starts.