Project reference · Forestry and wood processing
Three loggers, a 90-day clock and a piece rate that had to change.
A timber and wood-processing company in south-east Europe wanted to test hiring from abroad, starting with one small logging crew. We recruited three experienced Ukrainian loggers and took them through permits and a 30-hour bus journey. Then came the less comfortable part: showing, with the client’s own figures, that the piece rate would not keep the team, and helping to reset it so they stayed for a second term.
8 weeks from first email to first day in the forest
Speed
3 experienced loggers who already worked together
Recruitment
90 days on a seasonal permit, then six months on a new one
Compliance
25–50% higher piece rate for the second term
Fair pay
The visa clock
Ninety days, then a new set of papers
Ukrainian workers can take seasonal work in the EU country on a work permit for up to 90 days without a visa. Anything longer means a new permit and a long-stay visa from the consulate at home, and that takes months. We planned the rotations around that clock from the first week.
The brief
What the client actually needed
The client runs a wood-processing plant with its own logging unit, in a region where local forest workers had become hard to find. It wanted to try hiring from outside the EU with a small team first. If that worked, it planned to do the same for its construction and metalworking businesses.
The first request was for groups of five to ten loggers, paid by output, with an income estimate below what Ukrainian loggers were being offered in Poland, the Baltic states and Czechia. We said so on day two. We agreed to start with a crew of three who knew each other. The client provided housing, meals, transport and equipment, and we took on everything needed to get the men there legally and keep them there.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
The forest sets the pay
The rate per dense cubic metre was set on an estimate, before anyone saw the terrain. The first forest was steep, the trees were thin and it rained. We warned within a week that the target income was out of reach. The first month’s figures proved it, so we took the numbers to the client.
A 90-day clock
Seasonal work without a visa ends after 90 days. To keep the same people, the client needed a six-month permit and each worker a long-stay visa from the consulate at home. That meant certificates, notarised housing papers and weeks of waiting, all planned before the first stay ran out.
The right employer on the contract
Only a company registered for forestry work could apply for foreign loggers. The contract had to move to the group’s forestry company in the week of signing. We also advised against over-grading the job to justify foreign hires, because the authorities would then ask for legalised proof of the qualification.
No local health cover at first
New foreign workers were not yet in the host country’s health system. We insisted on medical and accident insurance before departure. The crew needed it twice.
Permit at lunchtime, bus at dawn
The first permit was issued on a Monday afternoon. Tickets were booked the same day, and the crew left Kyiv at 07:30 the next morning for a journey of more than 30 hours across four borders. Medical certificates followed by email.
Contracts people can read
The labour contracts and job descriptions were written in the local language and English. We had them translated into Ukrainian before anyone signed, so every worker knew what he was agreeing to.
What we did
Search, paperwork, deployment, second term
- Sep 2018 · Search. Three experienced loggers who had worked together, plus a reserve. Our fee was 15% of the crew’s actual monthly pay, charged only for days worked. A deposit protected the workers, and they paid no fees.
- Oct 2018 · Paperwork. A contract under the client’s national law, an immigration memo, the work-permit dossier, Ukrainian translations, medical checks and insurance.
- Nov 2018 – Feb 2019 · Deployment. Travel and arrival, performance protocols checked every ten days, monthly settlements, and a direct line to the crew and their families.
- Jan – Mar 2019 · Second term. One higher piece rate for all wood, six-month permits, long-stay visa dossiers, and a plan for more loggers and crane-truck drivers.
The client asked for more people before the first term was over. A year later it recommended us to a business partner.
In the client’s words
“We are happy with the three of them and we are willing to organise everything for a long-term collaboration.”
The client’s project coordinator, planning the second season, February 2019.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client, its owners 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 a crew from Ukraine for work in the EU?
Tell us the job, the terrain and the pay. We will tell you honestly whether the numbers will hold a team, before anyone gets on a bus.
