Project reference · Cross-border deployment · Renewable energy
One specialist, three countries, one invoice a month.
A European wind-energy developer needed its own site manager on a wind park under construction in Ukraine: an EU national, on site within weeks, without setting up an employer for one person. We built the structure that made the engagement legal, insured and paid, sent the client one invoice a month for it, and then recruited the park's local operations staff.
8 weeks from the first call to the specialist's first day on site
Speed
3 of our companies in three countries, behind one monthly invoice
Structure
1 invoice a month fee, travel and insurance, with an act of acceptance
Payroll
4 role families recruited next: dispatching, substation, turbine supervision, installation
Recruitment
The shape of it
Who holds which contract
The client dealt with one contract and one invoice. Employment, payroll, insurance and travel sat with us, in the country where each could be done legally.
The brief
What the client actually needed
The developer was building the first phase of a large wind park, with an international contractor doing the construction. As owner, it needed people of its own on site to watch quality, schedule and the turbine contractor. It had already found the right site manager, an experienced EU wind-farm engineer.
What it did not have was a way to engage him in Ukraine. Employing him locally meant a one-year work permit, a Ukrainian salary with full social charges, and a local company that may not pay travel and accommodation for someone it does not employ. It asked us for a structure that would start in weeks and cost less than direct employment.
The design
Why a plain contract would not work
Staff leasing is not legal in Ukraine, and every foreign-currency payment passes the bank's currency control, which reads the contract, the invoice and the act. So we kept the employment outside the client: our consulting company in the EU signed a service agreement with the client's Ukrainian company, and our employing company in the EU employed the specialist, with payroll, insurance and travel advances. The client saw a fixed monthly fee, a one-time set-up fee and travel at cost plus a stated mark-up, and we showed it a side-by-side cost comparison with direct employment before it signed.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
Paperwork the bank accepts
Currency control decides whether a payment leaves the country. We wrote the agreement, invoice and act of acceptance in two languages, in the form the bank asked for, and adjusted the layout whenever it asked, without changing the commercial terms.
A salary that protects both sides
The employment contract fixed a minimum salary under EU labour law. The rest was paid as a bonus tied to the monthly amount the client approved, so the specialist's minimum was safe and the client paid only for approved work.
Travel without a travel department
Flights, transfers and accommodation advances for a specialist commuting from the EU, reconciled against receipts and invoiced monthly with the service fee.
Insurance across borders
Health, accident and travel cover bought in his home country, paid through payroll and passed to the client as a cost, with the tax treatment explained up front.
Local jobs under local law
Permanent operations jobs such as dispatchers and substation operators are not a case for hosting. The client employed them directly; we recruited them under a separate local agreement, on a success fee.
A start that had to wait
The client picked a turbine manager from our shortlist, and then travel restrictions stopped him from coming. Rather than send him through quarantine, the client chose to wait, and we kept the candidate informed until he could travel.
What we did
Design, contract, run, recruit
- Month 1 — Design. Structure options, work-permit routes and a cost comparison with direct employment; terms agreed at a meeting in the client's office.
- Month 2 — Contract. Service agreement, employment contract, bonus agreement and bank approval; the specialist on site at the end of the month.
- Months 3–7 — Run. One invoice and one act a month, payroll, insurance, travel advances and reconciliation, until the assignment ended.
- Months 5–12 — Recruit. A recruiting agreement for local wind-farm staff, then a European search for a turbine manager and installation supervisors.
Finding one foreign specialist is a search. Keeping him legal, insured, paid and invoiceable across three countries, every month, is a service.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client, its project 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 specialist on a site where you have no employer?
Tell us who you want to deploy, where and for how long. We will tell you honestly which structure is legal, what it costs month by month, and how long it takes to get the person on site.