CH
PL
The four models in practice
Permanent hire. For work that recurs and should build internal knowledge. Strength: retention and continuity. Cost: the longest lead time of all models, because search, notice period and onboarding add up.
Staff leasing (Arbeitskräfteüberlassung). The specialist is employed by a provider and works in your team, your processes and under your technical direction. Strength: fast availability with full integration, a plannable term and the option to take them on later. A good fit when the task is clear but the permanent role is not yet decided.
Freelance. Independent specialists for defined tasks with a clear deliverable. Strength: depth in a narrow field, very fast availability. Limit: no substitute for a permanent role – and the engagement has to be genuinely self-employed in practice, not just in the contract heading.
Project team. An established group takes on a defined piece of work, including its management. Strength: you are not buying people but accountability for a result. A fit when internal capacity to steer an additional project is missing.
Five diagnostic questions before you publish the ad
1. Is the need permanent or temporary – honestly?
"Permanent really, but we only have budget for this year" argues against an immediate permanent hire and in favour of a model that can convert later.
2. What must the person be able to do on day one – and what is learnable?
Requirement profiles grow over months and rarely shrink. Split the profile into two columns: day-one skills and learnable ones. Everything in the second column does not belong in the must-have list. That widens the pool considerably without anyone compromising on quality.
3. How much guidance can your team provide?
The most frequently skipped question. An external specialist fully integrated into your processes needs contacts and direction; a project team brings its own management. If the responsible manager is already short on capacity, more supervision is not the answer.
4. From when do you need the capacity – and what does waiting cost?
Count backwards from the date. And answer the second half: what happens in the team while you search? Tasks get redistributed, projects scoped down, quality deferred. Those costs appear in no business case but rise every month.
5. Are you looking for a person or for a result?
If the answer is a result – a migrated system, an accepted interface, a passed audit – the role description may be the wrong starting point.
A rough mapping
As orientation, not as a rule: permanent need with available management capacity points to a permanent hire. A clear but time-limited need with good integration capacity points to staff leasing. A narrow specialist task with a defined result points to freelance. A defined project without internal steering capacity points to a project team.
In many cases the right answer is a combination: external capacity carrying the project now, and in parallel a cleanly scoped permanent role for what should remain afterwards. That is not a compromise; it is usually the faster and cheaper option.
Recruiting is one solution – not always the right one
Nothing here argues against hiring. It argues against treating every open role as a recruiting problem by default. The five questions cost half an hour. A search built on the wrong assumption costs months.
Have an open role and are unsure which model fits? In 30 minutes we will assess the need with you – no obligation. Write to sales@suppliance.at.
Note: this article describes staffing models from practice. Employment and staff-leasing law questions – in particular the distinction of genuine self-employment – must be assessed case by case.