Varvara Grankova

Tens of thousands of temporary workers will be employed to service the World Cup. And the closer it gets to the start of the tournament, the more expensive it will be to hire staff

The World Cup will last a month – from June 14 to July 15 – in 11 cities in Russia. During this month, companies servicing the World Cup will need an army of temporary employees: from security guards and car washers to tour guides and animators. A representative of the Russia 2018 Organizing Committee reported that the Organizing Committee selected more than 17,000 volunteers for the 2018 World Cup, but that contractors of the Organizing Committee's departments were engaged in hiring service personnel.

According to estimates by Felix Kugel, managing director of the personnel company Unity, in Moscow alone, stadiums, restaurants, hotels, transport companies – the entire service sector involved in the championship in one way or another – will employ between 5,000 and 7,000 temporary workers. The number of temporary workers in the 11 cities of the championship will reach several tens of thousands, says Kugel.

The law banning temporary employment will become even stricter

Management / Administration

The 400-bed hotel in the Tavla residential complex in Saransk began recruiting staff in the winter. Immediately after the New Year holidays, the hotel opened vacancies for maids, and then for administrators, says Sergei Kolesnikov, vice president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers. By May, the hotel had recruited 60 people, and managers invited from Moscow trained the new employees. The hotel in the Tavla complex will be at maximum capacity until the end of June, when the city will host group stage matches. By July 15, the hotel will close, the staff will be dismissed, and the rooms will be converted into regular housing and put up for sale.

Restaurants, shops, logistics companies and taxi companies are also recruiting staff. Companies are looking for waiters, cooks, security guards, drivers, entertainers, tour guides and general workers. A sharp increase in the number of vacancies for the championship period occurred in early spring. In April, there were a third more offers in the regions compared to February, says Pavel Guzhikov, founder of the recruitment service Worki. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the growth was about 10-15%, he notes. In April, the number of orders for mass recruitment of personnel from the robot Vera also increased, says Alexander Uraksin, co-founder of the Robot Vera project. According to him, the bot found a hundred cooks and waiters who will work only during the championship.

Employers are looking for young people aged 19–27 with an attractive appearance and knowledge of spoken English, say recruiters. The contractors of the World Cup organizing committee have even higher requirements, says a top manager of a recruiting agency that selected personnel for the 2018 World Cup sports facilities. According to him, operators at registration desks must know at least one foreign language: English, French, Spanish or German. The customer also indicated that preference would be given to candidates with knowledge of sign language, says the top manager. He specifies that all applicants were checked by the security service for criminal records.

What has contract labor become after the ban?

Management / Administration

In Moscow and St. Petersburg, it is not difficult to find temporary employees for a short period, but in the regions there is a serious shortage, recruiters say. The owner of a small hostel in Rostov-on-Don recalls that he had difficulty finding three assistant administrators with knowledge of English for two weeks. The hostel staff searched through acquaintances and social networks. Large restaurants and hotels, as a rule, turn to staffing agencies, Kolesnikov notes. For example, a hotel in Saransk found the right people in their hometown - mainly students.

Many vacancies have not been filled yet. On May 22, 1,407 vacancies with the "World Cup" tag were published on the HeadHunter website, and 528 on the Superjob service. Another 1,500 offers are open on the Worki service. The highest salaries are offered to security guards and service personnel in the VIP boxes of stadiums. For example, judging by the ads on the Superjob website, a general cook in Volgograd can earn from 60,000 rubles for two weeks of work at the Volgograd Arena stadium. And a licensed security guard in St. Petersburg can earn from 89,900 rubles for two months of work. The closer the time is to the opening of the World Cup, the higher the salaries, warns Kugel. Already in the winter, hotels offered temporary staff salaries above the market, says Kolesnikov.

Temporary staff also need to be properly registered. According to the law, companies must enter into a fixed-term employment contract, under which the employee has the right to vacation compensation and sick leave payments, says Elena Kozhemyakina, managing partner of the BLS law firm. But in practice, this is not the case. Fixed-term contracts with temporary employees are concluded by contractors who have won the organizing committee's tenders, notes the top manager of the recruiting agency. Large agencies providing temporary personnel, as a rule, also conclude fixed-term employment contracts, says Kozhemyakina. But small businesses do not do this - it is expensive and troublesome for them. The owner of a hostel in Rostov-on-Don says that he hired administrative assistants under a service agreement. This form of cooperation is risky: employees can complain to the Labor Inspectorate and demand that an employment contract be concluded with them, notes Kozhemyakina.

How 20,000 employees were hired for the 2018 World Cup