How to hire temporary workers in Sweden: a guide for international companies

Agency, direct employment or posting: three different routes

The simplest route for a company without a Swedish payroll is usually a staffing agency. The workers are employed by the agency, which pays wages, deducts tax, pays employer social contributions and provides the pension and insurance required by its collective agreement. You sign a customer agreement, direct the daily work and pay for the hours worked. The Swedish Temporary Agency Work Act requires that agency workers get basic working and employment conditions at least as favourable as if you had employed them directly, with deviations permitted through collective agreements. Direct employment is the second route. Your company becomes the employer, which means registering as an employer with the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket), running payroll, paying social contributions and giving the employee written information on the main terms of employment. That route suits permanent roles better than short peaks.

The third route is posting. A company established in another EU or EEA country sends its own employees to carry out work in Sweden for a limited period, and they remain employed abroad. Under the Swedish Posting of Workers Act, which implements the EU posting directive, a core of Swedish terms still applies, including working hours, annual leave, work environment rules and pay at levels that can be required under collective agreements. The foreign employer must report the posting and a contact person to the Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket) no later than the day the work starts. If you receive the service and have not been given documentation that the report was made, you must notify the authority yourself within three days of the start. An A1 certificate shows which country's social security applies. Check the current details at av.se before planning a posting.

Collective agreements, equal treatment and insurance

Swedish labour law leaves most pay questions to the social partners. There is no statutory minimum wage, so wage levels, overtime pay, unsocial hours supplements and many insurance benefits come from collective agreements negotiated between employer organisations and trade unions. Staffing companies that are members of Kompetensföretagen apply Bemanningsavtalet for blue-collar agency workers, under which pay during an assignment is normally based on the average earnings of comparable workers at the client, with guaranteed pay between assignments for permanent employees. If your own Swedish business is bound by a collective agreement, the Co-determination Act normally requires you to consult the union before you decide to hire in staff, and the union can in some cases object. Ask any agency which agreement its workers are covered by, and whether the company is authorised by Kompetensföretagen, which audits the companies it authorises.

Insurance follows the employer. Workers covered by a collective agreement for blue-collar staff normally have occupational injury insurance, sickness insurance, group life insurance and an occupational pension through the agreement, alongside the statutory work injury cover financed through social contributions. With an agency, those are already in place and included in the hourly rate. What remains with you as the client is liability for what happens in the work you direct. Damage caused by a hired-in worker during your operations will often fall on your own liability insurance, so check with your insurer that hired-in staff are covered before the first day. Also agree in writing who reports an accident: the employer files the work injury report, while the company in control of the workplace usually holds the facts about what happened. Serious incidents must be reported to the Work Environment Authority without delay.

On site: ID06, personnel ledgers, work permits and language

Construction sites in Sweden run on two overlapping requirements. The legal one is the electronic personnel ledger (personalliggare) under the Tax Procedures Act. On sites where the total construction cost is expected to exceed four price base amounts, the developer (byggherre) must register the site with the Swedish Tax Agency before work begins and provide equipment for the ledger, and every business working there must record its people when each shift starts and ends. The industry requirement is ID06, a card system for identification, attendance and qualifications that almost every main contractor demands by contract. Cards are ordered by the employer and tied to both person and company. Personnel ledgers are also mandatory in restaurants, hairdressing and beauty, laundries, vehicle service and food or tobacco wholesale, and agency staff must be recorded there too. The Tax Agency carries out unannounced checks and can charge fees.

Citizens of EU and EEA countries, Switzerland and the Nordic countries can work in Sweden without a work permit. Most other nationals need one from the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) before they start. For first-time permits decided from 1 June 2026, the salary must in most occupations be at least 90 per cent of the Swedish median wage, and terms must be at least on par with collective agreements or practice in the occupation. The employer must check the permit, keep a copy and notify the Tax Agency of the employment. Rules change, so verify the current requirements at migrationsverket.se. Language is the last practical point. Sweden has no general legal requirement for workers to speak Swedish, but the Work Environment Act requires that people understand the risks of their work, so safety instructions must be given in a language they actually understand. State in your order what the job truly requires.