Ongoing Recruitment Instead of Firefighting — RPO Is Changing the Labour Market

Growing talent shortages and increasing competition for workers are pushing companies to adopt new tools for effective recruitment management. One of the fastest-growing trends in Poland and on international markets is ongoing recruitment (Recruitment Process Outsourcing, RPO) of skilled professionals — from foremen, welders and engineers to chief executives. The RPO model means entrusting part or all of the recruitment process to external specialists who work in close collaboration with the company, enabling it to source candidates faster, manage costs more effectively and achieve greater predictability in workforce processes.

The benefits of RPO are numerous: reduced time-to-hire — in large logistics centres the average time to fill a vacancy decreases by 30–40%. The number of qualified specialists — such as engineers, welders or electricians — available on the labour market is finite, and RPO providers run continuous recruitment drives and expand their candidate databases, giving the company access to a ready pool of professionals and enabling faster filling of hard-to-fill roles compared to standard recruitment. Significant cost savings are another advantage — hiring skilled workers through traditional means requires large budgets for HR departments, advertising and headhunting. In the RPO model, external experts take over part of these functions, reducing expenditure by 20–30% without sacrificing quality. RPO teams specialise in niche markets (e.g. in Poland — manufacturing and logistics) and understand the specific competency requirements, which increases the chances of finding a truly suitable specialist, reduces turnover and lowers the risk of a "bad hire." RPO also delivers better business scalability — when a company opens new offices or launches new projects (e.g. an R&D centre), RPO provides a systematic supply of specialists, minimising the risk of delays at the start of new initiatives. The long-term organisational benefits are also significant: above all, they enable employer brand building — consistent, professional recruitment communication strengthens the company's position on the labour market.

An RPO partner creates and maintains a "talent reserve" of qualified candidates, providing a long-term talent pipeline that allows the company to meet future needs without time pressure or rushed searches. RPO also reduces employee turnover — more thorough screening and better competency matching lowers the attrition rate during the probationary period. For skilled workers, this is particularly important, as replacing a single specialist can cost a company up to 1.5 times their annual salary. Access to international labour markets — RPO projects frequently leverage international databases and mobile candidates, making it possible to source niche specialists even when local supply is limited. The internal HR team can focus on strategy — freeing the HR department from routine candidate sourcing allows it to concentrate on talent retention, organisational culture development and training.

Let me share two examples — one from Poland and one from Ukraine. One of Gremi Personal's clients — a major logistics operator with a central warehouse in Poznan — was preparing to launch a B2B platform. Within 5 months they urgently needed to increase shipment volumes by 30%, which meant assembling three full shifts of skilled workers: forklift operators, shift coordinators and inventory specialists. The company had its own HR department, but the average time to close a vacancy was 30 days, and 30% of new employees left within the first 2 months. We implemented the RPO model — and within two weeks had agreed on a pool of pre-screened candidates: 12 operators with UDT certificates, 4 coordinators with experience in FMCG logistics, and 3 inventory specialists with e-commerce backgrounds. All were hired directly by the client, while the entire recruitment, onboarding and support process was managed by the Gremi Personal team. After 3 months, the results were: recruitment time cut from 30 to 14 days, 88% of new employees stayed beyond the probationary period, hiring costs fell by 27%, and the new logistics project launched on time without any SLA breaches. Six months later, the company expanded the project — we also began recruiting permanent office staff: business analysts and IT specialists.

The RPO approach is increasingly being adopted in Ukraine as well — not only in IT or retail, but also in industry. For many positions — from engineers to shift managers — the Ukrainian market is beginning to compete with Poland in terms of salary levels, so acute is the shortage of skilled workers there. This is especially relevant for foreign investors opening manufacturing facilities in western Ukraine. One such case involved a Dutch building materials manufacturer that launched a production facility in 2025. The company needed to build a team from scratch. Under an RPO project carried out by Gremi Personal, within 6 weeks we found and recruited 12 production line operators with experience on automated building materials production lines, relocated a qualified automation engineer from Romania who had prior experience with the same manufacturer's equipment, and filled the following roles from the Ukrainian market: shift manager, press maintenance technician and health and safety specialist. All employees were hired directly by the client, and the Gremi Personal team was responsible for the entire process — from creating job profiles, through recruitment and onboarding, to performance evaluation. Results three months after the facility launched: time-to-hire was reduced by 70% compared to the internal HR team's efforts, the employee retention rate after the probationary period was 91%, and the production plan for the first quarter was exceeded by 12% — with no accidents and no safety violations.

Professional, high-quality RPO from an HR company with the capacity to operate internationally is a tool that directly impacts business results. For companies, it means predictable recruitment costs, fewer downtime incidents caused by staff shortages, and the ability to rapidly strengthen project teams with qualified personnel. In essence, RPO transforms recruitment from a chaotic response to talent shortages into a managed process with measurable KPIs. That is why an increasing number of companies in Poland and Ukraine are adopting this approach as a practical way to maintain a competitive edge. — comments Lilia Tereschenko, Vice President for HR at Gremi Personal.