Hello, how we can help?

We provide temporary workers to employers across Europe that are in need of them.

We service the manpower needs of our clients by leasing or hiring out workers that match their requirements. Although we believe it is not the best option for clients, recruiting workers for direct hire is also something we do.

We are ONLY established in Portugal – of which we are a tax resident. We have representative offices and are registered as a non-established foreign company in several EU member states.

We can provide temporary workers to any client in Europe regardless of the sector of activity or whether it is a public or private organization.

Sometimes, on rare occasions, there are restrictions in certain countries that do not allow us to provide services – for example, in Germany it is not permissible to engage temporary workers in the construction sector.

We can provide            services immediately in any European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) country.

Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda has posted temporary workers to 15 countries in Europe – Spain, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Slovenia, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Austria.

The temporary workers we provide to clients in Portugal and Europe are all legal residents of Portugal – regardless of their nationalities. ALL have either a Portuguese citizen or resident card, as well as, tax identification numbers, Social Security numbers and home addresses in Portugal.

They are not sent from some remote location in Africa or Asia to provide services to our clients in Portugal and Europe.

The vast majority of the temporary workers posted by Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda (approximately 90%) are nationals of non-EU countries, primarily from Asia. Most of the Asian non-EU workers are nationals of India, but we also deploy many nationals of Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Brazil, albeit in far smaller numbers. We also employ many Portuguese nationals and we never, ever discriminate.

Our goal is simple – provide clients with the best workers possible, that meet their requirements and exceed their expectations, regardless of nationality.

This is a complex question, but we will try to keep it simple as possible. The main reason is that Portuguese and other European nationals are increasingly difficult to recruit and not particularly interested in working abroad.  The working age European generations of today are not like those of the past – they have different values, are very demanding and often harbour unrealistic salary expectations.

This would lead us to propose services to clients at rates they would consider too high or simply unaffordable. For a variety of reasons, there are large numbers of non-EU workers in Portugal that are legal residents (especially because the residence permit is not employer, nor occupation specific – in Portugal, non-EU workers can change employers and jobs from one day to the next). Also, Portugal is the easiest and fastest country in which to obtain citizenship in Europe.

Therefore, non-EU nationals have flocked to Portugal in droves over the past decade. Given an opportunity, these non-EU nationals, holders of Portuguese residence permits, will not hesitate to travel and temporarily remain in another country in Europe where they can earn substantially more while working legally (sadly, so many are working illegally as well).

Most importantly, despite being posted abroad the non-EU workers continue to make contributions to Portuguese Social Security which is absolutely necessary for them to maintain the residency status and achieve their dreams of becoming citizens of Portugal and the EU.

This specific context and unique set of circumstances is a blessing for non-EU residents of Portugal and for Work Supply and its clients as well.

This is probably Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda´s greatest strength and where we remain unrivalled even by the biggest international players in temporary work agency activities. Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda does what would previously be considered impossible to achieve. For example, need 500 workers to pick flowers in Austria or the Netherlands? Provided accommodation is available, these 500 workers can arrive and begin working in 5 business days! Certain categories of skilled workers are harder to find, but if a construction company in Belgium or France needs 100 carpenters or steel fixers, we can also have them ready to work in roughly 10 business days. As many clients can attest, in this regard, we are truly miracle workers.

Currently (March 2025) we employ 25 internal administrative staff (workers that are not for leasing or hiring out to third parties).

Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda takes compliance dead seriously. It´s an obsession. We work with very large and prestigious clients. One major non-conformity could result in the loss of our ability to conduct business in one or more foreign jurisdictions and it would very likely have a devastating impact on our reputation.

Not only could we face penalties and even criminal prosecution, but our clients would also lose their trust in us. In each European country in which we operate we have agreements with local tax and accounting firms that ensure that we are aligned with local rules and regulations regarding a wide range of issues – tax and business registration, minimum wage that must be paid to posted workers, holiday allowance, vacation pay and other entitlements, withholding tax obligations, etc.

Non-compliance could not only impact us, but our clients and workers as well – this would be totally irresponsible and unacceptable.

The country in which we are established – Portugal – is, quite likely, the country in Europe where temporary employment agency activities are most tightly regulated.

It is unquestionably the country in Europe that requires by far the largest mobilization of money to legally engage in such activities. In 2025, the entry level business surety or bond required to operate as temporary employment agency in Portugal amount to a whopping 175,848.75€! However, Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda sits on the 4^th of 6 echelons meaning that our business bond is currently 351,697.50€.

The business bond increases every year since it is indexed to the minimum wage which invariably goes up every year. This business bond is held under the control of the IEFP, I.P – the government institution that oversees and regulates temporary employment agency activities.

If our temporary work agency fails to honour its obligations the IEFP, I.P. can and will not hesitate to withdraw from the bond they have under their control the amount necessary to cover the obligations that were not fulfilled. Any temporary employment agency that wishes to remain in business is required to top up the business bond in a short period of time or else their license will be suspended or even revoked.

Therefore, the incentive to honour obligations is powerful given that the consequences for not doing so are dire.

Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda was established on May 2 of 2019.

We work with a significant number of very large companies in Europe. For example, Bouygues, Newrest, Jingdong Group, Katoen Natie, Harsco and Persyn NV – just to name a few. However, all clients are treated with equal consideration and respect, regardless of size and prestige.

Yes, we do. Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda owns a fleet of approximately 300 vehicles and has dozens of houses and apartments rented in many EU countries. Providing transportation is the easy part.

Accommodation is far more complicated because in many countries, such as Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, accommodation is scarce, expensive and tightly regulated. But, we have always managed to secure accommodation – even for large contingents of workers.

When clients provide transportation, or far more importantly accommodation, not only does it make our job far easier – it greatly reduces the cost of our services and, of course, the rates we charge our clients. When clients provide transportation and accommodation the rate can decrease roughly 2 to 5 euros per hour depending on whether the clients provides transportation or accommodation or both.

Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda only works with clients that are approved for credit or invoice insurance by Allianz – our provider. The amount of credit insurance we request depends on the number of workers that are expected to be seconded to the client and the estimated total amount to be invoiced in 30 days – this amount depends not only on the number of workers, but also on how much the workers cost. For example, if a client in Belgium requests 10 certified welders, the credit insurance that we will request our provider is about 60.000€.

If Allianz does not approve 60.000€ or close to this amount, unfortunately it will not be possible to do business unless the client is willing to make advance payments or offer some other form of solid guarantee.

Once the guarantee hurdle has been surpassed, the next step is signing a labour leasing agreement or conditional labour leasing agreement in which all the terms and conditions are carefully spelled out. We also expect the client to inform us how much the posted temporary workers are required to be paid – according to the EU´s Posted Workers Directive (PWD) they cannot be paid less than an entry level worker in the host country performing the same job – in most EU countries, wages our regulated by sectoral collective agreements. Finally, once an agreement is reached, we always request our clients to sign a debtor´s statement provided by our factoring partner – Factris BV. Under a factoring arrangement, the client agrees to transfer payment of the amounts invoiced NOT TO Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda´s bank account, but rather to Factris BV´s bank account within a period of no later than 30 days.

Even though Factris BV will only be receive payment from our client 30 days later, they immediately pay us 90% of the invoice which greatly assists us in maintaining a healthy cash flow. Factoring arrangements do not increase the cost to clients a single penny since it is Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda that bears the expense. For those that are not aware, our factoring partner transfers the remaining 10% upon receiving payment from our client.

The cost of our services depends fundamentally on the wages that the workers must be paid.

However, other salary conditions temporary workers are entitled to also have a significant influence. Posted workers are entitled to the same entitlements and benefits as domestic workers in the host countries – the right to receive the same amounts. Therefore, if the posted workers must be paid for example, holiday allowance, vacation pay, 13^th month, end of year bonus, etc., this will certainly increase the cost. The factor applied to a given labour leasing agreement can vary from as little as approximately 1.65 to as high as 2.25, depending on a wide array of circumstances, but primarily on those mentioned above and also on the availability and skill requirements of the workers.

Factor is the result that is obtained when the rate charged to the client is divided by the wage paid to the worker. For example, if a worker is paid 16€ per hour and the client charged 30€ per hour the factor would be 30/16, which is 1.875.

Of course, the rate charged to the client includes absolutely all payroll costs and, in addition costs with comprehensive work insurance coverage, medical exams, flights, accommodation, transportation, administrative and salary processing costs, etc.

According to the Posted Workers Directive (PWD) a worker may be temporarily posted abroad for 24 months – 12 month initial period + 12 month extension. Following this 24 month period, the worker cannot be posted abroad for 2 months. Following this 2 month period of mandatory interruption of posting, the cycle may be repeated with the same or different client and in the same or different country.

Clients should inform Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda as soon as possible when they are not pleased with a worker´s performance or behaviour.

Our staff will discuss the matter with the worker informing him/her that he/she will be dismissed from the project if he/she does not improve their performance or change their behaviour.

Generally, we attempt to persuade our clients to give the temporary worker a second chance – except when the matter is too serious. If the worker does not improve his performance and/or behaviour he can be immediately dismissed. Additional workers can be provided within 2-3 days if required by the client.

Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda believes a client should be able to terminate a labour leasing agreement when it wishes to do so. Any relationship – including a business relationship – is only worthwhile if both parties are happy. Therefore, clients are free to terminate the labour leasing agreement when they please. However, we request and greatly appreciate it when clients provide at least 2 weeks advance notice so that the complex process of demobilization can be properly conducted.

Absolutely not.

The Revised PWD (Directive (EU) 2018/957 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 June 2018) requires member states to enact legislation that guarantees compliance with the same remuneration rules applicable to peers who hold the same job in the posted country, which is known as the principle of “equal pay for equal work.”

In practice, this means that clients (or service recipients) will need to offer, as a minimum from day one of the posting, the same benefits, as set out in laws and generally binding Collective Labour Agreements (CLAs), such as overtime or holiday pay, vacation pay, bonuses, allowances or all type of salary increases to posted workers as those offered to domestic employees.

Under Portuguese labour and social security legislations, no temporary worker is allowed to be posted abroad if he is not covered by a comprehensive work insurance plan for the entire period of posting. Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda´s work insurance provider fully covers all work related accidents (minor, major or even fatal) – the client need not worry about this.

However, it is vital and the client´s obligation to report any accident or injury at work immediately, and never more than 24 hours after it has occurred.

Posted workers are subject to the Social Security legislation of the home country – NOT the host country.

The home country is Portugal. Portuguese Social Security rules determine that a worker is only entitled to receive sick leave payment following the 3rd day of medical incapacitation (3 day waiting period). For the first 3 days the worker is not entitled to receive anything (unless he/she has a private health insurance plan – which is never the case).

On the 4th day if the posted temporary worker is still incapacitated for work, he is entitled to receive netto 55% of his/her average gross salary which is paid out by Social Security – if (and only if) the worker has been issued a Medical Certificate of Incapacity.

 The percentage of sick leave increases incrementally depending on how long the worker remains incapacitated – if the period of medically certified incapacitation exceeds 365 days the worker is entitled to receive 75% netto of the average gross wage. The worker may be entitled to an additional 5% depending on his/her family context.

Clients do not participate in this process, nor do they have nothing to answer for or worry about.

Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda prefers to post abroad, whenever possible, a minimum of 2 temporary workers. The reason for this is that temporary workers are generally reluctant or not willing to be temporarily posted outside Portugal without being accompanied by at least one colleague.

However, if the client in the EU or EEA member state already knows the worker it would like to hire or if there is a worker with a suitable profile for the job that is available and willing to be deployed outside Portugal unaccompanied we can also send a single worker to any client in Europe.

Clients are treated with the same respect and consideration regardless of their size or the volume of business we conduct with them.

Fortunately, since the vast majority of the temporary workers posted abroad are non-EU nationals, primarily from India and Pakistan, the significant majority of these workers have a solid understanding and can speak English very well.

Clients outside Portugal have also been pleasantly surprised by the significant number of temporary workers that understand and speak French as well.

Work Supply – Trabalho Temporário Lda always invoices its clients based on the number of  hours effectively worked by the temporary workers seconded (or leased) in a given period of time – for example, one week, two weeks or 30 days. The clients only pay for services effectively provided. The timesheet containing the number of hours (normal time, overtime, night hours, weekend hours, etc) worked by our temporary staff within a given period is the cornerstone of our business model.

All invoices (and salaries) are calculated based on the numbers found on the timesheets. We believe that this method ensures maximum transparency, ease and flexibility. Of course, upon request, different methods of invoicing we can be adopted.  

Concern with customer satisfaction, obsession with compliance, extremely competitive pricing, reliability, 24/7 availability, but above all, a truly unique and unparalleled ability to provide small and very large numbers of workers, with the right profiles, in a matter of days.