Four left, four arrived: how we fill places under the replacement guarantee

01 / The request

Four resignations in five months and one question from the plant

Twenty-four line operators from India started at the cable plant in spring. We recruited them to the profile the plant gave us: experience on production lines, basic English, and willingness to sign a one-year contract. Documents were in place before the first shift, and for five months everything ran smoothly.

Then four resignations arrived within three weeks. The HR director forwarded them to us with a short question: who will take these places, when, and will the plant have to pay for recruitment again? The plant remembered the guarantee clause in the contract but had never used it.

Andrii, WORKIN's deputy director, replied the same day: the guarantee applies and replacement recruitment isn't charged again, but first we'll do three things. Talk to each person who's leaving. Check the agreed working, pay and housing conditions. And close out the leavers' documents so nothing is left hanging. Only then the replacements.

We set the procedure, timelines and number of replacements in the contract before a project starts, so the conversation with the plant didn't begin with an argument. You can see what that clause looks like on the WORKIN contract page.

A guarantee doesn't start with finding a new person. It starts with a conversation with the one who's leaving.

02 / Conversations

Finding the reason first, not someone to blame

Rajesh, our manager for workers from India, spoke to each of the four separately and in Hindi. The aim is simple: to understand whether the reason is personal or whether something behind it will affect the rest of the group. Someone who writes 'family circumstances' on a resignation won't always tell HR the real reason, but in their own language and to someone from WORKIN they usually will.

This time all four reasons turned out to be personal. None involved housing, pay or the conditions agreed before departure. Rajesh also spoke to several people from the same rooms and shifts: nobody else planned to leave, and the group took the news calmly.

The conversation mattered most for Sanjay: he was embarrassed to talk about his health and wanted to leave quietly. Rajesh explained that he could leave on whatever date suited him and that we would close his documents ourselves. Vikas and Pradeep asked us to keep their contacts: if their circumstances change, they would like to come back to the plant, so we added them to the reserve for the next intake.

03 / Guarantee terms

Checking the agreed conditions before starting a replacement

The WORKIN replacement guarantee lasts at least 6 months from the worker's first shift, provided the company keeps to the agreed working, pay and housing conditions. It's not a formality: if someone leaves because conditions have changed, a new person will leave for the same reason, and a replacement solves nothing.

So Andrii compared the information sheet each worker signed before departure with the current reality: job title and pay in the contracts, payslips for recent months, and the address and type of housing. We checked the housing on site: the same dormitory and the same number of people per room as in the agreed conditions. We found no discrepancies, and the plant received written confirmation that all four replacements fall under the guarantee.

1. 01

   Work

   The job title in the contract matches the permit and the candidate's information sheet.

2. 02

   Pay

   Payslips match the agreed pay, with no new deductions.

3. 03

   Housing

   Address, type of housing and people per room as in the agreed conditions.

4. 04

   Term

   Less than 6 months since the first shift, and a voluntary resignation.

04 / Departure

Closing leavers' documents with nothing left hanging for the plant

When a foreign national stops working, the employer has obligations of its own. The Employment Law expressly requires the employer to apply to cancel the work permit once the employment contract ends. Termination and final pay are for the plant's HR; we prepare everything to do with the permit, the journey and the person's documents.

Vikas had to leave within a week. We agreed the contract end date with the plant, prepared the application to cancel the permit and planned his route home with a ticket on the nearest flight. Rajesh explained that he must keep his passport and residence card with him right up to departure and reminded him who to contact if there were questions at the border.

For the other three we did the same, just without the rush. Each got a last working date and a departure date. The plant was left with one file per person: a copy of the contract termination, the permit cancellation application and the exit stamp. How we close documents on an urgent departure is covered in detail in the scenario about a worker's urgent departure.

1. Resignation day

   Conversation with Rajesh, reason and departure date, the plant informed.

2. A week before departure

   Contract end date, route and ticket, list of documents to carry.

3. Last working day

   Contract ended, permit cancellation application ready to file.

4. Departure day

   The person stays in touch until boarding. The exit stamp goes into the file.

05 / The reserve

Candidates who passed selection six months ago

For every project we keep a reserve from the first selection: people who passed the interview and checks but didn't travel because the places ran out. For the cable plant there were six. Rajesh called each of them: four were still looking for work abroad and agreed, two had found jobs at home.

We repeated the checks, because in six months people's circumstances and documents change. All four passports were valid with a margin for the one-year contract; two police clearance certificates were still recent, and for the other two we ordered new ones straight away, because under our checklist a certificate with an apostille takes four to six weeks. We held another video interview with the shop manager: the plant has the right to see who it's putting in the place. Rajesh sent each of the four an updated information sheet: same job, same pay, same dormitory, new departure date. The candidates signed it before the permit applications and confirmed that they had not been charged for placement.

In reserve

6 candidates from the first selection, 4 agreed

Passports

Valid with a margin for the whole contract term

Certificates

Ready for two, ordered for two right after they agreed

Interview

A repeat video call with the shop manager

Reserve candidates know the project: they've already seen the information sheet and know where the plant is and what the housing is like. So talking to them takes a day, not a week. How we build a reserve like this from day one is described on our recruitment page.

06 / New permits

A permit doesn't pass to another person

The plant first asked whether the leavers' permits could be reassigned to the new people. They can't: a permit is issued for a specific foreign national, so for each replacement we file a new application with a passport copy, translation, photo and draft contract. A decision on issue is made within seven working days.

The plant doesn't pay for recruiting replacements under the guarantee. State fees, the migration partner's services, flights and living arrangements for the new workers are paid by the company, as they were for the first group, and we showed those amounts on a separate line before filing. The plant pays the permit fee from its own account, otherwise the application is left without motion. We also checked whether any job titles in the plant's staffing schedule had changed in six months: new permits must match the current schedule. They hadn't, so the applications went in with the same job titles as for the first group.

For citizens of India the permit is followed by the consular stage: appointment, biometrics, insurance and a D visa file. The reserve candidates' documents were almost ready, so the whole path from agreement to entry took eight weeks for the first two and ten for those waiting on certificates.

07 / Handover

Four new operators with documents in place before their first shift

1. Week 1

   Candidates agree, repeat interview, permit applications.

2. Weeks 2-3

   Permits issued, D visa files, consulate appointments.

3. Week 8

   The first two enter, contracts in the first days, copies within 10 days.

4. Week 10

   Two more after their certificates. Tax numbers, bank accounts, residence permit applications.

5. Handover

   Each starts the shift with documents in order and dates in the register.

We housed the new operators in the same dormitory and the same rooms their predecessors had left. Before departure Rajesh introduced the newcomers to two operators from the group on a video call: who would meet them, how to get there from the station, what to bring. For someone taking the place of a person who left, that clears up questions before they even arrive. The address had already been checked, so the documents for the temporary residence permit and registration of residence went through without delay. From here we handle the whole group's documents through migration support, and what falls to the plant is described on the employer duties page.

08 / Outcome

Four places filled with no repeat recruitment fee

Reasons

All four personal, project conditions kept

Leavers' documents

Contracts ended, permit cancellation applications filed

Replacements

Four candidates from the first selection's reserve

Timeline

8-10 weeks from agreement to first shift

Recruitment fee

Not charged again, under the guarantee

When someone leaves, there's nothing WORKIN can't solve: we find the reason, close the documents and fill the place with a candidate we already know. The WORKIN replacement guarantee lasts at least 6 months from the worker's first shift, provided the agreed working, pay and housing conditions are kept, and the replacement procedure is written into the contract before the start. What to do if a candidate disappears before arrival is covered in the scenario about a no-show after the permit. You can budget for replacements in advance with the calculator. More on such projects on our pages about workers for manufacturing and workers from India.

09 / FAQ

Questions and answers