Forty sites, one employer: recruiting cleaners from Bangladesh for a cleaning company

01 / The request

One employer, forty workplaces

The Kyiv cleaning company services forty sites: office blocks, shopping centres and several logistics warehouses. It was always short of cleaners, so it decided to hire people from Bangladesh on long contracts. Twenty-four people, some with cleaning experience in hotels and offices abroad.

What's special about this project is that people work not at the company's own premises but at its clients' sites. For the documents that's fine: there's one employer, and the work permit is obtained by the cleaning company, not by the owners of the offices or warehouses. But a person at a client's site must do the work recorded in their permit and in their contract with the company that holds it.

Arif, our manager for workers from Bangladesh, started not by searching for candidates but by asking the company what exactly people would do at different sites. The answer determined how many job titles the permits would have and whom to look for. The company provided its staffing schedule, a register extract and a list of site types without client names: client names aren't needed for a permit, but selection depends on knowing what the work is.

Offices and shopping centres

16 people: daily cleaning of office and public areas

Warehouses

8 people: cleaning industrial and storage areas, working with floor machines

Language

Basic English, Bengali with Arif

Housing

Rented flats in Kyiv, six people each

02 / Job titles

Two job titles, because an office and a warehouse are different work

The company first wanted to register all twenty-four the same way and move them between sites as needed. We suggested looking at it from the permit's point of view. Cleaning an office and cleaning a warehouse with a scrubber-dryer are different jobs, and the company's staffing schedule already had two positions with different pay.

Working on terms other than those in the permit is a violation carrying a fine for the employer for each person. So we filed permits for two job titles: sixteen people as office cleaners and eight as industrial premises cleaners. Candidates for each were selected separately, and everyone knew which type of site they'd work at.

If the company later wants to move someone from offices to a warehouse, that's a change of job, and a permit update must be filed within 30 days. We put this rule in a guide for HR, so transfers don't happen 'just for a week while someone's on leave'.

03 / Interviews

What candidates from Bangladesh asked before agreeing

Arif held interviews in Bengali and English together with our licensed partner in Dhaka. We looked at several candidates for each place, checking experience, basic English and how people understood working at someone else's site alongside the client's staff.

Each candidate received an information sheet in English and Bengali: employer, job, pay, working hours, type of site, housing and address, and which costs they cover themselves. A separate line states that the candidate was not charged for placement. The questions were very practical, and Arif answered each before anyone signed. Two candidates honestly withdrew after the conversation: they wanted kitchen work, not cleaning. We kept them in our database for restaurant projects and filled their places from the reserve.

• can I take extra work in my free time to send more to my family;
• who will be in charge at the site: the company's manager or the client's;
• what do I do if a client's employee asks me to do other work;
• will people from the same country live together and how many to a room;
• how do I send money to Bangladesh and do I need a bank account.

04 / Side jobs

An honest answer to the question everyone asks

Almost everyone asked about side jobs. People come to earn, and an extra shift at a café or warehouse on a day off seems normal to them. We gave an honest answer before departure, not after the first inspection at a site.

The Employment Law allows a foreign national to work in different jobs for one or several employers, but only if each of them has obtained a permit. Working for another employer without that employer's permit is a violation for whoever took the person on, and the main employer's permit can be cancelled. The worker risks everything: their job, residence permit and the chance to come back.

Arif put it simply: if you want to earn more, tell us, and together with the company we'll see what can be done lawfully. Candidates took it calmly: people value an honest answer before departure more than promises. How work for several employers is set up is covered in detail in the scenario about a restaurant group with several legal entities.

05 / The D visa

A visa file with nothing to question

Citizens of Bangladesh need a D visa to work in Ukraine, and the whole route from recruitment to starting work takes eight to twelve weeks on average. First the company obtains work permits, then candidates apply to the consulate with their document file, book biometrics and attend in person.

We gathered candidate documents using our checklist: a passport with enough validity, a translation with a certified translator's signature, photos, a police clearance certificate prepared for use in Ukraine, and an insurance policy with cover of at least EUR 30,000. We ordered the certificates as soon as candidates were approved, because they take several weeks and are what most often holds up the visa route.

Arif checked every file before booking: the Latin-script name identical in passport, permit and policy, insurance covering the visa term, and the permit copy and invitation with the same job titles. The consulate gave one candidate a biometrics slot a week later than the others, and we didn't move the whole group: he flew with the second group. More on this route on our workers from Bangladesh page.

1. 01

   Permit and invitation

   A work permit copy and an invitation with the job title as in the permit.

2. 02

   Candidate documents

   Passport with enough validity, translation, photos, police clearance.

3. 03

   Insurance

   A policy with cover of at least EUR 30,000 for the whole visa term.

4. 04

   In person

   Consulate appointment and biometrics, attended by the candidate.

06 / Addresses

A landlord who accepted tenants but not registration

The company had rented housing in advance: four flats in Kyiv with six people each. Two weeks before the first group arrived we checked the address documents for residence permits and registration of residence. Three flats were in order. But the owner of the fourth said he was happy to rent it out but wouldn't register six foreigners there.

We register residence and file residence permits at the address where the person actually lives, so that option didn't work for us at all. We didn't try to persuade the owner; within a week, together with the company, we found another flat whose owner agreed in writing to registration. We checked the lease before signing: its term covers the workers' contracts, and consent to registration is written into it.

The six people who were to live in the first flat learned their new address before leaving home and received updated information sheets. For them nothing changed; for the documents it meant residence permits were filed at the address where people really live.

07 / Arrival

From the border to the first site with documents in order

1. Weeks 1-3

   Interviews, information sheets, permits for two job titles, certificates ordered.

2. Weeks 4-8

   D visa files, appointments, biometrics, consular decisions.

3. Week 9

   Address checks, replacement flat, tickets for two groups.

4. Week 10

   Arrival, contracts in the first days, copies within 10 days.

5. Weeks 11-12

   Tax numbers, bank accounts, residence permit filings, registration.

On the first working day each person got a card from the company with their site and manager's contact, and from us a guide in Bengali: employer, job title from the permit, what to do if asked to do other work at a site, and Arif's phone number. Temporary residence permit filings went ahead in groups of six.

That's where our work with the group ended: assigning people to sites and schedules is the company's job. The employer's document obligations are described on the employer duties page, and how a contractor's workers' documents are checked at a client's site is covered in the scenario about a crew check on site.

08 / Outcome

Twenty-four people at forty sites with job titles that match the work

Job titles

Two job titles in permits by site type, 16 and 8 people

Candidates

Selected separately for each job, information sheets in two languages

Side jobs

Explained before departure: only with each employer's permit

Visas

Files checked before booking, certificates ordered straight away

Addresses

A flat without consent to registration replaced before arrival

There's nothing WORKIN can't solve in projects where people work at other companies' sites: we register jobs as people will actually do them, explain permit limits before departure and check every address before arrival. 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. The list of what the company prepares for filing is in the company checklist, the whole route on how it works, and you can estimate costs in the calculator. More on our pages about workers for cleaning, recruitment and the work permit.

09 / FAQ

Questions and answers