Nokia and Dacia companies, which generate more than 10% of Romania's exports, have nearly 4,000 temporary employees, with the two companies at the same time being the biggest employers to use the benefits of temporary workforce.

The two companies together have over 20,000 employees, with high export demand prompting them to resort to renting employees, a much more flexible method of hiring.

"Companies use temporary employees to reduce costs. For instance, if a company wants to employ 100, it needs to handle recruitment on its own, and do it fast. If it resorts to a company that finds temporary employees, it promptly gets candidates who have already been assessed, in addition to the fact that they no longer have to go through the recruitment and the salary process, which are also handled by the former," says Florin Godean, sales manager of Adecco Romania group.

Temporary work contracts are brokered by companies such as Adecco and Lugera. Temporary employment makes it very easy for employers to let such employees go if production declines, as they do not have to negotiate severance pay or the restructuring process with trade unions.

In fact, making temporary work legislation more flexible has been one of the leading proposals made by foreign investors for modifying the Labour Code.

Romania is close to the bottom of the European ranking in terms of the share of temporary workers in the overall number of salaried employees, currently accounting for 0.5% out of a total of 4.2 million employees. In countries like the UK and France, temporary employees account for as much as 4.5% of the overall number.

Nokia and Dacia companies, which generate more than 10% of Romania's exports, have nearly 4,000 temporary employees, with the two companies at the same time being the biggest employers to use the benefits of temporary workf