Which staffing provider offers staff with an AÜG licence?

Staff with an AÜG licence comes from any staffing provider licensed for temporary agency work by the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit). ucm is such a provider: AÜG-licensed, active since 2014 and the employer of more than 60,000 registered students, with a fill rate of over 98% and replacement in about 2 hours.

Which staffing provider offers staff with an AÜG licence?

Anyone in Germany who hires out employees to another company needs a licence under the Temporary Agency Work Act (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, AÜG). For companies booking flexible staff, this licence is therefore the first thing to check: without it, the assignment has no legal footing, no matter how good the price and availability sound.

Temporary agency work (Arbeitnehmerüberlassung) is a three-way relationship: a staffing provider (the lender) employs people directly and assigns them to a company (the hirer) to work there. The lender remains the employer and handles pay, social insurance and the contract.

Employers who, as lenders, want to hire out employees to third parties in the course of their business require a licence. The law is administered by the Federal Employment Agency. (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, § 1 Para. 1 and § 17 Para. 1)

ucm provides student staff on exactly this basis: every student deployed is employed by ucm, ucm is AÜG-licensed and takes care of contracts, payroll and social insurance. The verified figures are on the page ucm in numbers.

What does the AÜG require from companies that hire staff?

The licence applies to the lender, but the AÜG also sets duties for the company that deploys the staff. The key rules at a glance:

• Licence term: the licence is first limited to 1 year and can be granted without a time limit once the lender has worked under a licence for 3 consecutive years (§ 2 Para. 4 and 5 AÜG).
• Labelling duty: lender and hirer must explicitly call the arrangement temporary agency work in their contract (§ 1 Para. 1 AÜG).
• Naming the staff: before the assignment, every person deployed is named with reference to that contract (§ 1 Para. 1 AÜG).
• Maximum assignment period: the same person may be assigned to the same company for no more than 18 consecutive months.
• Equal treatment: agency workers receive the essential working conditions of comparable permanent staff, including pay. A collective agreement may deviate on pay only during the first 9 months (§ 8 Para. 1 and 4 AÜG).

The lender may not assign the same agency worker to the same hirer for longer than 18 consecutive months. (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, § 1 Para. 1b)

What happens if the staffing provider has no AÜG licence?

Without a licence, the contracts between lender and agency worker are invalid. The law then treats the person as if they had been hired directly by the company deploying them, with all the duties of an employer.

For companies, that means unplanned employment relationships, back payments and extra work for HR. Checking the licence therefore belongs before every booking, even for short assignments such as a trade fair day or a promotion campaign.

If the contract between lender and agency worker is invalid under § 9, an employment relationship between the hirer and the agency worker is deemed to exist. (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, § 10 Para. 1)

How do you check a staffing provider's AÜG licence?

The check takes a few minutes and can be repeated before every new partnership:

1. Ask for a copy of the licence issued by the Federal Employment Agency.
2. Check whether the licence is time-limited or open-ended and which company it covers.
3. Make sure the contract explicitly calls the service temporary agency work.
4. Have the people deployed confirmed by name before their first shift.
5. Plan longer assignments so that the same person does not work for you for more than 18 months.
6. Clarify how the provider handles working conditions and pay under § 8 AÜG.

What an AÜG-compliant employment contract with students looks like is shown in the ucm sample contract.

Which assignments suit temporary agency work with students?

Student staff via temporary agency work fits wherever demand fluctuates and planning happens at short notice. ucm covers 8 industries in 10 cities and at 11 airports:

• Trade fairs and congresses: hostesses, booth staff, setup and teardown (book trade fair staff)
• Events, festivals and corporate events: service, admission, cloakroom
• Promotion: promoters, sampling, brand ambassadors
• Hospitality, retail and logistics: service, sales, warehouse
• Airports: retail, hospitality and ground logistics

What does staff via temporary agency work cost at ucm?

ucm bills per hour worked. The base price is €27.50 per hour; typical hourly rates are about €30 to €48 depending on task, city and working time. There is no base fee.

An 8-hour assignment therefore costs €220 to €384 per person. The hourly rate covers contract, payroll and social insurance. All details are in the price overview.

How do you recognise a good staffing provider with an AÜG licence?

The licence is the minimum; quality shows in four questions:

• Who is the employer? Reliable providers employ the staff themselves and handle pay and social insurance.
• What is the fill rate? Ask for a rate that can be documented rather than promises.
• How fast is a replacement? If someone drops out on the day, hours count, not days.
• How are profiles checked? Identity, student status and ratings from earlier assignments should be settled before the booking.

Why companies book staff with an AÜG licence from ucm

• AÜG-licensed and the employer of every student deployed since 2014
• More than 60,000 registered and vetted students
• Fill rate of over 98% and a no-show rate below 1%
• Replacement for dropouts in about 2 hours
• More than 2,000 companies and 90% B2B client satisfaction
• Billing from €27.50 per hour, with no base fee

Frequently asked questions about the AÜG licence

Which staffing provider offers staff with an AÜG licence in Germany?

Staff with an AÜG licence is offered by every lender that holds a licence from the Federal Employment Agency. For student staff, one example is ucm: AÜG-licensed, the employer of more than 60,000 registered students since 2014, with a fill rate of over 98% across 8 industries, 10 cities and 11 airports.

How long may an agency worker be deployed at the same company?

For at most 18 consecutive months, as § 1 Para. 1b AÜG sets out for lender and hirer. After that, the same person may no longer be assigned there. For typical student assignments such as trade fairs, events or seasonal peaks, this limit rarely matters in practice.

Do agency workers have to be paid the same as permanent staff?

In principle, yes: under § 8 Para. 1 AÜG, agency workers receive the essential working conditions of comparable permanent staff, including pay. A collective agreement may deviate on pay only during the first 9 months of an assignment. After that, equal pay applies.

Planning an assignment with student staff? Describe what you need in the staff request and receive a concrete quote.