Recruitment and Staffing Agencies in Liechtenstein

The two models are often confused in everyday use, yet they differ fundamentally in law — on the question of who your employer is.

• Placement (Arbeitsvermittlung): the agency brings you and a company together so that you conclude an employment contract. After that the company is your employer and the agency is out of the relationship.
• Staffing (Personalverleih, temporary work): the staffing firm is and remains your employer. It assigns you to a host company where you actually work. Pay comes from the staffing firm, instructions from the host.

Both activities require a licence. Anyone placing workers regularly and for payment inside the country needs a licence from the Office of Economic Affairs; the same applies to staffing firms. Placement or staffing abroad requires a further licence in each case.

Liechtenstein law surprises many applicants here: an agency may charge you a registration fee and a placement commission. That is permitted — but tied to strict conditions.

• Only on success: you owe the commission only once the placement has actually led to an employment contract. Not before.
• In writing and quantified: the agency must conclude a written contract with you stating its services and the remuneration owed for them.
• No fee for referred unemployed people: anyone registered as unemployed with the Office of Economic Affairs and referred from there to a private agency pays no registration fee.
• Two clauses are void: one preventing you from approaching another agency — and one obliging you to pay again if you conclude further contracts with the same employer without its help.

In practice: read the placement contract before you sign, and have the remuneration quantified. Many agencies bill the company anyway and charge you nothing — but then that is what the contract will say.

Anyone working at a host company through a staffing firm is not worse off on pay. The law requires equal treatment — an implementation of the European temporary agency work directive.

Equal treatment expressly covers the protection of pregnant women and nursing mothers, the protection of children and young people, equal treatment of men and women and the prohibition of discrimination at work. Two further rights are little known: the host company must inform you about open positions in its own organisation, and must give you access to its communal facilities on the same terms as its own staff.

If a generally binding collective agreement applies at the host company, the staffing firm must observe its working conditions and submit the documents for inspection. What else applies in the employment relationship is in the employment law guide.

The licence is not a formality: it is granted only if the company meets certain conditions, and the Office of Economic Affairs keeps an electronic register of the licences issued, including the responsible individuals.

If in doubt, ask for the licence and check it against the register. Three warning signs worth a closer look: a payment falling due before any contract is concluded; a contract forbidding you to apply elsewhere; and the absence of any written agreement at all. All three conflict with the law.

For employers the calculation is different: they usually pay a fee based on the annual salary of the position filled, and receive pre-selection, market knowledge and often a replacement guarantee. In a market with unemployment around two percent, access to candidates who are not actively applying is the real product.

Staffing solves a different problem: peaks in demand, sickness cover and projects with a foreseeable end, without entering a permanent contract. The price is the staffing rate, which already includes equal pay.

Anyone wanting to advertise positions themselves will find the terms under post a job.

One important distinction to close: joblie is not a recruitment agency. We place no one, charge applicants nothing and never become your employer. joblie is the job portal for Liechtenstein — the surface on which companies, and indeed recruitment agencies, advertise their open positions.

In practice that means you apply through joblie directly to the advertiser, with no fee and no intermediate step. Which employers and agencies advertise here is on the company overview; current positions are in Triesen, Vaduz and Schaan, or under all jobs.

This article does not replace legal advice. It reflects the Employment Agency Act as it stands; in an individual case your contract decides.