How to choose a manpower supply company for your plant, when every quotation ends on the same line: a price per worker per month? The real difference does not show in the price. It shows on the day of an inspection, the day of an absence and the day of a dispute.
The summary in three lines
- Start with one question: who is the worker’s legal employer? The answer decides who carries the wage, the insurance and the dispute.
- Every duration in the quotation has to be written into the contract, with a clear starting point.
- Ask for the price itemised line by line, beginning with the employer’s share of social insurance.
How to choose a manpower supply company when quotations look alike
The monthly price per worker is one number that hides four questions. Who signs the worker’s contract? Who pays the insurance? Who sends a replacement on an absence? Who stands before the Labour Office at an inspection?
When the answers are vague, the liability comes back to the plant at the worst possible moment. So we have grouped the 12 questions into three sets: legal standing, day-to-day operation, and cost and contract.
First: questions about legal standing
1. Who is the worker’s legal employer?
In a manpower supply arrangement the worker sits on the supplier’s payroll, not on yours. The contract, the wage, the insurance and the entitlements are the supplier’s responsibility. Technical management of the work stays with you.
Ask for the template of the employment contract the worker signs, and the template of the contract between you and the supplier. If the supplier does not appear in the worker’s contract as the employer, the liability has not actually moved.
Watch out for Article 94: where an employer entrusts work to a contractor inside the same workplace, the contractor must give its workers parity with the employer’s workers. The employer is jointly liable with the contractor. In practice, the supplier’s mistakes can come back to you.
2. Does every worker sign a written contract before day one?
Labour Law 14 of 2025 requires a written contract in Arabic, issued in four copies. The copies go to the employer, the worker, the social insurance office and the competent administrative authority (Article 89).
Ask exactly when the contract is signed. A worker who starts before signing is a gap in the site file on the day of an inspection.
3. Is the worker registered for social insurance from the first working day?
A late insurance registration leaves the worker unprotected in their first weeks, and exposes the site to a violation. Ask the supplier for proof of registration for each worker, not a general undertaking.
A worker can also check the registration personally, through the insurance number enquiry service on the National Organisation for Social Insurance website. It needs the national ID number and the mother’s name.
4. Does the worker pay the supplier anything?
A supplier who charges the worker for ‘placement’ puts a worker in your plant who is in debt and angry from day one. The law bars placement bodies from taking any sum from a worker in return for employing them. The only exception is administrative expenses of no more than 1% of the first year’s wage, for licensed placement companies (Article 43).
Ask the supplier directly, then ask the workers themselves a week after they start.
Second: questions about day-to-day operation
5. How long does supply take, and from when is it counted?
‘Within two weeks’ means nothing without a starting point. Does the clock start at the first call, at the site visit, or when the quotation is approved?
Ask for the duration in writing for each team size. In our own contracts: 7 to 14 working days for a team of up to 50, and 3 to 4 weeks above that. Both are counted from approval of the quotation.
6. How many hours to replace an absentee or a leaver?
Absence happens on every site. The real question is how many hours the line runs short. Ask for a replacement window in hours, and a standby workforce percentage written into the contract.
Ask also that the replacement happens without you having to request it, and at no charge for the replacement. Our own window is 48 working hours from the absence being confirmed.
7. Who supervises the workers inside the site?
Technical supervision and task allocation stay with your supervisors. Attendance, discipline and a worker’s daily problems need a supervisor from the supplier inside the site, not a phone number in a distant office.
8. What does the monthly report contain?
The monthly report is the evidence that the supplier is delivering what it signed for. The minimum we consider reasonable:
- An approved payroll register for every worker
- Receipts for social insurance payments
- Attendance, absence and overtime
- A replacement log with the days each vacancy stayed open
- Turnover indicator for the month
Ask when it arrives. A report that lands weeks later helps you with no decision at all.
Third: cost and the manpower supply contract
9. What are the price lines in detail?
The monthly price per worker bundles several different items. Ask for them separately, so you compare quotations on one basis:
| Item | What it covers | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Wage | The agreed wage for each role | Not below the private sector minimum: EGP 7,000 a month since March 2025 |
| Employer’s share of social insurance | 18.75% of the insurable wage | That it is calculated on the actual wage, within the 2026 band of EGP 2,700 to 16,700 a month |
| Leave and public holidays | The days paid by force of law | That they sit inside the per-worker cost, not outside it |
| Overtime | Hours beyond the shift | An uplift of 35% by day and 70% by night on the hourly rate (Article 121) |
| Standby workforce | People who cover absence | A written percentage, and who carries its cost |
| Management fee | Supervision, files and reports | A stated fixed amount or percentage |
A quotation that does not itemise the insurance share may be built on an insurable wage lower than the actual wage. The difference shows up later, in a worker’s entitlements or in an inspection report.
10. Who carries overtime, leave and public holidays?
These items recur every month, and so does the argument about them. Put the calculation method and the approver in the contract: overtime hours from the attendance record, approved by you before the payroll register is issued.
11. When does the price change during the contract term?
A fixed price does not mean the cost will hold. The minimum wage and the insurable wage limits change by official decree, and a decree can land in the middle of the contract.
Ask for a written clause setting out how the difference is calculated on every legal change. Otherwise each new decree turns into a new negotiation.
12. What happens when the contract ends or is terminated?
Ask about the notice period, about the workers’ end-of-service entitlements, and about who pays them. A contract that says nothing about its own ending leaves you with a liability you never costed.
Warning signs in any quotation
- A single monthly price with no breakdown for insurance and leave
- No template for the worker’s contract, and none for the contract with you
- Any sum the worker pays in return for being employed
- Supply durations with no written starting point
- A promise of any headcount within a day or two, with no site visit
- A monthly report that is not in writing, or one with no payment receipts
Quick comparison table
| The question | An answer that reassures | An answer that should worry you |
|---|---|---|
| The legal employer | The supplier, with a written contract for every worker | ‘The worker belongs to you, and we help’ |
| Social insurance registration | From the first working day, with proof per worker | ‘After the probation period’ |
| Supply duration | A set number of days from approval of the quotation | ‘As soon as possible’ |
| Replacing an absentee | A set number of hours, at no charge for the replacement | ‘Depending on availability’ |
| The monthly report | A fixed date, with the payment receipts attached | ‘On request’ |
| A change in price | A written clause tied to official decrees | ‘We will sort it out then’ |
Before you sign
Ask for a site visit before any quotation. A supplier who prices without seeing the line and the shifts is pricing an assumption, and the gap in that assumption is paid later.
We have published our own answers to all 12 questions, with the durations and the numbers, on the How we work page. Beside them is what you can verify before signing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between manpower supply and direct hiring?
With direct hiring the worker joins your payroll, and you carry the contract, the insurance and the file. With manpower supply the worker stays on the supplier’s payroll, and technical management of the work stays with you.
What is a sensible standby workforce percentage?
It depends on the shift pattern and the absence rate on the site. In our contracts it runs between 5 and 8% of the team, and is set after the site visit.
Can we start with a small number as a trial?
Yes, and we prefer it. A small team on one line exposes the operating detail no quotation shows, and the scope then widens on a real result.
Sources
- Labour Law 14 of 2025 — Official Gazette, issue 18 (supplement), 3 May 2025. Articles 43, 89, 94 and 121.
- Social Insurance and Pensions Law 148 of 2019 — the 2026 insurable wage limits from the National Organisation for Social Insurance.
- The National Council for Wages decision on the minimum wage in the private sector.
