Competence Agencies of Sweden

Welcome to Competence Agencies of Sweden

About us

Competence Agencies of Sweden is an employer and trade federation for staffing, outplacement and recruitment companies of all sizes operating in Sweden. It was founded on October 1, 2003, following a merger between SPUR and Almega Services Employers’ Association (for staff agencies), initiated by their membership.

Competence Agencies of Sweden is part of Almega, a grouping of seven service sector employer/trade federations, as well as member of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Svenskt Näringsliv.

Members of Competence Agencies of Sweden are also members of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.

Mr Patrik Eidfelt is Managing Director for Kompetensföretagen (Competence Agencies of Sweden).

Service to Members

The federation’s main objectives are to safeguard and promote the member companies’ common interests as employers and commercial undertakings in the staffing industry. In addition to public affairs related services and industrywide lobbying, this involves advice and assistance in employer matters, including legal representation.

Member Companies

The close to 800 member companies (2020) operate in all areas of employment/HR related services, the majority focusing on staffing. They employ the equivalent of 75,000 full-time employees every month. Every year our industry finds jobs for more than 200,000 people via staffing, outplacement and direct recruitment.

The sizes of the companies vary greatly yet there is a predominance of small companies: On average 85 percent have less than 50 full-time employees; about 12 percent have 50 to 250 full-time employees; and a smaller part have more than 250 full-time employees. Even so, the four largest corporations have over half of the market. For market figures, see Statistics (in Swedish).

Examples of occupational areas:

Administration
Accounting & Finance
Aviation
Consumer Sales
Construction
Engineering & technology
Health Care
Hospitality
IT
Industry & Manufacturing
Logistics & Warehousing
Marketing/Public Relations
Media

For further information on membership issues, please contact Membership Affairs within Almega.

Industry membership

Industry membership requires that you supplement with employer service through a service agreement with Almega, or that membership already exists in another Almega association. You also automatically become a member of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.

Industry and employer membership

With the addition of employer membership, you will receive personal employer service with negotiation support through Almega and the Employer’s Guide, as well as being a signatory to industry-adapted, flexible collective agreements.

Collective Agreements

As a member of Competence Agencies of Sweden, the company is be covered by one or several of the collective agreements listed below. These collective agreements take effect following notification. The date for this is determined by that point in time when such a notification is received by either party (the federation or the union counterpart), more precisely the first day of the month succeeding the receipt of the notification. Competence Agencies of Sweden has signed collective agreements with the following unions:

Salaried employees

General employment conditions – agreement for salaried employees (Unionen and the Swedish University Graduate Unions)

Salary agreement – salaried employees in staffing agencies (Unionen and the Swedish University Graduate Unions)

Staffing agreement

All LO member unions. Following accession, one LO union is appointed administratively responsible union (administrativt ansvarigt förbund), depending on the principal nature of the company’s business activities.

If an applicant company has already signed a collective agreement, or an adoption agreement (hängavtal), membership with the Swedish Staffing Agencies will involve its substitution for one of the federation’s collective agreements. Please contact Anna Vargö.regarding this procedure.

Conditions for our memberships – how to apply

Collective (Agreement) Insurance Schemes

Large part of the Swedish labour force is covered by collectively agreed insurance policies, also called labour market insurances, which are based on collective agreements concluded by the peak organisations on the labour markets. As a result, employers who are members of an employers’ federation such as Competence Agencies of Sweden are required, as a rule, to take out the related insurance policies for their employees.

As stipulated by the said collective agreements, a member company is to take out the related policies with FORA (for blue collar employees/wage-earners) and/or Alecta via Collectum (for salaried employees). As charges will be made retroactively in cases of delay, it is important to promptly notify the relevant insurance provider.

For further information regarding insurance schemes based on collective agreements, including the Supplementary Pension for Salaried Employees (ITP), please consult the publication Statutory and collective insurance for the Swedish labour market 2007, available at the website stated below, and/or contact the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise Insurance Information.

Authorization

As a means of setting the standard for staffing, outplacement and recruitment related services in Sweden, authorization has been introduced as a possibility for members to apply for. Previously, this procedure was mandatory but is from July 2019 voluntary.
The assessment for authorization is made by a bipartite committee headed by an impartial chairperson.
In order to become an authorized staffing agency, the applicant company must meet the following conditions:

A minimum of twelve months of industry related operations.
Compliance with the federation’s bylaws (in Swedish).
Current business is conducted through a Swedish legal person.
Submission of the most recent annual report, audit report and submission of documentation evidencing no owing of back taxes or duties.
Adherence to the collective agreements of the sector in which the company is operating (*).
Application of delivery terms at least on par with the federation’s general provisions (terms of delivery).
Coverage by the federation’s liability insurance or the equivalent.
Compliance with the federation’s ethical rules.
Assurance that all subcontractors are registered for VAT, pay taxes and duties, are covered by subcontractor insurance.
Completion of the federation’s special authorization training by at least one person holding a managerial position within the company.
Exposure of the federation’s authorization logo in all job advertisements and marketing activities.
For a renewed authorization, members are committed to submit ground for the authorization committee’s annual assessment.*) Exemption can be granted if there are no collective agreements in the sector in which the company is operating.

Special terms regarding companies within a corporate group

13. Authorization requires that group companies with similar / confusable names are bound by collective agreements for the contract area within which the company operates. This applies to companies for which connection to the federation can be made in the Competence Agencies.

14. An authorized company may not conduct most of its leasing through another company within a corporate group that is an industry member. For start-ups (i.e. companies not yet having operated for twelve months), there is a stay-period during which no authorization is require but certain basic membership conditions have to be met. As soon as the first annual report has been filed, however, the company must apply for authorization or else forfeit its membership with the federation.

For further information, please e-mail Competence Agencies of Sweden

World Employment Confederation

On an international level, Competence Agencies of Sweden is a member of World Employment Confederation – read more on their webb sites WEC-global and WEC-Europe.

The Flex Work Research Centre helps you find research in the field of temporary work, flexible work, labour contracts, temwork agencies, labour markets and employment.

Working environment

Prevent free checklists and questionnaires facilitates your efforts to investigate the working environment, risk assessment and follow-up measures.

White Paper-The Swedish Staffing Model

The Swedish Staffing Model combines long term contracts with job security and guaranteed earnings for the individual and market access to long contracts for the staffing agencies. Through agreements refined for three decades, unions and employers’ organisations seek to ensure a mutually beneficial market and social contract. These agreements have enabled staffing solutions to grow and become an integral part of the Swedish Labour Market Model, while giving the Swedish market somewhat different characteristics than in other European countries.

Download The Swedish Staffing Model