Temporary Agency Work in Germany and Austria

What Hoteliers Really Need to Know

Hotels looking for night-shift staff sooner or later come across the topic of temporary agency work — “Arbeitnehmerüberlassung” in Germany and “Arbeitskräfteüberlassung” in Austria. We spoke with Annabella Pannarale-Endres and explain the key principles, pitfalls and differences between Germany and Austria. At the end, you’ll learn why wilkon does not offer temporary agency work for the night shift, but instead night audit services tailored specifically to the hotel industry.

Definition of Temporary Agency Work:

In temporary agency work (also called “Leiharbeit” or “Zeitarbeit”), a lender provides its employees to a hirer for a fee. The temporary workers remain employed by the lender but work in the hirer’s business, where they are subject to the hirer’s authority to issue instructions.

The decisive feature is integration into a third-party business under third-party instruction: the hirer determines what is to be done, when and how; the lender merely supplies the labor. This triangular relationship is tightly regulated in both Germany and Austria — and rightly so, because it can easily work to the detriment of the employees.

The Legal Situation in Germany

In Germany, the Temporary Employment Act (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, AÜG) applies. For hotels as potential
hirers, four points are central:

Licensing requirement: Commercial hiring-out requires a license from the
Federal Employment Agency (§ 1 (1) AÜG). Without it, the supply contract is
invalid.
Maximum hiring-out period: Since 2017, the same temporary worker may be supplied to the same hirer for a maximum of
18 consecutive months (§ 1 (1b)
AÜG). For a permanent post such as the night shift, this is a structural disadvantage.
Equal Pay: After nine months at the latest, the statutory entitlement to
equal pay with comparable permanent staff applies (§ 8 AÜG).
Disclosure requirement: The supply of labor must be expressly designated as such in the contract
(§ 1 (1) AÜG). A “contract for work” under which staff are in fact supplied
violates this rule.

The Legal Situation in Austria

In Austria, the same principle is called Arbeitskräfteüberlassung — that is the legally
correct term; “Leiharbeit” is only used colloquially. It is governed by the
Austrian Temporary Agency Work Act (Arbeitskräfteüberlassungsgesetz, AÜG), which distinguishes three roles
(§ 3): the supplier (Überlasser), the user (Beschäftiger) — the hotel — and the worker (Arbeitskraft).

Trade license instead of central authorization: Supplying labor is tied to a
trade license. The system has no central licensing reservation held by a
labor authority such as the German Federal Employment Agency.
No statutory maximum period: Unlike in Germany, there is no limit on
the duration of the assignment.
Equal treatment and appropriate pay: Supplied workers are largely
placed on an equal footing (§ 6a) and are entitled to appropriate pay (§ 10), determined primarily
by the collective agreement of the sector.
LSD-BG: The Wage and Social Dumping Prevention Act (in force since 2017) severely sanctions
underpayment — particularly relevant for cross-border assignments.
Clear distinguishing standard: Whether supply of labor exists is assessed by its “true economic substance” (§ 4 AÜG) — among other things, by whether an independent work with its own material and tools is produced, whether the staff are integrated into the third-party business, and who is liable for the success of the service.

"Temp work" in Germany and Austria compared

Temporary agency work: Germany and Austria compared
Feature	Germany	Austria
Term (law)	Arbeitnehmerüberlassung	Arbeitskräfteüberlassung
Legal basis	AÜG (DE)	AÜG (AT) + LSD-BG
Authorization	License from the Federal Employment Agency	Trade license, no central licensing reservation
Maximum hiring-out period	generally 18 months	no statutory limit
Equal Pay	after 9 months at the latest	Equal treatment + pay per collective agreement from the start
Distinction from contract for work	via case law / actual implementation	statutory catalogue of criteria (§ 4 AÜG)

The Grey Area: Concealed Supply of Labor and Sham Work Contracts

Whether an engagement qualifies as temporary agency work does not depend on the wording used in the contract, but on what actually happens in practice. If external staff are integrated into the hotel operation and are effectively subject to the hotel’s instructions, temporary agency work always exists — even if the paperwork says “contract for work” or “service contract”.

» It’s not the contract title that counts, but the practice as it is actually lived. This is exactly where risks arise that many hotels underestimate. The wilkon model, by contrast, is consistently aligned with the applicable legal framework. «

Annabella Pannarale-Endres

In Germany, a supply of labor disguised as a contract for work — a sham work contract — can
have serious consequences. Under certain conditions, an employment relationship may even arise between the staff deployed by the service provider and the hotel operation (§§ 9, 10 AÜG), plus fines (§ 16 AÜG). The hotel would thus involuntarily become the employer. With the wilkon model, such a constellation does not arise in the first place, because wilkon does not merely supply staff but takes over the entire night in its own responsibility, thereby offering a considerably broader service.

On the Safe Side With Temporary Agency Work?

One might now think that with a pure supply-of-labor model a hotel is on the safe side from the outset,
because a sham work contract definitely cannot arise. But this view is too narrow, because pure agency-work models offer hotels a number of disadvantages — for example the maximum hiring-out period in Germany, the constant staff turnover that comes with it, or the very strict equal-pay requirements in Austria.

From Practice:
When Someone Drops Out at Short Notice

An employee calls in sick shortly before the night shift. With pure temporary agency work, the lender does provide workers — but the responsibility for keeping the reception desk staffed remains with the hotel; whether and how quickly a replacement arrives depends on the supply contract. With the wilkon model, wilkon does not owe a specific person but the service itself: if someone drops out, wilkon organizes the replacement from its own team — the hotel has to do nothing and ideally doesn’t even notice.

Even more decisive, however, is that pure agency-work models virtually by design do not deliver the relief that hotel clients actually expect from handing over the night shifts — for example because the authority to issue instructions, and thus the entire responsibility for the night shift, remains solely with the hotel, while the hotel operation has little influence on the quality of the temporary workers’ performance.

In Which Situations Does Temporary Agency Work Make Sense?

To avoid misunderstandings up front: wilkon is authorized to offer temporary agency work — and does so, but almost exclusively for the day shift:

» In the day shift, temp work fulfils exactly its original purpose, namely to flexibly absorb short-term absences or temporary additional demand. When a hotel operation needs temporary support here, we are happy to help our clients. But that is not our core business. «

Annabella Pannarale-Endres

The wilkon Model as a Legally Secure, Quality-Focused Alternative

For the night shift, by contrast, wilkon does not rely on the agency-work model. Instead, wilkon takes over full responsibility for the respective hotel operation virtually at the moment of the handover to the night shift. Night audit thus becomes a completely independent service — with its own staff, its own processes and its own responsibility.

» In the night shift we don’t lend out people — we take the entire area off the hotel’s hands. We recruit specifically for the night, we have perfected our processes over years, and we retain our employees long-term. The hotel gets experienced staff instead of rotating temps — something that would not be possible with temp work alone, if only because of the 18-month limit in Germany. «

Advantages of the wilkon Model for Hotels and Employees

In concrete terms, this means above all one thing for the hotel operation: reliability. The night is guaranteed to be staffed — 365 days a year, with experienced, trained personnel who know the operation. If someone drops out, wilkon organizes the cover; the hotel doesn’t have to worry. Added to this are defined quality standards from more than 35 years of specialization — and full legal certainty, because no questions of supply of labor arise. For the employees, the same model means a permanent, long-term employment relationship with real development opportunities.

Advantages of the wilkon night-shift model for hotels and employees
What matters	For the hotel	For employees
Compliance	Legal certainty in all respects, with no hidden agency-work issues	Regular permanent employment with full employment-law protection
Absence & cover reliability	Guaranteed staffing 365 days a year – wilkon organizes cover for sickness or holidays	Predictable rosters and the support of a permanent team
Long-term collaboration	Permanently experienced, trained staff – without the 18-month limit of temp work	A permanent, long-term employment relationship with wilkon
Clear structures and contacts	Dedicated contacts who know the hotel operation and handle all communication	Authority to issue instructions lies solely with wilkon
Well-rehearsed processes	Processes optimized over years specifically for the night audit
Quality & experience	Defined quality standards and, since 1989, specialized exclusively in night audit for the hotel industry
Development & qualification	Recruiting focused specifically on the night shift Continuous training for specialists and career changers Long-term development opportunities

Sources

Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (AÜG, Germany) – §§ 1, 8, 9, 10, 16; 2017 reform
Arbeitskräfteüberlassungsgesetz (AÜG, Austria) – §§ 3, 4, 6a, 10 (RIS, consolidated version)
Lohn- und Sozialdumping-Bekämpfungsgesetz (LSD-BG, Austria) – in force since 2017 (RIS)
Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO): Arbeitskräfteüberlassung

Disclaimer:

This article provides a general overview of the legal situation at the time of publication and does not replace legal advice. To assess an individual case, please consult a qualified body (e.g. a lawyer, the Chamber of Commerce, or the Federal Employment Agency).

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» Die Zusammenarbeit mit wilkon ist seit vielen Jahren von Zuverlässigkeit, Professionalität und einer jederzeit partnerschaftlichen Abstimmung geprägt. Wir schätzen insbesondere die gleichbleibend hohe Qualität sowie die verlässliche Umsetzung vereinbarter Leistungen. «

» Unsere anfängliche Sorge, dass Outsourcing die Gästezufriedenheit negativ beeinflusst, hat sich nicht bestätigt. Die wilkon-Nighties sind gut geschult und werden von wilkon laufend weiterentwickelt, so dass unsere Gäste keinen Unterschied wahrnehmen. Intern entlastet wilkon unser Front-Office-Team deutlich, da kurzfristige Ausfälle kein Risiko mehr für uns darstellen. Besonders schätzen wir den professionellen und offenen Kundenkontakt, so dass wir auch Herausforderungen stets konstruktiv und lösungsorientiert klären konnten. «

» Wir schätzen die erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit mit wilkon bereits seit vielen Jahren. In einem Großteil unserer österreichischen Hotels übernimmt wilkon den Nachtdienst. Besonders in Wien steht ein großer Pool qualifizierter Mitarbeiter zur Verfügung, so dass eine verlässliche Abdeckung der Schichten gewährleistet ist. In Salzburg kann es vereinzelt zu Engpässen kommen - aber wilkon fängt das flexibel durch andere Standorte auf. Dies führt zwar teils zu erhöhten Kosten, aber wilkon überzeugt uns durch die kontinuierlich hohe Service-Qualität. «

»wilkon ist für uns seit über 15 Jahren ein fester Bestandteil unseres Hotelbetriebs. Die Nachtdienste werden zuverlässig, selbstständig und mit dem nötigen Verantwortungsbewusstsein durchgeführt. Das entlastet unser Team spürbar und sorgt für einen stabilen Ablauf auch in der Nacht. «

» Ich möchte mich im Namen unseres Teams herzlich für die großartige Unterstützung durch das Nachtdienst-Team während unserer ersten Schritte mit Opera Cloud bedanken. Gerade in der Anfangsphase ist es eine große Hilfe, auf die Erfahrung und Kompetenz der Kolleginnen und Kollegen in der Nacht zählen zu können. Ihr Einsatz, ihre Geduld und ihre Bereitschaft, ihr Wissen weiterzugeben, haben uns den Einstieg erheblich erleichtert. «

» Wir schätzen die Zusammenarbeit mit wilkon seit vielen Jahren sehr. Über verschiedene Hotels hinweg hat sich stets gezeigt, dass wir uns auf ihre Expertise und Zuverlässigkeit verlassen können. Besonders beeindruckend ist die hohe Professionalität, die Kontinuität und die individuelle, persönliche Betreuung, die unser Tagesgeschäft erheblich erleichtern und uns nachts gut schlafen lassen weil unsere Betriebe in guten Händen sind. Wir fühlen uns in jeder Situation bestens unterstützt und freuen uns auf viele weitere Jahre der erfolgreichen Partnerschaft. «