In this article
Key takeaways
The Employment Service of Slovenia publishes your vacancy at no extra cost and proposes candidates, but you hire them and you are their employer. A private employment agency either places a candidate into your employment or employs the worker itself and provides the work to you, so ask who signs the employment contract. The Employment Service suits permanent hires you have time for, while an agency suits projects, production peaks and postings to Austria or Germany, provided you check it in the ministry's register before you sign.
The Employment Service of Slovenia (Zavod RS za zaposlovanje, ZRSZ) is a public service: it publishes your vacancy at no extra cost and proposes candidates, but you hire them yourself. A private employment agency either finds a worker for you to hire (job placement) or employs the worker itself and provides the work to you (agency work; in Slovenian law, zagotavljanje dela delavcev uporabniku).
The difference is not the name but who signs the employment contract with the worker. With the Employment Service and with job placement, you are the employer. With agency work the agency is the employer, while you direct the work and pay an invoice. Below are the three routes side by side: what each costs, how fast it works and when it is the better choice.
Three routes to a worker: Employment Service, placement, agency work
A company in Slovenia that needs a worker has three routes. They differ in who searches for candidates, who employs the worker and who carries the obligations when the work runs out.
| Employment Service (ZRSZ) | Agency: job placement | Agency: agency work | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who searches | the Employment Service, through a public vacancy notice and its register of jobseekers | the agency | the agency |
| Who employs the worker | you | you | the agency |
| How fast | the notice goes live the same day if the Service receives it by 11:00 (Wednesday by 14:00); the hire follows your interviews | as agreed with the agency | as agreed with the agency; at Evroproces the team is on site 2–4 weeks after the enquiry |
| What you pay | the vacancy notice costs nothing extra; you pay wages and contributions | a fee to the agency as agreed; you pay wages and contributions | an invoice from the agency covering wages, contributions and its service |
| Who directs the work | you | you | you; the worker follows your instructions |
| When the work runs out | you end the employment contract | you end the employment contract | the worker stays employed by the agency; you end the arrangement on the agreed terms |
| Licence | public service | registered business activity; no ministry permit needed | ministry permit and entry in the agency register |
So the words "employment agency" do not tell you which of the last two services you are buying. Ask the provider who will sign the employment contract with the worker. The legal difference between the two services, including the 25 % rule and liability for wages, is set out in our article Labour hire, labour leasing or recruitment agency: who is the employer.
What the Employment Service offers a company
The Employment Service has 12 regional offices, among them Maribor, Ljubljana and Celje, each with an employers' desk. All of its services aim at one outcome: you hire the worker into your own company.
- Vacancy notice: no extra cost, in a job search engine that, by the Service's own figures, more than 20,000 jobseekers visit every day. You file form PDM-1 on the employers' portal. If the Service receives it on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday by 11:00, or on Wednesday by 14:00, the notice goes live the same day.
- Help with selection: advisers at the employers' desks select candidates, provide a room for interviews and organise speed-dating sessions and small job fairs.
- Subsidies: under the Zaposli.me 2026 programme you receive 450 to 720 euros a month if you hire an unemployed person from the target group whom the Service proposes. The job must last at least 12 months. Offers are accepted until the funds run out, at the latest until 30 November 2026.
- Mandatory notice: public-sector employers and companies majority-owned by the state must publish their vacancies with the Employment Service.
What the Employment Service does not do: it does not employ the worker for you, it does not run payroll and it does not replace a worker who leaves or falls ill. Candidates come mainly from its register of jobseekers in Slovenia. While a notice is live you cannot change the conditions of the job; you have to withdraw it and file a new one.
What an agency that provides workers does
In agency work the agency finds, checks, employs and pays the worker. The worker works at your site, under your instructions and inside your work process. An agency may only do this from the day it is entered in the agency register kept by the labour ministry.
This is how Evroproces works as a staffing agency based in Maribor. Workers for production, welding, industrial metalwork and pipefitting stay employed by us, and we run their payroll and contributions. We do not place candidates into direct employment with the client, so there is no placement fee.
For work in Austria and Germany we arrange the A1 certificates and the posting notifications. The A1 certificate is the form that proves the worker stays insured in Slovenia while working abroad. We usually answer an enquiry within 24 hours, a team proposal follows within a few working days, and for most profiles the team is on site 2–4 weeks after the enquiry.
When the Employment Service is better and when an agency is
The Employment Service is the better choice when:
- you want to hire the worker permanently into your own team;
- you have time for a vacancy notice, interviews and onboarding;
- the profile you need is available among jobseekers in your region;
- you meet the conditions for a subsidy and can keep the job for at least 12 months;
- you are a public-sector employer, for whom the notice is mandatory.
An agency that provides workers is the better choice when:
- you need a team for a project or a production peak with a known end;
- you need certified welders or other trades that are short on the local market;
- the work is in Austria or Germany and needs a posting with an A1 certificate;
- you do not want to run payroll, replacements and posting paperwork yourself.
An agency is not free: its invoice covers the worker's wages, contributions and the agency's service. For a permanent position, compare that invoice with the cost of employing the person yourself. Note also that as the user company you are secondarily liable for the agency worker's wages (Article 62 of the Employment Relationships Act, ZDR-1). This means the worker can claim the wages from you if the agency does not pay them.
How to check an agency before you sign
- Ask who will sign the employment contract with the worker. If it is you, this is job placement, and after the selection you carry all of the employer's obligations.
- If it is the agency, look up its company name in the public register of agencies for agency work on podatki.gov.si. Evroproces d.o.o. is entered under register mark 111.
- Compare the company on the offer with the company in the register. The legal entity must match, not just the brand.
- For work in Germany, also ask for the German permit for temporary agency work (Erlaubnis zur Arbeitnehmerüberlassung under the AÜG). Ours is on our company documents page.
The check is not a formality. A user company that takes a worker from an agency without a permit and register entry risks a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 euros (Article 178 of the Labour Market Regulation Act, ZUTD). For a user company with 10 or fewer employees the fine is 5,000 to 10,000 euros.
Next step
If you need workers for production, metalworking or a project in Slovenia, Austria or Germany, describe the need on our hire workers page: profile, number, location, start and duration. We usually reply within 24 hours with availability and tell you whether agency work fits your case or whether you are better off hiring through the Employment Service.
Sources & further reading
- 01Objava prostega delovnega mesta — Zavod RS za zaposlovanje (2026-10-06)ess.gov.si
- 02Pomoč pri iskanju kandidatov (pisarne za delodajalce) — Zavod RS za zaposlovanje (2026-10-06)ess.gov.si
- 03Zaposli.me 2026 — Zavod RS za zaposlovanje (2026-10-06)ess.gov.si
- 04Zagotavljanje dela delavcev uporabniku — gov.si (2026-10-06)gov.si
- 05Posredovanje zaposlitve (SKD 78.100) — SPOT, portal.gov.si (2026-10-06)spot.gov.si
- 06Register domačih pravnih in fizičnih oseb za zagotavljanje dela delavcev uporabniku — podatki.gov.si, MGDŠ (2026-10-06)podatki.gov.si
- 07Zakon o urejanju trga dela (ZUTD), 163. in 178. člen — PISRS (2026-09-18)pisrs.si
- 08Zakon o delovnih razmerjih (ZDR-1), 62. člen — PISRS (2026-09-18)pisrs.si
