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- A contract is cheaper than money: companies have increased the hiring of freelancers to a record
A contract is cheaper than money: companies have increased the hiring of freelancers to a record
Business has dramatically increased hiring under civil law contracts (GPCs). By September, there were almost 2 million such workers, 1.5 times more than a year ago, when their number was declining, Rosstat data showed (Izvestia studied them). This is a record for the entire observation period. The growth is related to the desire of companies to reduce costs against the background of high rates and changes in the tax burden: freelancers do not need to provide vacations and a workplace, and when working with the self-employed, insurance premiums are not paid. However, there are fewer social guarantees for such employees. How companies are punished for substituting employment contracts and what threatens the growth of informal employment — in the material of Izvestia.
Why are freelance employees being hired more often?
As of September 2025, almost 33 million people worked in Russian organizations (excluding small and medium-sized businesses). More than 2 million more were employed outside the state: about 600 thousand were part—time, 1.6 million were under GPH contracts, according to Rosstat data.
According to statistics, the number of full-time employees and part-time workers has hardly changed in eight months. However, employment under civil law contracts has sharply gained momentum - the volume of such contracts has increased almost 1.5 times compared to 2024, when this segment, on the contrary, decreased by 2%.
The increase was almost one and a half times the maximum for the entire observation period, calculations by Izvestia showed. Over the past 20 years, the number of GPH employees has doubled, and their share of total employment has doubled to almost 5%.
According to Rosstat, the largest number of employees in GPH this year accounted for trade, finance, healthcare and education.
A civil law contract (GPH) is an agreement under which the contractor undertakes to perform a certain work or provide a service, and the customer pays for the result. Such a document is signed for a specific period of time and does not mean official employment. The employee's working hours are fixed in the employment contract, whereas such conditions are not prescribed in the GPH: the contractor can perform the task at any convenient time, since remuneration is paid precisely for the result, and not for the work process.
One of the reasons for the increase in the number of employees registered under GPH contracts is related to the withdrawal of previously unofficially employed people from the shadows, the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor explained to Izvestia. In the first nine months of 2024, about 500 thousand people were legalized, and in the same period of 2025, almost 600 thousand.
Yulia Dolzhenkova, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, pointed out several factors among the reasons for the growth of employment in GPH:
• contracts are increasingly being concluded not only with individuals, but also with the self-employed, whose number is rapidly increasing: as of September, there were 14.6 million of them, an increase of 27% over the year, according to the Federal Tax Service;
• the development of digital services makes it easier to attract performers, including from abroad - GPH remains virtually the only legal tool for remote hiring of foreigners without the risk of claims from the labor inspectorate;
• the spread of platform employment (taxis, delivery, marketplaces and other online services), where they are often registered under GPH - in such cases, performers are usually registered as self—employed.
An additional factor was the growing staff shortage, said Farida Mirzabalayeva, Associate Professor of the basic Department of the CCI "Human Resource Management" at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In conditions of limited availability of employees, part of the company's needs is covered by attracting GPH contractors.
What is the benefit of hiring for GPH
Now, when businesses need to reduce costs and minimize risks against the background of high rates and an increased tax burden, employers consider GPH as a convenient tool for flexible staff management, explained Tatiana Podolskaya, an expert at the Presidential Academy. In fact, companies transfer fixed labor costs to the category of variables. This format allows you to quickly reduce the number of performers without going through the procedures provided for by the Labor Code, she added.
The GPH agreement is beneficial for employers for several reasons, said Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global. Firstly, the execution of such an agreement takes less time and does not require extensive document management, as when concluding an employment contract. Secondly, the company does not need to pay for vacations and business trips, provide compensation in case of dismissal, and issue a VHI (if it is provided for in the organization). According to the expert, it is often possible to reduce the cost of organizing a workplace — the contractor can perform tasks from home using his own equipment.
"According to various estimates, a GPH employee can cost a business 30-50% cheaper than a full—time employee," the analyst added.
In addition, there are no strict obligations on the minimum amount of the contractor's payment, and under a contract with the self-employed, there is no need to pay personal income tax and insurance premiums for him, Yulia Dolzhenkova from the Financial University reminded.
At the same time, despite the absence of a number of "buns" of full-time employees, the GPH format has its advantages. For certain categories — for example, students, young mothers and pensioners — it may even be more convenient, said Tatiana Podolskaya from the Presidential Academy. This mode allows you to independently plan a schedule and combine tasks for several customers at once, which means you can earn more.
What threatens the popularity of GPH
At the same time, employers are increasingly replacing employment relationships with GPH contracts with the self-employed in an effort to save money. In other words, performers often actually work as full—time employees, with a fixed schedule and management supervision, said Yulia Dolzhenkova from the University of Finance.
However, measures are already being taken to prevent such practices, she added. In particular, the Federal Tax Service is increasingly conducting inspections, including desk inspections. If the tax service, based on confirmed facts, reclassifies the civil law relationship into an employment relationship, the employer is charged additional personal income tax and insurance premiums for the entire term of the contract, as well as a fine of 40% of the unpaid amount. Additionally, officials face a fine from 10 thousand to 20 thousand rubles, legal entities — from 50 thousand to 100 thousand, the expert emphasized. Izvestia sent a request to the Federal Tax Service.
The All-Russian Research Institute of Labor reported that in order to identify cases of unjustified replacement of employment contracts, the Ministry of Labor has introduced risk indicators. They work, for example, when a company cooperates with more than 35 self-employed people who receive over 90% of their income from it for more than three months and earn more than 35 thousand rubles per month. Such a signal becomes the basis for checking the Socket. According to the institute, thanks to this mechanism, almost 11 thousand people were able to restore their labor rights in 2025.
The rapid increase in GPH employment may indicate the displacement of some workers from formal employment into self-employment. If this process develops without control, risks may arise over time for the formation of pension rights and social security of citizens, warned Farida Mirzabalayeva from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
— If a self-employed person does not pay contributions to the Pension Fund, they cannot expect to receive a number of payments, including maternity leave. This, in turn, can negatively affect the demographic situation," Yulia Dolzhenkova noted.
In order to avoid negative consequences, it is necessary to strengthen the regulation of platform employment, Farida Mirzabalayeva is sure.
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