small and medium-sized businesses in Russia would like to attract self-employed people to work more often

Half of small and medium-sized businesses use the services of the self-employed, a survey by Support of Russia showed. 17% of those interacting with self-employed entrepreneurs were faced with inspections by regulatory authorities, mainly the tax service, which in some cases resulted in additional taxes and re-qualification of relations with performers of work and services. Nevertheless, a significant portion of respondents would like to involve the self-employed in work more often and are in favor of expanding the types of activities permitted for them.

Half of the surveyed representatives of small and medium-sized businesses use the services of self-employed people and would like to do this more often. This conclusion can be drawn from the results of the survey “Interaction between business and self-employed citizens” conducted by Opora Russia. It was attended by 794 respondents – legal entities and individual entrepreneurs from different fields of activity.

In the field of information technology, tourism (hotels) and housing and communal services, every third entrepreneur regularly turns to the services of the self-employed. In the field of consulting, transportation, public catering – every fourth. In more than half of the cases, self-employed people are involved in temporary projects, one-time work, or individual tasks are outsourced to them. They are less likely to be hired for remote (this was reported by 33.4% of respondents) or seasonal (17%) work.

The main reasons for refusing to work with such performers among the second half of respondents were the lack of need for this (80%), fear of inspections by government agencies (9.5%), legal restrictions (2.3%) and lack of necessary qualifications among self-employed people (1, 8%). The remaining respondents either found it difficult to answer the question about the reasons for the refusal (3.6%), or plan to turn to self-employed performers in the near future (2.8%). Some respondents responded that they use a general taxation system, and therefore it is not profitable for them to work with the self-employed.

The most popular way for businesses to find performers among the self-employed (74.5%) is with the help of relatives, acquaintances and colleagues. A little more than a third of respondents are looking for them through social networks or job sites. Only 17.6% use digital platforms to find self-employed people. Some respondents during the survey reported that the self-employed themselves approached them with a commercial offer of cooperation.

According to the survey, 16.6% of entrepreneurs who interacted with the self-employed faced inspections by regulatory authorities. In the overwhelming majority (89.6%) these were audits by the tax service – and 17% of such cases resulted in fines, additional tax assessments, re-qualification of relations and, as a consequence, the refusal of entrepreneurs to further cooperate with the self-employed partially or completely. Only 15% of respondents encountered inspections by labor inspectors.

Among entrepreneurs who involve self-employed people in their business activities, the majority (64%) are completely satisfied with cooperation with them. Respondents during the survey often proposed expanding the scope of permitted activities for the self-employed and raising the level of annual income allowed for them. Earlier, large businesses also made a similar proposal – the need to increase the income threshold for the self-employed was stated in the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (see Kommersant on November 3).

Anastasia Manuilova