Service Outsourcing vs. Labour Outsourcing in Saudi Arabia
If you are searching for manpower supply, this page is the one worth reading first — because since January 2026 the structure you contract under matters as much as the price. This is an explanation of the distinction and what it means for a company buying workforce services. It is not an offer of labour outsourcing.
In short
Saudi regulation distinguishes service outsourcing (تعهيد الخدمات), where a provider delivers a defined outcome using its own supervised workforce, from internal labour outsourcing (تعهيـد القوى العاملة), where workers are placed under the client's supervision. The second is separately licensed and processed through Ajeer. Since MHRSD Resolution 60339 took effect on 26 January 2026, getting this wrong creates exposure for the receiving company, not only the provider.
What's included
Service vs. labour outsourcing: how the structures differ
Procurement, operations and HR decision-makers evaluating outsourcing arrangements, and anyone who has been quoted for 'manpower supply' and is unsure what they are actually buying.
- Service outsourcing (تعهيد الخدمات)
- You contract for an outcome — a maintained facility, an operated plant, a cleaned building. The provider employs, directs and supervises its own workforce and carries the delivery obligation. This is how SCPL provides facility management and O&M.
- Internal labour outsourcing (تعهيـد القوى العاملة)
- Workers remain the provider's employees but work under the client's direction and supervision. This is what is commonly meant by 'manpower supply'. It is a licensed activity, must be documented and approved through the Ajeer platform, and is subject to duration, role and supervision limits.
- What Resolution 60339 changed
- Effective 26 January 2026, it replaced fragmented guidance with a structured framework: a formal distinction between the two activities, mandatory Ajeer documentation and approval, permits capped at three years or the end of the service contract, and role-to-role consistency requirements — the outsourced worker must perform the same licensed profession.
- Where liability sits
- The providing entity remains the legal employer, responsible for work permits, renewals and compliance. The beneficiary supervises the work and must stop it when a permit expires. Both sides carry obligations, which is why the receiving company's own compliance position depends on the structure being right.
- How to tell which one you are buying
- Ask who supervises the workers day to day, and what the contract obliges the provider to deliver. If the answer is 'we supervise them' and the contract is priced per head, it is labour outsourcing regardless of what it is called. If the provider supervises and is obliged to deliver a defined scope, it is service outsourcing.
Common questions
Is manpower supply legal in Saudi Arabia?
Placing workers under another company's supervision is a regulated activity, not a prohibited one. It requires the appropriate licence from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and must be documented and approved through the Ajeer platform. What creates exposure is doing it without that licensing and documentation — and since Resolution 60339 took effect on 26 January 2026, the receiving company shares that exposure.
We were quoted per worker per month. Is that a problem?
It is a signal worth checking. Per-head pricing with client supervision describes labour outsourcing, whatever the contract is titled. That is legitimate if the provider holds the appropriate licence and the arrangement is documented through Ajeer. If it is not, both parties are exposed. Ask the provider for their licence and their Ajeer documentation.
Which structure do we need?
It depends on what you actually want. If you need a result — a facility maintained, a plant operated, a site cleaned — service outsourcing is usually the better structure commercially as well as legally, because performance obligations sit with the provider. If you need people working under your own direction as part of your team, that is either direct employment via recruitment, or licensed labour outsourcing.
What does SCPL provide?
Licensed recruitment services, where we source candidates you employ directly, and scoped service outsourcing, where our own supervised employees deliver a defined scope such as facility management or plant O&M. If your requirement genuinely needs internal labour outsourcing, we will tell you, rather than structuring it as something else.
Talk to someone who does service vs. labour outsourcing every day
Tell us the situation and we'll tell you what it actually takes to fix it — including when the answer is that you don't need us.