Staff shortages and a 40% turnover rate. A systematic approach can solve the problem.

The domestic labor market is exhausted. Bringing in migrants from CIS countries results in turnover rates of up to 50-100%. Bringing in employees on visas from far abroad is confusing and scary. Sound familiar?

But there is a solution. This is precisely what Natalia Vershinina, head of BRICS Mobility, discussed in March at an expert session hosted by OPORA RUSSIA and the Financial University, dedicated to business adaptation to migration reform. Her presentation generated interest among participants and many questions both during the session and behind the scenes.

Spotlight

The event, dedicated to a detailed analysis of upcoming changes to migration legislation, brought together key players. Elena Didenko, Vice Rector of the Financial University, opened the session. Representatives of the Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia spoke about the legal architecture of the 2027 reform. Irina Zubkova, Deputy Head of Rostrud, explained the new standards for regulatory and oversight activities.

The main vector of change in labor migration is the transition to organized recruitment, whereby foreign workers enter the country for specific vacancies. This model is already used for recruitment in visa countries. The presentation by practitioner Natalia Vershinina was one of the most concrete answers to a key business pain point: how to make foreign personnel a stable resource, rather than a source of stress for management and HR.

Buckle up. We're going down to 10%.

The key point Natalia Vershinina brought to the discussion was that a sound recruitment and training strategy can reduce the turnover of migrant workers from 50% to 10%.

"What allowed us to reduce turnover to 10% was precisely the selection of candidates with the participation of Russian employers, because no one understands your processes better than you," she noted.

But selection is only the beginning. According to Vershinina, the main mistake companies make is relying on remote interviews. A foreign applicant, especially a highly sought-after specialist, may promise the perfect job during the negotiations, only to find the opposite is true after hiring.

The solution is preliminary training in the recruiting country, before entering the Russian Federation. This includes professional testing, language learning, immersion in the future tasks, and familiarization with working and living conditions. According to BRICS Mobility's experience, half of the candidates are eliminated at this stage.

"Our experience shows that more often than not, half of them drop out at this stage, when we actively train them," noted the head of BRICS Mobility, explaining that this filter allows us to eliminate unmotivated individuals even before they begin working. However, those who stay and undergo at least a month of training understand where they will be working and what is expected of them.

How to build a system, not put out fires

The government today understands the importance of preliminary training. A new professional retraining program, "Specialist in Attracting Foreign Labor," was presented to the session participants. Andrey Kirillov, Deputy Vice Rector of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, spoke about this.

All this suggests that the time for "spontaneous hiring" is passing. The new rules of the game, which will come into effect on January 1, 2027, require businesses to have a well-established system: from recruitment to onboarding, from legal clarity to managerial predictability.

What does this mean for your business?

For the owner or HR manager, the key takeaway is simple: visa labor migration is only effective if it is managed. If the process is left to random agents, if training begins after arrival, if there is no onboarding system, you will be replacing people every three months and paying for it three times over.

Setting up a clear system—selection tailored to your needs, pre-entry training, and support for the first 45 days—provides stable teams with a 10% turnover rate and the ability to plan production without rush jobs.

BRICS Mobility has traveled this path, achieved real results, and is ready to share its experience—not in theory, but in practice.