Costs are climbing across the entire workforce ecosystem. As staffing buyers look to manage their spending, they’re rethinking their approach to labor acquisition. The result? Rising demand for statement-of-work programs. 

“More and more contingent workforce programs are including SOW,” says Craig Johnson, SIA’s senior editorial director, who wrote our cover feature, “SOW demand is accelerating. Are you ready?.” “This growth is bringing it up on the radar of staffing firms.”  

More than half of large staffing client firms now include SOW in their CW programs, according to SIA’s Workforce Solutions Buyer Survey: 2024 Americas Results. That’s up from 42% in 2011.  
In his reporting, Johnson found numerous benefits. For one, SOW can appeal to high-quality talent because it can offer more attractive benefits along with flexibility.   

Yet it’s an not entirely seamless or streamlined approach. Any staffing firm that offers it has to make sure they carefully evaluate the offering.  

“Experts say the sales process and contracts are more complicated,” Johnson tells me. “Staffing firms will also be taking on risk with SOW.” 

Risk is a familiar sensation for the companies that appear on this year’s Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms list. Despite the staffing market’s overall slowdown, these 145 stalwarts were the year’s top revenue growers, based on data from SIA’s annual survey of staffing firms. 

“We’re not afraid to invest and to take it to the next level,” says Katie Macías, vice president of strategy and client partnership at Cynet Health, in our story “On the Fast Track” beginning on page 18. 
A little risk is healthy, but not if it means losing your attention on the people who drive your business. Other notable characteristics of companies on this year’s list included a focus on internal staff as well as their customers.  

Here at SIA, our focus is on you: our members, our audience, our readers. We welcome your comments and insights. Find me at [email protected] or at any of SIA’s conferences.