Who knew Aristotle’s teachings could inform the staffing industry?

The philosopher and scientist, who died in 322 BCE, emphasized taking an empirical approach when studying a discipline. At that time, the concept was revolutionary. Its essence is succinctly captured in the modern paraphrase from his work, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Aristotle’s methods can even be used to analyze the staffing industry. For example, SIA recently released the 2024 update of its Largest Staffing Firms in the United States report. The sum of its parts is impressive: 239 US staffing companies generated at least $100 million in 2023. However, the whole presents a host of opportunities to discover critical trends and insights in the way the industry is evolving.

One of the most fascinating and impactful recent industry trends is the emergence and rapid adoption of self-service digital platform models. Just five years ago, many large staffing firms did not take staffing platforms seriously — either as a threat or opportunity. In fact, of the 20 largest US staffing firms listed in our latest report, just one (TrueBlue’s JobStack) had a platform brand listed five years ago. Robert Half soon followed with the launch of a hiring platform called RH Direct in 2019, and Aya Healthcare began its meteoric rise in 2020 with the pandemic and its decision to make its platform technology more client and candidate facing. Remarkably, today, 12 out of the 20 largest US staffing firms now operate at least one staffing platform brand, marking a striking shift from 5% of this group to 60% in just five years.

Platforms of the 20 Largest Staffing Firms in the US

Source: SIA’s Largest Staffing Firms in the United States: 2024 Update

The shift to platform technology is not constrained to the largest of the largest. Other staffing firms with platforms to make this year’s list include Workrise, Trusted Health, Job&Talent, Axiom, Nomad Health, IntelyCare and SnapCare. While each of these examples is a pure staffing platform company, SIA survey data indicates there is a rising share of staffing firms pursuing an omnichannel strategy, which simply means they offer clients a choice of the traditional and platform approach.

Staffing firms with a platform currently in place: Predicted effect in 5 years

A rising share of staffing firms pursuing an omnichannel strategy. 
Source: North America Staffing Company Survey: 2023

Proponents of the omnichannel strategy generally stress that their clients value the option, as it allows them to engage — just as consumers do in other industries, such as banking, grocery and retail. Others note each model appeals to different sets of demographics, and therefore an omnichannel approach can expand a staffing firm’s total addressable market. Suppliers’ ability to track data across both lines of business can often lead to powerful strategic insights and serve to test the effectiveness of various campaigns and other operating tactics. Lastly, introducing a platform can, of course, lead to wide ranging direct cost savings, from improving productivity of recruiters and sales professionals to helping firms reallocate resources within their branch assets. Still, platforms may not be right for all staffing firms. There are many that thrive without a platform strategy and have no intention of introducing one.

While the 239 companies making this year’s list may have gained bragging rights, the works of Aristotle would teach us that the true value of the Largest Staffing Firms in the US list lies not merely in ranking the largest entities but in extracting linkages among them to understand the evolution of the market and more accurately predict its future.

SIA members can view the Largest Staffing Firms in the United States: 2024 Update list via an all-new interactive tool complete with historical trend analysis. To learn more about the temporary staffing platform market, see SIA’s Temporary Staffing Platform Update: 2024 report.