Earnings Reports Point to Global RPO Growth

In confirmation of NelsonHall’s past several quarterly HRO Confidence Indexes, this season’s earnings reports demonstrate that RPO is continuing to make a nice comeback compared to a year ago. For example, SeatonCorp’s PeopleScout RPO business reported 88 percent year on year revenue growth, with its best quarter ever (11 new contracts), Manpower total company achieved 19 percent growth and 24 percent in constant currency, and Hays total company reported 21 percent growth in net fees and 18 percent in constant currency.

From this representative sampling of RPO providers’ reported quarterly earnings, not too shoddy from the doldrums of a year ago. And the additional good news is that this growth is global. Looking at different world regions:

In the U.S.

90 percent of PeopleScout’s revenue came from North America, including RPO contracts with United Road and Chicago Career Tech. And Manpower grew its revenues by 84 percent in the U.S., in part due to an RPO contract with AIR-serv.

In Asia Pacific

Manpower increased its revenues in this region by 30 percent, led by Australia with 80 percent growth, and Hays increased net fees by 59 percent, with Australia and New Zealand permanent placement net fee growth up 60 percent, and Asia up 76 percent.

In Continental Europe

Hays and Manpower both experienced strong growth in several countries, including Germany, as Continental Europe’s economy has started to demonstrate signs of recovery.

In The Americas (outside the U.S.)

Manpower achieved growth of 31 percent in Mexico and 33 percent in Argentina, and Hays grew revenue by 35 percent in Brazil.

It’s important to note here that this increased hiring is not just patchwork quilting to plug short-term gaps. For example, Manpower reported that permanent recruitment was up across all regions, and Hays’ growth by segment was 34 percent permanent and 12 percent temporary.

So why the increase in hiring and use of RPO? Buy-side companies around the world are again acknowledging that it is not enough to improve earnings results by cost cutting, but rather that they must grow top line revenue and increase sales. As a result, they are beginning to reinvest in and grow their businesses, and thus are again facing the build versus buy dilemma when it comes to the recruiting process. But having lived through two drastic economic downturns in just this decade alone, many companies are recognizing the value of leveraging the expertise, scale and technological capabilities of third-party recruiting organizations, rather than rebuilding their internal recruiting departments only to potentially need to downsize them again someday. 

NelsonHall is initiating its third global RPO study of leading providers next month. When the results are in, I’ll share deep dive insights on how recruitment services are evolving and what lies ahead.

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall

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Tags: Hays, hr outsourcing, hro, HRO Confidence Index, HRO providers, Manpower, nelsonhall, NelsonHall HRO Confidence Index, PeopleScout, recruitment process outsourcing, rpo, rpo contracts, RPO providers, rpo research, SeatonCorp

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