Staffing and RPO Surpassing 2010 Y-O-Y Results

As bullish as I’ve been on RPO, results reported to date for staffing and RPO providers have exceeded even my expectations.  As we all know, 2009 was a down year for hiring, but then there was a big turnaround in 2010 and in RPO, most vendors I interviewed for my recently published RPO report said that revenue and hiring are back to pre-recession levels. Although hiring has picked up in the U.S., I don’t think any of us would say it is going gang-busters yet.  But in comparison to overall staffing results for Q1 2010 that averaged ~12% revenue growth, Q1 2011 has about doubled thus far.  Let’s take a look at some Q1 2011 results to date and how they compare year-over-year to Q1 2010:

• Manpower up 24%
• Hays up 18%
• SeatonCorp up 25% and its RPO business PeopleScout is up 103%
• CTG up 22%
• SFN up 6% and its RPO business in SourceRight Solutions is up 83%
• Randstad up 22%
• Kenexa up 59% and its RPO business is up 56%.

I do believe that the rest of the year will be strong for staffing, but it’s hard to believe that RPO will maintain quite the same momentum.  That said, hiring will improve and I agree completely with Manpower’s findings on May 6^th stating that  U.S. companies must hire again as workers are stretched to the max doing more with less.  In my view, it’s been this way long before the recession, mostly in part to how Wall Street rewards companies for their performance, but we’ve reached a tipping point and I’m almost certain this is not just a U.S. phenomenon.

But instead of just reading about it, come join us at the HRO Forum in Las Vegas May 24 – 25 that combines the HRO, RPO, and MSP Summits along with the HR Demo Show.

As a speaker, I’ve been extended an offer to invite buy-side HR execs with a 60% discount and also an offer for a limited number of RPO buy-side practitioners to be able to attend all four Summits for free, get reimbursed for travel up to $500, and get 2 hotel nights for free. If you are interested, then send me an email at gary.bragar@nelson-hall.com and I’ll send you the info/codes to register.

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall

Plan Ahead to Attend the HRO and RPO Summits

As a reader of our blog, you know that we don’t normally advertise events.  Rather, we provide our own commentary on the HRO market.  However, since this is the first time the HRO Summit and RPO Summit is being combined, plus MSP and the HR Demo, I thought I’d pass along the details: HRO Today Forum.

The RPO Summit 2011 is all about managing global talent and improving the business value of recruiting and staffing. The Summit aims to put the right people together to discuss how recruitment can lead the corporate agenda, including expert speakers, targeted presentations, in-depth case studies, and hands-on workshops focused on the solutions and technologies that will unleash the true potential of the HR-Powered Enterprise.

You can register now for the RPO Summit at http://bit.ly/fhSKDS and save 30% using promo code SPSAV30.

I’ll be at the RPO Summit in Las Vegas on May 24^th presenting my latest RPO research with an emphasis on benefits to buyers and critical success factors to make RPO a success.

In the meantime, I can’t resist sharing some news on the RPO front. This week, Futurestep won a 5-year RPO and consulting contract in New Zealand and Australia with Fonterra, a large dairy exporter, performing ~2,000 permanent and fixed-term hires per year, demonstrating that all industries globally are engaging in RPO.  Hope to see you in Vegas!

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall