If you’ve got your ear to the ground in the staffing industry, for the past several months you’ve probably heard about a lot of acquisitions taking place. It’s a growing trend we’re seeing in the industry where staffing firms have been acquiring staffing platforms and talent marketplaces.
It’s no surprise that agencies are capitalizing on these opportunities, since platforms are revolutionizing the staffing industry.
EmployBridge acquires staffing platform technology company Bluecrew
On October 5th, EmployBridge, the largest industrial staffing company in the US, announced the acquisition of Bluecrew. Bluecrew is the first hourly workforce as a service provider (W2) with a platform-first model. To put it simply, the leading provider of light industrial staffing solutions is adopting staffing platform technology to expand their reach to candidates across the United States.
This adoption of staffing platform tech will lend itself to EmployBridge’s ability to scale more dramatically than before. “By joining forces with EmployBridge, we will have the scale, resources and footprint to take Bluecrew’s model and accelerate a true transformation in the category by putting our best-in-class platform in the hands of so many more businesses nationwide. We can’t wait to get started,” said Stephen Avalone, CEO of Bluecrew.
Yes, there is a trend going on with acquisitions
It’s been subtle, but there has been a growing trend where staffing agencies are announcing the acquisition of mobile staffing solutions companies.
Need a list?
What does this trend in acquisitions mean?
Candidates are demanding better experiences and the staffing firms that are more than happy to acquiesce are rapidly adopting mobile staffing options. As with most cases, the larger or more tech forward companies will set the trend but it won’t be long before the medium to small firms will join in. Being among the first to adopt is obviously key, but it’s more important to not fall behind.
Note which industries these agencies that acquired staffing platform are in. You’ll see it’s mostly healthcare, industrial and IT services. Every vertical in staffing has a unique set of elements that need to be considered when choosing staffing technology, such as volume of demand, verifiable licenses or credentials (learn more about if your agency should be using a staffing platform).
And these investments are paying off. We’ve been seeing for a while now how platform-enabled agencies are reducing their cost per hire by 5x. We’ve seen our clients grow their revenue by as much as 30% in eight weeks, open up an entirely new, organic channel to find candidates and double the efficiency of their recruiters in some cases. It’s not a trend the industry can ignore much longer.
What should you be doing?
If you’re a staffing firm and you’ve been playing with the idea of adopting staffing platforms, this information should ignite a fire. You don’t want to be the last agency on board, losing market share to firms that didn’t hesitate. You should be investigating your options – whether to build or buy or go with native or web app.
Interested in learning more about trends like this in the industry? Let us know below!
