Long-term commitments focusing on “win-win” relationships between customers and suppliers (or among suppliers) that add value to both parties through increased sales, reduced expenses, and/or greater productivity.

A clause found in some MSP/RPO agreements through which the intermediary (MSP or RPO) has no obligation to pay sub-vendors (staffing suppliers) unless and until the end-user (buyer) settles its own invoices. Pay When Paid Clauses are popular with buyers as it enables them to simplify their invoicing procedures and provides them with “one throat to choke” while the intermediary also gains – primarily from cash management opportunities. However, the concept is much less popular among sub-vendors, which often have no knowledge of whether the end-user has made a payment and is usually discouraged or prevented from having a direct dialogue with the end-user. Sub-vendors also suffer from this arrangement as it limits their ability to factor invoices and thereby finance their business.

A segment of the Payroll/Compliance Industry, a payroll service is a business service that provides payroll processing, pay check writing, and payroll tax administration, for a fee. A payroll service is an administrative function provided on the basis that no co-employer or joint employer relationship exists. The service is usually provided by specialist payroll companies but can, sometimes, be provided by staffing companies for an administration fee.

Daily living expenses paid to technical, travel nurses, or other skilled temporary or contract employees while they are employed at a distant location requiring housing away from home, or during a period while they are relocating. Can also refer to billing by the day (instead of hourly billing) or shorthand for nurses provided on a daily basis rather than a travel basis.

Short for permanent, usually permanent placement.

A colloquial expression used to describe long-term temporary workers who successfully sued Microsoft Corp. in the US, in a case that began in 1996. It is an amalgam of “permanent” and “temporary.” Microsoft eventually settled with plaintiffs for approximately $100 million. As a result of the high-profile nature of the case, many companies began looking at their temporary worker policies with much greater scrutiny.

Gradual retirement brought about by the reduction of full-time employment commitments over a set period of time.

The act of placing a job applicant in a traditional, direct-employment role.

The result of effecting a traditional direct employment relationship, usually used to describe a successful referral by an employment agency. “Placement” generally implies the marketing of applicants to employers, rather than the recruitment of applicants for a specific employer position.

An employment agency that seeks to refer applicants seeking employment to employers seeking employees. A fee is charged either to the employer or the applicant (rarely) after a successful referral.

The fee due to an agency when a referred candidate is hired by a direct employer, typically in the range of 15% to 35% of annual salary. Fee calculations are usually based on salary — one month’s salary, a fixed percentage (e.g., 20% of annual salary), or a percentage that increases with the salary level (e.g., 1% per thousand).

Services provided by a staffing service to an organization to locate a properly skilled employee with the ultimate goal of a traditional direct hire employer-employee relationship with the client; may include “temp-to-perm” services. (See also: Temporary-to-Permanent.)

Contracting for the regular use of temporaries to handle peak production periods, seasonal activities or special projects. May involve the supplementation of a customer’s traditional workforce, or the provision of a temporary workforce to handle a project that occurs periodically. (The concept of “Planned Staffing” differs from “Facilities Staffing” in that planned staffing refers to cyclical or intermittent staffing needs, while facilities staffing refers to the process of “planning turnover” in a continuous function. However, as might be expected, these terms are often used interchangeably.)

A pejorative definition used to describe non-standard forms of work including contingent work. A similar pejorative term also used occasionally is “Atypical Work.”

A Contingent Workforce Sourcing Model (see definition) in which the provision of the majority of a contingent workforce is exclusively granted to a limited number of staffing providers, but more than one, at specified conditions. (See also: Primary Suppliers)

Two or more suppliers that have the majority of a company’s staffing requirements distributed to them, in lieu of or underneath an MSP arrangement. They may be on-site and they may also be in a competitive bid situation or not. (See also: Managed Service Provider.)

Refers to the standard contractual arrangement commonly found in the US and UK whereby the MSP acts as the Principal contractual (and payment) intermediary in relation to the supply by second tier staffing companies of temporary workers. They may also act as an intermediary in the supply of independent contractors/freelancers (whether though an agency or not) as well as SOW contractors. (See also: Agency Model MSP and Margin only Model MSP)

Industry segment of the Workforce Solutions Ecosystem. Use of an outside business services vendor (and its supervised personnel), either on the customer’s premises or off-site at the vendor’s location, to perform a function or run a department that was previously staffed and supervised by the customer directly. (Sometimes, but not necessarily, limited to situations where some or all of the customer’s previous staff performing that function are hired by the outsourcing vendor. For our purposes, Process Outsourcing describes the use of an outside vendor to perform part or all of the role of a Human Resources department or a specific work output. Partial solutions would include Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) where a vendor takes on responsibility for an organization’s hiring requirements (to some degree) and Managed Service Provision (MSP) where a vendor manages an organization’s staffing suppliers. It could include outsourcing certain aspects of human resources (HRO) or outsourcing a whole work function/ department such as telesales, catering or security (BPO). Such outsourcing could be done locally or offshore and sometimes, but not necessarily, limited to situations where some or all of the customer’s previous staff performing that function are subsequently hired by the outsourcing vendor.

In addition to assuming a significant portion of employer responsibilities for a client company’s workforce, additional services may include many human resource functions such as recruitment, drug testing, etc. However, the PEO does not have accountability or responsibilities in regards to output or results.(See also: Employee Leasing.)

A fixed monthly fee charged as part of a Recruitment Process Outsourcing contract and which covers all aspects of service delivery. A proportion of the fee is normally linked to performance via service-level agreements against pre-agreed targets to provide a risk/reward system. Alternative RPO fee models/components are a Success Fee (normally on a per-hire basis) and a Transactional Fee for miscellaneous services.

A pre-approval for spending on a specific product or service. Some organizations require the issuance and approval of a purchase order before a contingent worker may be employed.