Staffing Co.

Challenge

One year after a merger of equals, a combined multibillion-dollar staffing agency was still operating as more than 300 independent local businesses rather than a coordinated national enterprise. Shared services for finance and IT had been established and a centralized operations team provided overflow support, but execution suffered from unclear ownership and poor coordination across branches and corporate.

Working capital was rising and staffing fill rates lagged, in part because a one-size-fits-all approach to deploying change proved ineffective across a network this diverse. The company needed a clearer understanding of where breakdowns were occurring and how to capture the scale benefits it expected from the merger.

 

Discovery

We began at the corporate level, examining accounts receivable and collections practices to identify why balances remained high. Our team then moved into the field, conducting more than 60 branch visits to uncover local challenges, assess technology fit, and capture leading practices.

Workshops with combined corporate and branch teams revealed where support models were effective and where they were not, highlighting the post-merger complexity. We identified more than 100 opportunities for improvement and worked with the executive team to prioritize a small set for rapid testing and refinement. Lessons from the field were carried back into the corporate environment to shape more durable solutions.

 

Impact

We partnered with leadership to shift accounts receivable and collections from reactive to proactive management, redesigning processes to balance centralized standards with regional flexibility. Branches were re-segmented based on factors such as customer mix, staff size, and labor market conditions, enabling targeted deployment of operational and technology improvements. Rather than pursuing uniform corporate initiatives, we worked side-by-side with branch staff to tailor and embed solutions aligned with local operating norms. Our team also codified a more dynamic toolkit for future change, ensuring improvements could be rolled out more effectively over time.

These actions delivered substantial results:

• $120 million increase in revenue
• $20 million gross margin improvement
• Increased staffing fill rates by more than 500 basis points
• $30 million reduction in working capital

The organization emerged with better coordination, enabling stronger execution and creating a foundation for sustained performance improvement.

 

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Contact Our Experts

Stephen Wilson is a Managing Director at Innosight based in Dallas. swilson@innosight.com

 

 

Andrei Perumal is a Managing Director at Innosight based in Dallas. aperumal@innosight.com

 

 

Ernie Spence is a Managing Director at Innosight based in Dallas. espence@innosight.com