AtWork Group franchise unit economics
AtWork franchisees run a 1,000 to 1,250 square foot staffing office placing temporary workers and making direct hires in a protected territory of about 200,000 people. The franchisor acting as employer of record and remitting a monthly balance. Across 63 offices the 2025 average was $3,658,091 of revenue on 143,615 hours billed, producing $640,398 of gross profit. The 7% royalty sits on revenue, which is 40% of that gross profit.
- Primary source
- AtWork Franchise, Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
- Population
- 63 of 83 locations
- Our calculations
- Marked on the page with an asterisk. Method
- Last reviewed
- 26 September 2026
Disclosure-based. Not a forecast, not an offer to sell a franchise, and not advice.
The royalty here is 7% of revenue, which sounds ordinary. On a staffing office that keeps 17.5 cents of every billed dollar, it is 40% of gross profit, and with the marketing fund, the $10,000 advertising commitment and the technology bundle it reaches 45.2%. The longer an office trades, the harder that lands, because margin falls as offices grow.
- A 7% royalty on revenue equals 40% of gross profit. $256,066 against $640,398 at the average office *, and the whole franchise fees reaches $289,721, or 45.2% of gross profit.
- That share rises with years open because margin falls. 30.3% of gross profit at one to three years and 41.1% beyond five *, as the gross profit rate drops from 23.1% to 17.0%.
- The filed 20.87% gross profit is an unweighted average of office ratios. Dividing the filed totals gives 17.51% *, 3.4 points, worth $122,912 a year at average revenue, so benchmark against 17.5%.
- Twenty-two offices closed during 2025 against 21 openings. 26.2% of an 84-office base *, and those 22 sit outside the figures on this page.
- An hour billed costs $25.47 of revenue and $4.46 of gross profit. At the average office *, so ten more people on assignment is worth $529,776 of revenue and $92,768 of gross profit a year.
How much does a AtWork Group franchise make?
The average AtWork Group unit reported $3,658,091 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $1,842,996. The brand’s disclosure document discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 7.9% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling businesses are below.
The hour as the unit
Everything is an hour, and it has four and a half dollars.
| Years | Hours billed | Revenue an hour * | Gross profit an hour * | People on assignment * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 51,517 | $28.11 | $6.50 | 25 |
| 3 to 5 | 65,834 | $27.55 | $5.20 | 32 |
| Over 5 | 184,891 | $25.10 | $4.28 | 89 |
| All 63 | 143,615 | $25.47 | $4.46 | 69 |
The hours, revenue and gross profit are as the brand reported it and the per-hour and headcount columns divide them by hours and by a 2,080-hour year, marked *.
Gross profit an hour falls from $6.50 to $4.28 as an office matures. A drop of $2.22 *, which across a mature office’s 184,891 hours would be worth $410,458 a year if it could be held.
The hourly rate changes little. $28.11 to $25.10 *, so the margin compression is in what the work costs.
The average office has about 69 people on assignment and the median about 32. 143,615 and 66,924 hours across a full-time year *, so this is a business of dozens of placements.
Ten more people on assignment is worth $529,776 of revenue. And $92,768 of gross profit at the average office *, the useful way to size a single new client.
The highest-selling office billed 2,105,257 hours. Against 4,748 at the bottom quarter, roughly 1,012 people against two, inside the same brand.
Top performers
What separates the top AtWork Group performers
AtWork Group splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $4,641,309 a year. The worst averaged $1,448,154. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $1,842,996. The average was $3,658,091. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 3.2× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Territory, and how much of it is real.This model sells from a territory rather than a building, quoted at 200,000 people. Two owners with the same brand and different ground are running different businesses, and density decides how much driving sits between jobs.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $165,000 to $250,000, a 1.5× range inside one brand. The high end usually buys more capacity, so the cheapest build is not always the cheapest route to the top band.
Live operating levers
- Cost of what you sell.Products and materials take 17.5% of sales. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume.
- Billed hours, the operating driver.This model bills on billed hours. The owner pays for every hour worked and bills only the hours a client accepts, so the job is to keep those two close and to protect the gap between the rate charged and the rate paid. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 7.9% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
- The first year.This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.63 of 83 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
- What the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
What 7% really costs
Seven percent of revenue is forty percent of what you keep.
| Charge | Rate | 1 to 3 years | 3 to 5 years | Over 5 years | All 63 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | n/a | $1,448,154 | $1,813,407 | $4,641,309 | $3,658,091 |
| Gross profit | n/a | $334,699 | $342,242 | $790,733 | $640,398 |
| Royalty | 7% of revenue | $101,371 | $126,938 | $324,892 | $256,066 |
| Marketing fund | 0.5% of revenue | $7,241 | $9,067 | $23,207 | $18,290 |
| Local advertising | $2,500 a quarter | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| Technology bundle | $149 a month an user | $5,364 | $5,364 | $5,364 | $5,364 |
| Total | n/a | $123,976 | $151,370 | $363,462 | $289,721 |
| Share of gross profit | n/a | 37.0% | 44.2% | 46.0% | 45.2% |
The rates, revenue and gross profit are as the brand reported it and the dollar figures apply the rates to each group's revenue. The technology bundle costed at three users, marked *.
The royalty alone takes 40.0% of gross profit at the average office. $256,066 of $640,398 *, the same economic share that brands charging on gross profit state openly, arrived at through a percentage of revenue.
At the median office the royalty is a lighter 33.8% of gross profit. $129,010 on $381,900 *, because the median office runs a 20.7% margin against the average office’s 17.5%.
The royalty rises to 10% on full-time placements. And the brand may move the rate by half a point every six months, up to a full point in any two years. So the base is adjustable as well as revenue-linked.
A low gross profit discount can take the rate to 4.5%. For customers a franchisee can show qualify, on a sliding range from 6.5% down. That on a low-margin account is the difference between viable and otherwise.
The fixed charges come to $15,364 a year. $10,000 of local advertising and roughly $5,364 of technology *, 4.6% of an one-to-three-year office’s gross profit and 1.9% of a mature one’s.
Revenue up, margin down
Offices grow into bigger accounts and thinner shares kept.
| Years | Offices | Revenue | Median revenue | Hours billed | Gross profit | gross profit, filed | Aggregate margin * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 7 | $1,448,154 | $1,449,656 | 51,517 | $334,699 | 27.94% | 23.1% |
| 3 to 5 | 14 | $1,813,407 | $1,470,434 | 65,834 | $342,242 | 19.94% | 18.9% |
| Over 5 | 42 | $4,641,309 | $2,497,286 | 184,891 | $790,733 | 20.01% | 17.0% |
| All 63 | 63 | $3,658,091 | $1,842,996 | 143,615 | $640,398 | 20.87% | 17.5% |
Every figure is as the brand reported it except the final column, which divides each group's filed gross profit by its filed revenue, marked *.
Revenue triples between the youngest and oldest groups while gross profit only doubles. 3.20 times against 2.36 times *. The clearest statement that scale here is bought with margin.
The filed margin figures average each office’s own ratio. 20.87% across all 63, against the 17.51% that $640,398 on $3,658,091 gives *, and the gap is widest in the over-five-year group, at 3.0 points.
A one-to-three-year office runs a 23.1% margin against a mature office’s 17.0%. *, six points, which on the mature office’s revenue would be worth $283,120 a year.
The median office bills 50.4% of the average. $1,842,996 against $3,658,091, because the largest office billed $47,159,739 against a smallest at $228,830, a 206-fold range.
Only 18 of 63 offices reach the average revenue. 28.57%, and 22 of 63 reach the average gross profit, so the mean here describes very few of the businesses in it.
Territory, build and customers lost
Two hundred thousand people, and a quarter of the system turning over.
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Reacquired | Ceased, other | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 80 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 81 |
| 2024 | 81 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 84 |
| 2025 | 84 | 21 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 83 |
Every column is as the brand reported it and each year's arithmetic returns the filed closing count exactly.
2025 saw 21 openings and 22 departures on an 84-office base. 26.2% turnover *, against 2 and 5 departures in the two prior years, and seven of the 22 had traded under twelve months.
A territory holds about 200,000 people and the average office bills $18.29 a head. The median bills $9.21 *, an useful yardstick when judging whether a territory is worked or merely held.
A second territory costs $20,000, half the first. Each needs its own office and its own $10,000 of annual advertising. So the second territory has roughly $15,364 of fixed cost before a single hour is billed.
The brand may shrink your territory if its population grows more than 50%. You keep the accounts you already serve there, which makes early account depth in a fast-growing market worth more than it first appears.
An office costs $165,000 to $250,000 to open. 0.26 to 0.39 times the average office’s annual gross profit *, including $75,000 to $139,500 of additional funds covering six to nine months and a $5,000 risk management reserve held by the brand.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What does an AtWork office bill?
Across 63 offices trading the whole of 2025, revenue averaged $3,658,091 with a median of $1,842,996, on 143,615 hours billed. Gross profit averaged $640,398 and the median was $381,900. The highest-selling office billed $47,159,739 and the lowest-selling $228,830.
What is gross profit here?
Revenue less wages expenses and taxes. Across the system it runs 17.51% of revenue on our reading, 23.1% at one to three years, 18.9% at three to five and 17.0% beyond five. The filed percentages of 20.87% and so on average each office's own ratio, so use the lower figures for benchmarking.
What does the brand take?
7% of sales for a Personnel Business, rising to 10% on full-time placements. 0.5% to the marketing fund, $2,500 a quarter of local advertising and $149 a month per user for the technology bundle. On our reading that totals $289,721 at the average office, 7.92% of revenue and 45.2% of gross profit.
Why does a 7% royalty matter so much?
Because it sits on revenue. At a 17.5% margin, 7% of revenue is 40% of gross profit. And because margin falls as offices grow, the royalty takes 30.3% of gross profit at one to three years and 41.1% beyond five years, on our reading.
What does an hour produce?
$25.47 of revenue and $4.46 of gross profit at the average office. By years open the hourly rate runs $28.11, $27.55 and $25.10 while gross profit an hour runs $6.50, $5.20 and $4.28. The average office has about 69 people on assignment and the median about 32.
What territory do you get?
A protected territory of roughly 200,000 people, described by counties, streets, ZIP codes or jurisdictions. An exclusive territory is expressly excluded, full-time placements inside it are non-exclusive. The brand may reduce the territory if its population grows by more than 50%. A second territory costs $20,000.
How stable is the system?
83 franchised offices at the end of 2025, against 84 a year earlier. During 2025, 21 opened and 22 closed (26.2% of the base, on our reading) with seven of those closures open under twelve months. The two prior years saw 2 and 5 departures, so 2025 stands apart.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Gross profit against 17.5%, because the royalty sits on revenue and every point of margin you hold goes straight to you. And hours billed against 143,615 a year, because an hour costs $25.47 and gross profit an hour is the difference between a young office from a mature one.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
Questions worth putting to AtWork Group
The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- What separates the highest-selling locations from the lowest: trade area, years open, size, or the owner?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many AtWork Group locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Finance Diagnostic runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →What is your royalty really costing you?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around a 7% royalty that takes 40% of gross profit, the 17.5% margin this system actually converts. $15,364 of fixed brand charges every office pays alike.
Request the reviewthe franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
AtWork Group reads against the rest of the staffing offices group: Express Employment Professionals · Labor Finders · PrideStaff · Spherion.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?How royalty, ad fund and minimums actually work on a monthly statement.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?A 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?Usually it is a revenue problem wearing a payroll costume.
- How much of Item 19 can I rely on?What a financial performance representation does and does not tell you.
- What should I be looking at every week?The handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.