Staffing franchise finance
Averan read the 2026 FDDs of seven staffing and recruiting brands. Across 893 reporting offices, sales per office runs from $17,527 to $6,947,291. The published royalty runs from 3.5% to 40%, and that range misleads. Three brands charge on revenue and three charge a share of gross profit. Converted to one measure, the range closes to 7.5% against 40%.
Find a staffing brand
6 brands in this guide, each from its own 2026 FDD. Open one, or pick two and compare them.
Top performers
These are the things that separate top performers in staffing
At the typical staffing brand, the best group of locations sells $9,779,779 a year. The worst group sells $1,429,522. That is $8,350,256 more a year, 6.8 times over, for the same brand on the same agreement. Across these brands, a median of 31% of locations reach their own brand’s average. The average describes the top of a system, not the middle. 4 of the 7 brands here publish bands; the rest disclose no spread at all.
Decided before you open
- What it costs to open.Opening costs run $103,900 to $363,200 across the category, and the top of a single brand’s range is typically 1.6 times its bottom. The top group sells $9,779,779 a year against a build that tops out at $363,200, so at the heavy end of the range a location sells $26.93 for every dollar it cost to open. That build is recovered inside a year or two of sales at that end of the system.
- What a location sells.Average sales run $3,658,091 at the middle brand and $9,779,779 at the top group. Format and site decide most of that before an owner does anything, which is why the same operator produces different results in different trade areas.
- Rent is one number, and it lands twice.Occupancy runs 20.5% of sales at the middle brand, which on median sales of $3,658,091 is $749,909 of rent a year. That same $749,909 is 7.7% of sales at the top group and 52.5% at the bottom. Nobody negotiated a worse lease. The top performers move this line by putting more sales through the same square footage: longer earning hours, a second daypart, and a site picked for traffic rather than for the rate.
Live operating levers
- 3 of the 6 brands here bill by the hour.The owner pays for every hour a caregiver works and only bills the hours a client accepts, so the first job is to keep those two numbers close together. The second is to protect the gap between the rate charged and the rate paid, and the top performers do that by scheduling carefully and holding pay bands rather than by raising the price. They are AtWork Group, Labor Finders, PrideStaff.
- 3 of the 6 brands here publish how a new location builds up.Where a brand shows its first year month by month, an owner can see when sales finally cover the costs and how much cash has to be put in before that point arrives. Where a brand does not show it, that curve has to be guessed at, and the guess is usually optimistic. They are AtWork Group, Express Employment Professionals, Spherion.
- 2 of the 6 brands here run a recurring plan.A plan turns a business that waits for the phone to ring into one that knows roughly what next month looks like, and that predictability is what lets an owner staff properly. It is built by asking the customer to book the next visit before they walk out, not by spending more on marketing afterwards. They are Express Employment Professionals, Patrice & Associates.
- 2 of the 6 brands here get paid on a placement.The fee is earned when someone is hired and it can be lost again if that person leaves inside the guarantee period, so a placement that does not stick costs the firm twice. Volume matters, but so does who gets put forward. They are Patrice & Associates, Spherion.
- Cost of what you sell. The line that compounds.Products and materials take 20.0% of sales at the middle brand, 17.5% to 22.5% across the 2 that disclose it. Buying on the brand program rather than locally, holding the price list instead of discounting to close, and counting waste weekly are what separate the ends of that range, and each of them compounds with volume, which is why the gap widens as a location grows.
- What the brand charges. The line that works backwards.Fees run a median 8.1% of sales across 6 brands, from 7.5% to 24.0%. Where a minimum sits underneath the percentage, the weakest location pays the highest effective rate, so the fee line costs most exactly where it can least be afforded. The top performers clear the minimum early and stop thinking about it. At $9,779,779 the fees cost $793,140 a year; at $1,429,522 they cost $115,934. The percentage is the same and the burden is not.
Context you underwrite around
- How many brands show a ramp.3 of 7 filings in this category show how a new location builds up. For the rest the first year has to be assumed, and the assumption is usually wrong in the same direction.
- What is not banded.3 brands publish no bands at all, so their spread is unknown rather than narrow. Read a single average as the upper-middle of a distribution you cannot see.
Compare these brands side by side →
Also disclosed across this group: $0, $36,581, $91,635, 18.6, 7.3.
The model
The business model the top performers in staffing are running
What the top performers can do that others cannot
3 of the 7 brands here sell hours of somebody’s time. Filling a fixed building is the constraint: occupancy runs 20.5% of sales at the middle brand, and the rent does not move when the week is quiet.
What the customer is buying
The customer buys care or labour billed by the hour. At 2 of them the model is different: the customer buys a placement paid on a fee, which asks something else of the owner. A location at the middle brand sells $3,658,091 a year; the top group sells $9,779,779. The offer is the same at both ends of that range, so the difference is volume rather than product.
Who the customer is, and how often they come back
This is a retention business. The money is made in the second year of a customer, not the first month, so the number that decides the year is how many stay. A median 31% of locations reach their own brand’s average, so most of the system is below the number the brand advertises, and the gap is usually a demand gap rather than an effort gap. The top group sells $9,779,779 against $1,429,522 at the bottom. Trade area and site set that range before an owner takes a booking.
How the money works
Opening costs $103,900 to $363,200 across the category, and inside one brand the top of the range is typically 1.6 times the bottom. At the middle brand the cost stack runs occupancy 20.5%, cost of sales 20.0%, franchise fees 8.1% of sales. 3 of these brands publish how a new location builds up, so the first year can be read out of the document instead of guessed at.
Staffing offices bill large revenue and keep a thin share of it. Gross profit runs 17.5% to 22.51% of revenue at the brands that publish it. AtWork's 7% royalty costs 40.0% * of gross profit, the same as Express charging 40% of gross profit outright.
- A 7% royalty and a 40% share of gross profit cost the same thing. AtWork’s 7% of revenue is 40.0% of its own 17.5% gross profit *. The identical bill Express Employment Professionals charges by naming it as a share.
- At three brands the franchisor employs the workers, bills the clients and funds the wages. Express keeps 40% of gross profit, PrideStaff 35% and Spherion 30%. So the owner sells and recruits while the brand has the working capital.
- An hour bills at $27.76, costs $7.61 of gross profit and returns $4.31 to the owner. 56.6% of the margin on that hour * at PrideStaff, where a 6% minimum takes over once the profit share falls under about 17%.
- The two recruiting brands charge a fifth of what the three staffing brands charge. Sanford Rose at 7.5% of cash collected and Patrice &. Associates at 10% of placement fees, against 30% to 40% of gross profit, because a search desk has zero wages.
- The median AtWork office bills half the average one. $1,842,996 against $3,658,091 *, and 28.6% of offices reach the average, the widest gap of the five brands here that file both.
By type of business.
- Staffing offices 5 brandsAtWork Group · Express Employment Professionals · Labor Finders · PrideStaff · Spherion
- Executive search 2 brandsPatrice & Associates · Sanford Rose
Wage, rent and billing-rule changes are in the franchise cost and rules update.
Every brand in this guide
What the brand really takes
Revenue is the wrong denominator.
A staffing office passes most of what it bills straight through to the people doing the work. Gross profit is 17.5% to 22.51% of revenue at the brands publishing it. So a royalty quoted against revenue and a share quoted against gross profit are two ways of writing the same check. Put both on the gross-profit line and the category reads clearly.
| Brand | How it is charged | gross profit | Share of gross profit * | At that brand’s average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AtWork Group | 7% of revenue | 17.5% | 40.0% | $256,066 of $640,166 |
| Express Employment Professionals | 40% of gross profit | Left unstated | 40% | n/a |
| PrideStaff | 35% of gross profit | 22.51% | 35% | $251,783 of $719,381 |
| Spherion | 30% of gross profit | 20.5% | 30% | $427,258 of $1,424,195 |
| Patrice & Associates | 10% of placement fees | Placement work has zero wages | About 10% | $4,206 of $17,527 |
| Sanford Rose Associates | 7.5% of cash collected | Search work has zero wages | About 7.5% | n/a |
| Labor Finders | 3.5% of billings, own wages | Left unstated | n/a | n/a |
Rates, gross profits and average revenue are as the brand reported it by each brand; the converted share and its dollar value are marked *.
Who has the wages
Who funds the wages decides how much cash you need.
Wages go out weekly and clients settle monthly, so someone finances the gap. At three of these seven brands the franchisor does it; at two the owner does. That single choice sets the working capital in the investment table, decides who absorbs a client paying late. Accounts for most of the difference in what the brands charge.
| Brand | Employer of record | Who funds the wages | Franchise fees for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express Employment Professionals | The franchisor | The franchisor | 40% of gross profit |
| PrideStaff | The franchisor | The franchisor | 35% of gross profit |
| Spherion | The franchisor | The franchisor | 30% of gross profit |
| AtWork Group | The owner | The owner | 7% of revenue, worth 40.0% of gross profit * |
| Labor Finders | The owner | The owner | 3.5% of billings |
| Patrice & Associates | Placement work, which has zero wages | The franchisor invoices and collects | 10% plus a 2% brand fund |
| Sanford Rose Associates | Search work, which has zero wages | n/a | 7.5% of cash collected |
Every structural term is as the brand reported it by its brand; the converted share for AtWork is marked *.
AtWork has the wages and still pays the highest share of gross profit here. 40.0% * against Spherion’s 30%, where the franchisor funds the wages, so the owner taking the working-capital risk pays more for the privilege.
One point of gross profit rate is worth $48,631 at a Spherion office. On $6,947,291 of billings, moving the profit share from 20.5% to 21.5% is worth more than most brands charge in a year. Makes pricing the client the lever that matters.
Labor Finders charges 3.5% and runs the wages itself. Half its opening investment is working capital for wages paid ahead of collection, and its insurance costs more than the franchise fee. The cheap rate buys an expensive balance sheet.
Sales and the first year
Five years is the unit of time here.
Every brand filing a years open split shows the same shape. An office takes years. The gap between a young office and a mature one is larger than the gap between brands.
| Brand | Offices reporting | Average revenue | Median | Median as a share of the average * | Reaching the average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spherion | 57 | $6,947,291 | $4,051,231 | 58.3% | n/a |
| Express Employment Professionals | 526 | $5,342,686 | $4,043,021 | 75.7% | 32.9% |
| AtWork Group | 63 | $3,658,091 | $1,842,996 | 50.4% | 28.6% |
| PrideStaff | 53 | $3,195,828 | $2,674,511 | 83.7% | 34.0% |
| Patrice & Associates | 194 | $17,527 | n/a | n/a | 20.6% |
Offices reporting, revenue, medians and attainment are as the brand reported it; the median-share column is marked *.
An Express office over five years old takes $784,572 and one at two to five years takes $466,143. The owner’s share runs $1,199 in month one and $17,344 by month twelve. So the first year is a ramp. The working capital in the investment table has to cover it.
Every brand here puts its median office below its average, and fewer than four in ten reach it. Attainment runs 20.6% to 34.0%, the lowest group of any category in this library, so in staffing the published average describes a strong office.
A Patrice placement averages $11,680 and an executive search placement $26,467. So the top sixth of that network, at $89,744 of gross sales, is about eight placements a year. Meanwhile the second sixth at $12,239 is about one. The whole business is counted in single transactions.
Operating levers
What each brand’s top performers actually work on
The levers the filing supports, brand by brand. Three to five each, read from that brand’s own 2026 FDD. Filter by type of business, or open a brand for the figures underneath.
6 brands
AtWork Group
Staffing offices
- 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.
Express Employment Professionals
Staffing offices
- Customers, the operating driver. This model bills on customers. The owner works on how many customers are won, how many are lost, and what each spends in a year. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Membership and rebooking. A recurring plan turns a high-fixed-cost business from an appointment book into a subscription, which smooths the utilisation that drives the wage line. Rebooking before the customer leaves is what builds it, not marketing spend afterwards.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 8.4% 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.
Labor Finders
Staffing offices
- 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 3.5% 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.
Patrice & Associates
Executive search
- Placements, the operating driver. This model bills on placements. The fee is earned when someone is hired and lost again if they leave inside the guarantee, so a placement that does not stick costs the firm twice. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Membership and rebooking. A recurring plan turns a high-fixed-cost business from an appointment book into a subscription, which smooths the utilisation that drives the wage line. Rebooking before the customer leaves is what builds it, not marketing spend afterwards.
- Service and retail mix. Attachment rate on retail, and the share of customers on the higher service tiers, lift what each hour earns without adding an hour or a room. It is the only lever that raises the ceiling without spending capital.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 24.0% 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.
PrideStaff
Staffing offices
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 22.5% 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 7.8% 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.
Spherion
Staffing offices
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex. Rent and building costs take 20.5% of sales. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, since the rent itself is fixed at signing.
- Placements, the operating driver. This model bills on placements. The fee is earned when someone is hired and lost again if they leave inside the guarantee, so a placement that does not stick costs the firm twice. 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 8.3% 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.
All 7 brands
All 7 brands, side by side
| Brand | What it does | Offices at year end | Average revenue | Franchise fees | Cost to open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spherion | General staffing office | 180 | $6,947,291 | 30% of gross profit | $132,980–$301,040 |
| Express Employment Professionals | Temporary staffing and direct hire | 758 | $5,342,686 | 40% of gross profit | $131,000–$287,700 |
| AtWork Group | Storefront staffing office | 83 | $3,658,091 | 7% of revenue | $165,000–$250,000 |
| PrideStaff | Office, industrial and accounting staffing | 65 | $3,195,828 | 35% of gross profit | $151,950–$244,600 |
| Patrice & Associates | Home-based management recruiting | 194 | $17,527 | 10% plus a 2% brand fund | $105,100–$121,050 |
| Sanford Rose Associates | Executive search | 103 | n/a | 7.5% of cash collected | $103,900–$131,600 |
| Labor Finders | Industrial temporary staffing | 80 | n/a | 3.5% of billings | $159,535–$363,200 |
Every figure in this table is as the brand reported it by its brand.
Sanford Rose went from 41 offices to 103 in three years on 65 openings and 2 terminations. The fastest expansion in this library, on an $88,000 fee, a territory of about 126 acres and a royalty that follows cash collected.
Opening costs sit inside a narrow group of $103,900 to $363,200 across all seven. A building to fit out is absent, so the money goes to the fee, insurance and working capital. The brands that fund wages for you are at the cheap end of it.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
Why do the royalties look so different?
Because half of them are charged on a different base. Express, PrideStaff and Spherion take 40%, 35% and 30% of gross profit, while AtWork takes 7% and Labor Finders 3.5% of revenue. Since gross profit runs 17.5% to 22.51% of revenue, AtWork’s 7% works out at 40.0% of gross profit *, the same as the highest gross-margin share in the category. Convert every quote to a share of gross profit before comparing.
Who funds the wages?
At Express, PrideStaff and Spherion the franchisor employs the workers, invoices the clients and funds the wages, then remits the owner a share of gross profit. At AtWork and Labor Finders the owner has it. Is why half of Labor Finders&rsquo. Opening investment is working capital for wages paid ahead of collection. That single difference decides how much cash the business needs and who absorbs a client paying late.
What should I measure every month?
Gross profit rate, in basis points. At a Spherion office one point of it is worth $48,631 a year, which exceeds what most brands in other categories charge in total. Then hours billed, because volume is the second lever, and days sales outstanding, because a staffing business funds wages weekly and collects monthly.
How long until an office matures?
Years. An Express owner takes $1,199 in month one, $17,344 by month twelve and $25,646 by month twenty-four. An office over five years old takes $784,572 against $466,143 at two to five years. Attainment across this category runs 20.6% to 34.0%, so plan the working capital against the build-up.
Who does bookkeeping for a staffing franchise?
Averan does. We work with owners in this category on gross profit rate read weekly, hours billed against hours paid, the brand’s share reconciled to the remittance statement. The cash forecast behind wages funded ahead of collection. Get in touch.
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 gross profit rate this week?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around gross profit rate read in basis points, hours billed against hours paid. A cash forecast that has wages funded ahead of collection.
Request the reviewQuestions 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.
- What should I be looking at every week?The handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.
- Do I need a bookkeeper, a controller, or a CFO?What each one owns, and the point at which the next one pays for itself.
Where these figures come from.
Every figure here comes from each named brand’s own 2026 FDD and is unaudited by us, we are unaffiliated with every brand named, each brand reports a different population on different definitions so read every column as a sort order, calculations of our own are marked with an asterisk where they appear, the figures describe past performance at other businesses and are not a projection of yours. This page is an educational summary. It is not an offer to sell a franchise, and it is not financial, legal or tax advice. Every brand name is a trademark of its owner. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.