Article
13 min read
Solve Key Challenges in the Staffing and Recruiting Industry with an EOR
Employer of record
Author
Jemima Owen-Jones
Published
August 15, 2024
Last Update
November 15, 2024
Table of Contents
1. Bridge talent shortages with easy global hiring
2. Accelerate clunky onboarding with customized workflows
3. Replace outdated HR systems with a unified tech stack
4. Overcome operational inefficiencies with automations
5. Strengthen a weak employer brand by prioritizing employee experience
6. Enhance poor employee engagement with communication and collaboration tools
7. Correct data blindness with advanced reporting and analytics features
8. Enhance transparency and workforce visibility with a centralized hub
9. Retain flexibility and agility with a remote EOR hiring model
10. Adhere to employment regulations with integrated HR compliance support
11. Calm data security concerns with robust data protection measures
Deel as your full-service EOR solution to your staffing and recruiting challenges
Key takeaways
- A fluid labor market, shifts in client and workers’ expectations, and difficulty in adapting quickly to these changes are major challenges in the staffing and recruiting industry.
- An EOR acts as a catalyst for speeding up responsiveness to market demands. It offers comprehensive HR support and the right tools to adapt to market trends and workforce needs.
- Deel is a full-service EOR that integrates global HR functions, ensuring seamless talent acquisition, placement, and management. It enhances client and employee experiences through advanced HR technology.
The challenges in the staffing and recruiting industry are becoming increasingly demanding. Today, agencies must go beyond simply connecting talent with employers.
Clients seek workers who are not only skilled but also a good fit for their company’s culture and values. Meanwhile, candidates expect job offers that offer a positive experience, work-life balance, and career development opportunities.
Staffing and recruiting agencies must meet these expectations while burdened by extensive admin work, a dynamic job market, tough competition, and overwhelming labor laws.
An EOR simplifies these challenges. It provides the tools you need to impress clients and candidates while ensuring continuous compliance and market leadership.
In this guide, we will explain the role of an EOR in addressing the key challenges facing the staffing and recruiting industry.
We’ll highlight 11 common staffing challenges and the corresponding EOR capabilities that address each one directly.
1. Bridge talent shortages with easy global hiring
Shortage of talent has been an ongoing issue since 2020. For instance, in June 2024, the US had more job postings than unemployed people, with 0.8 unemployed persons per job opening.
It poses a significant challenge for over half of staffing and recruiting agencies worldwide.
The growing demand for diversity and inclusivity in hiring practices further contributes to the challenge. It narrows the pool of qualified candidates that meet both the skills and diversity criteria. Yet, disregarding these expectations can lead to decreased client satisfaction.
Waiting for natural market changes to resolve the talent shortage isn’t a viable option for staffing firms. Instead, use an EOR to expand your search for potential candidates globally and hire in compliance with local laws.
Engaging international workers often requires setting up local entities in each country where you intend to hire, a process that can be both costly and time-consuming. An EOR simplifies the recruitment process by becoming the official employer, enabling you to legally engage international workers without the need for local entities.
This approach broadens your talent search on a global scale while reducing financial investment and administrative burden.
Deel also offers research tools designed to help hiring teams assess the cost of hiring in foreign countries.
These tools, such as the Employee Cost Calculator and the Global Salary Insights tool, allow you to assess the benefits of international hiring and identify the most advantageous countries for recruitment.
The Employee Cost Calculator compares hiring costs across locations, while the Global Salary Insights tool offers current salary data specific to various roles and countries.
Discover how Lyre’s solved its skill shortage with Deel EOR, hiring global talent from Bulgaria, Malaysia, and Canada.
While there’s certainly a talent shortage in most places, as soon as you start to think globally… the problem disappears and you can find some truly amazing talent. And I think that’s been the key message to Lyre’s success: There are enough people, [and] they might be in all the places you are probably not looking.
—Carl Hartmann,
Co-founder, Lyre's
See also: 10 Recruitment Strategies with Real Examples
2. Accelerate clunky onboarding with customized workflows
Excessive paperwork and complex compliance requirements can delay onboarding, especially with manual, paper-based processes. This problem gets worse when onboarding multiple positions at once for large projects, seasonal demands, or recruitment campaigns.
A poor onboarding experience can easily result in the loss of hard-to-find talent. Speed in filling positions, on the other hand, gives you a competitive edge. It helps you secure top candidates before your competitors scoop them up.
Deel EOR reduces your onboarding time to just 3 days by automating workflows. Our flexible workflow builder streamlines repetitive tasks like document handling and candidate communications while allowing customization to meet your staffing agency’s needs.
Deel also saves you time by localizing contracts and agreements and integrating background checks into the onboarding process.
With a user-friendly onboarding checklist, candidates can easily view upcoming tasks, upload documents, and request assistance. This reduces time-consuming email communications while enhancing the candidate experience.
Deel enables you to:
- Meet your client’s hiring needs quickly, resulting in higher satisfaction
- Fill more positions with top talent in less time, boosting revenue generation
- Demonstrate efficiency and responsiveness, leading to positive reviews and referrals
- Maintain workflow efficiency and reduce disruptions in staffing operations
Discover how EasyBroker reduced onboarding time by 50% and fees by 52% with Deel.
Onboarding a new team member used to take two weeks. There was a lot of paperwork and communication back and forth between the outsourcing company and the candidate. Now, with Deel, the process takes less than two hours. I send a contract, the person signs it digitally, uploads their documents, and it's ready in a matter of minutes.
—Sandra Leon,
Operations Coordinator, EasyBroker
See also: Elevate Employee Onboarding & Offboarding Efficiency with Deel
3. Replace outdated HR systems with a unified tech stack
Outdated systems limit the scope of automated tasks and capabilities, leading to increased manual work and slower processes. These systems often struggle to manage large volumes of candidate and client data, resulting in reduced productivity and a higher chance of errors.
Deel scales with your staffing business, offering a complete tech stack for global hiring and managing a large pool of workers. Our comprehensive set of tools streamline every aspect of the employee lifecycle, including:
- Onboarding
- Offboarding
- Upskilling
- Performance management
- Career development
Deel also features API connectivity and native integration capabilities. This lets you connect with your preferred business tools and create custom functions directly within the platform.
Additional modern HR tech in Deel includes:
- Cloud-based infrastructure that supports scalability and remote access
- Analytics and real-time reporting to facilitate timely decision-making
- User-friendly and intuitive interface
- Automation features
- Customization options to tailor workflows to your business’s specific needs
- Regular updates that keep the tool equipped with the latest technological innovations
- AI-powered tools, including Deel AI, a smart assistant that answers questions about workforce data and employment laws, speeding up decision-making
We were impressed by how fast the company was innovating and pushing updates. [So] we left our previous provider and switched to Deel.
—David Stepania,
Founder, ThirstySprout
4. Overcome operational inefficiencies with automations
A lot of time goes into manually coordinating processes to ensure workers are properly placed, trained, and equipped to meet client expectations.
This can cause bottlenecks and slower response times, negatively impacting your agency’s productivity and service quality.
Deel EOR addresses these operational inefficiencies. It automates tasks and approvals such as:
- Creating, assigning, and tracking training courses for workers
- Managing equipment and granting access to company software
- Drafting, organizing, and storing compliance documentation, including contracts, terminations, and regulatory filings
- Processing global payroll, including tax deductions, benefits, and payslip creation
- Managing time and attendance
By automating these processes, Deel EOR reduces the need for constant oversight, allowing you to focus on high-impact activities.
Discover how SiteMinder manages 52 employees in 11 countries and saves three days of admin work monthly with Deel.
Transitioning to Deel has saved us approx 2-3 days per month in administration time and costs. We used to have multiple people across the globe trying to coordinate and diagnose issues or run manual processes. The time saved includes multiple salaries and productivity time.
—Bec Donnelly,
Vice President of People, SiteMinder
See also: Top 12 HR Automation Benefits to Consider in 2024
5. Strengthen a weak employer brand by prioritizing employee experience
Most staffing and recruiting agencies offer similar services using similar processes. They target the same clients and talent pools that job boards also pursue. These factors make it difficult to stand out, but not impossible.
What you need is an EOR that helps you deliver a unique value proposition. It should help you build an exceptional reputation through personalized support and tailored solutions for your clients and candidates.
Deel EOR enhances your employer brand with distinctive global solutions that ensure exceptional employee experiences and client satisfaction.
For your clients:
- Comprehensive services, including benefits administration and visa processing support
- Localized support from experts in tax and labor laws
- Access to talent in 150 countries
- Employee development tools
- Access to Deel’s partnerships with top health insurers, enabling them to offer high-quality benefits at reduced rates
For candidates:
- Self-serve capabilities for easy management of personal information, time off, and pay slips
- Flexible payment methods, such as e-wallets and instant card transfers in multiple currencies
- Convenient access to funds through Deel Card and Deel Advance
- Comprehensive benefits and attractive perks for personal and professional development
See also: 5 Benefits of EOR for Employee Experience
6. Enhance poor employee engagement with communication and collaboration tools
Workers placed through a staffing agency may feel like outsiders or not fully integrated into the company culture. They may feel disconnected, undervalued, or excluded from team dynamics and organizational activities.
This lack of belonging can lead to lower engagement and motivation, affecting their overall job satisfaction and performance.
An EOR can help you implement candidate engagement strategies that boost the employee experience.
Through Deel EOR, you gain access to Deel Engage, a suite of tools that includes:
- 360° performance reviews: Provides a platform for employees to give and receive constructive feedback, fostering a sense of inclusion and promoting a collaborative work environment
- Employee training courses: Allows for the creation of custom training and access to a library of external courses, helping employees develop their skills and boosting their sense of competence
- Career progression frameworks: Outlines how workers can advance within the company, creating transparent career development paths and reinforcing their role within the team dynamic
- Slack HR plugins: Integrates PTO management, kudos, referrals, org charts, and more into the Slack workspace, centralizing HR functions and communications to enhance connectivity and cohesion within the team
Using Deel speaks something to our culture. We always strive to empower talent by providing them with new tools to help them achieve more, no matter where they work,
—Carmen Fan,
Head of Marketing, Floship
7. Correct data blindness with advanced reporting and analytics features
Within data lies valuable insights about:
- Trends in candidate skills, availability, and demand
- Client hiring patterns and preferences
- Candidates’ performance
- Metrics like time-to-fill positions and cost-per-hire
However, data overload, the use of multiple systems, or outdated tools without reporting features make it challenging to integrate and analyze data. This results in missed opportunities to optimize talent search, hiring, and placements and hinders data-driven decision-making.
You need an EOR like Deel that:
- Integrates data from sources like your time and attendance system and payroll system, providing a centralized view of all relevant information
- Has built-in advanced reporting and analytics capabilities
- Allows for the customization of reports to fit specific business needs and objectives
- Integrates with existing tools, such as applicant tracking systems, to allow data flow and reduce data fragmentation
- Enables real-time data access for timely decision-making
You can analyze data by country, and worker types, and compare reports for different periods. This allows you to make strategic decisions based on both historical insights and current data.
8. Enhance transparency and workforce visibility with a centralized hub
Managing multiple clients and candidates simultaneously makes it difficult to maintain consistent communication and transparency, especially with limited staff or heavy workloads. It can result in low service quality and decreased client satisfaction.
Deel resolves this by offering an integrated platform that centralizes contractor and employee management. Alongside our EOR service, we offer Deel Contractor and Deel Contractor of Record solutions designed to make hiring and managing international contractors easy.
Deel’s global platform brings your remote, globally distributed EOR employees and contractors together under one roof. This provides complete visibility into their work, performance, and engagement levels.
You’re able to deliver consistent management across all regions and teams. It helps enhance team cohesion and drive the overall productivity of your workers.
9. Retain flexibility and agility with a remote EOR hiring model
The staffing and recruitment industry often faces sudden shifts in market demand and supply. It creates a mismatch between the skills in demand and the available talent pool. Such an imbalance can lead to delays in meeting client needs and strain relationships.
While exploring opportunities beyond local markets could be a potential solution, its implementation presents a major challenge for staffing agencies.
Hiring talent in international markets typically requires setting up legal entities in each country, along with managing HR and payroll functions. When these markets become unviable, you’re left with unused infrastructure and the need to establish new entities in the next promising market.
An EOR model offers a more flexible approach, allowing you to explore global skills markets without major infrastructure investments. It enables you to test new markets and establish a temporary presence, with the option to exit smoothly if the market isn’t viable.
Deel EOR, with owned entities in over 150 countries, provides extensive coverage. This allows you to test and evaluate multiple markets efficiently. If a market doesn’t meet your expectations, you can try another opportunity with minimal disruption to your operations.
Deel enabled us to achieve our mission to reach and expand new markets with a faster turnaround time. I would say it saved us at least 12 to 24 months of effort. I’d recommend Deel to anyone who would like to expand globally and has limited time and resources to build the capability internally,
—Nupur Mehta,
VP of Human Resources, Nium
10. Adhere to employment regulations with integrated HR compliance support
Complying with labor laws in the countries where you hire can be resource-intensive. Labor laws are constantly changing, and keeping up can be a full-time job in itself. On the other hand, making compliance mistakes can damage your reputation and result in hefty fines.
A well-equipped EOR provides the expertise and resources needed to manage and adapt to labor laws.
Deel EOR offers a Compliance Hub designed to keep your staffing agency compliant. Its key features include:
- Monthly Workforce Insights: Personalized reports sent to your inbox. They provide updates on tax and labor laws affecting your business and alerts for important tasks like visa renewals
- Compliance Monitor: Scans and gathers the latest regulatory changes from over 150 countries. It presents these updates in clear, straightforward language to show how they affect your staffing and recruiting operations
- AI-powered worker classification: Advanced AI accurately classifies workers, reducing the risk of misclassification
Deel EOR also has a team of legal experts available to provide guidance on compliance requirements and address any concerns.
When we came to understand the importance that Deel places on individual country laws and making sure that contracts are structured in the right way, Deel really stood out.
—Sudarshan Sivaraman,
Head of Customer Success & Sales, Turing
11. Calm data security concerns with robust data protection measures
Access to large amounts of workers’ personal details makes staffing agencies attractive targets for cybercriminals. With the global average cost of a data breach reaching USD 4.88 million in 2024, data security is crucial.
Unfortunately, managing workforces using multiple systems introduces numerous security risks. Each additional system creates potential entry points for cyberattacks.
Moreover, employees accessing these systems from their home networks further increases the risk of security breaches.
An EOR with strong data protection capabilities ensures the security of your data.
Deel EOR has industry-standard data protection certifications and incident-proof infrastructure. Using a single system for your HR functions offers the following data security benefits:
- Fewer opportunities for unauthorized access
- Implementation of unified security protocols and policies, such as encryption, access controls, and monitoring
- Centralized data management
All these factors make it easier to prevent, detect, and respond to potential data breaches.
Deel as your full-service EOR solution to your staffing and recruiting challenges
Out of all the tool implementations I've done, Deel has been the best in terms of consultancy, support, and partnership.
—Caroline Randazzo,
Head of Human Resources and Recruitment, Aquatic
Every business encounters challenges, but it is through overcoming these obstacles that growth emerges.
Deel EOR offers a comprehensive solution to staffing and recruiting challenges. It frees up your time to focus on strategies that push your business to the top of the staffing industry. Our full-service EOR boosts your staffing and recruitment business by:
- Streamlining your hiring processes through global hiring and simplifying onboarding and payroll
- Supporting your retention strategies with a unified tech stack that enhances the experience for clients and candidates alike
- Optimizing your staffing and recruiting efforts by reducing administrative workload, enabling data-driven decision-making, and managing your global compliance requirements
Speak with a product expert to discover how Deel can address the challenges facing your staffing and recruiting business.
About the author
Jemima is a nomadic writer, journalist, and digital marketer with a decade of experience crafting compelling B2B content for a global audience. She is a strong advocate for equal opportunities and is dedicated to shaping the future of work. At Deel, she specializes in thought-leadership content covering global mobility, cross-border compliance, and workplace culture topics.