Permanent vs. contract: what’s the deal in 2024?
Despite most modern recruitment businesses dabbling in both, data which spells out what success looks like for each is (infamously) scarce. So we’re here, torches in hand, and ready to shine a light on an extremely ill-lit corner of the recruitment data space.
If you’re looking to understand your own data, you may be wondering: “what are other businesses in the staffing industry achieving?”, and “what does this say about my/my agency’s performance?”. We answer all this and more in our first ever OneUp Labs report.
After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from the release of our State of Recruitment 2024 report earlier this year, we’re back with more no-nonsense, high value insights. This time, we’re exploring the trends in permanent vs. contract operations throughout Jan-Jun 2024 through the lens of 300+ agencies and over 4,000 consultants across the globe.
Let’s dive in…
What's covered: | What you'll learn: | Who this is for: |
Split by permanent vs. contract, this report explores both agency and consultant averages for the following metrics: |
Key metric trends throughout H1 2024, plus comparisons to 2023 market conditions. You’ll also learn key consultant and agency benchmarks, differences in permanent vs. contract performance, and 2025 predictions. |
If you’re a recruitment agency CEO/Founder looking for industry benchmarks, a manager/team lead looking to benchmark your team's performance, or a consultant looking to step up your game, this one’s for you! |
Agency Benchmarks
Jobs Added
Average per agency per month:
- 35 contract jobs added
- 34 permanent jobs added
What the data is showing us:
The year started out strong, with the average number of new jobs sourced per agency reaching their highest volume in January before making a steady (and somewhat expected) decline all the way through to June 2024. It’s worth mentioning that the agency average for permanent jobs declined at a steeper rate than that of contract jobs over the 6 month period.
What this says about the market:
As client budgets refresh and hiring freezes finish, it comes as no surprise that January is met with a higher-than-usual number of jobs sourced. This trend coincides with the increased demand for new opportunities that comes with an influx of candidates seeking a ‘fresh start’ with the new year.
However, the consistent decline we can see month-on-month for permanent jobs sourced suggests agencies were still very much feeling the squeeze from the recent industry downturn that grew legs in late 2022.
The steepness of the trend line for permanent jobs sourced compared to contract jobs suggests there was greater demand for contract work during this period. This may be due to businesses practising caution when it comes to their hiring plans, which likely comes as a result of recent economic uncertainty (especially in the UK staffing market) and has led to increased demand for flexible workers.
On the whole, H1 2024 is off to a more typical start (especially compared to the volatility we saw in H1 2023), indicating the potential for more stable industry performance in the coming months and beyond.
Placements
Average per agency per month:
- 49 contract placements made
- 11 permanent placements made
What the data is showing us:
Contract placements peaked in June 2024 as part of what appears to be an ongoing upwards trend, bringing the average number of placements made per agency per month to 49 for H1 2024. Meanwhile, permanent placements remain steady at an average of 11 per agency made per month - matching the monthly average seen in 2023.
What this says about the market:
Looking at this graph alone, it appears as though little has changed for permanent placements and the market has stagnated. However, coupled with the knowledge that booked revenue has increased by an average of £8k per agency per month throughout H1 2024 when compared to 2023 (spoiler alert - more on this later!), it shows that agencies are generally generating more revenue per placement: a fact that may come as little surprise seeing as increased inflation rates have likely led to higher salary expectations (and therefore higher placement fees).
In any case, the consistent nature of permanent placements made (despite the dramatic decline in jobs sourced as H1 progressed) highlights increased operational efficiency across the industry, and paints a bright picture for the remainder of 2024 for both permanent and contract employment.
Revenue Booked
Average per agency per month:
- £90k contract revenue booked
- £81k permanent revenue booked
What the data is showing us:
Overall, revenue has been relatively steady throughout the first half of 2024 for both contract and permanent operations, with a peak period occurring in May 2024 for contract revenue. Unlike this time last year though, permanent revenue has not seen its usual spike in March/April that follows the increase of jobs added from January.
Despite not seeing the typical boost in early-year revenue for permanent agencies, the monthly average has increased from £73k to £81k compared to 2023’s data.
What this says about the market:
The month-on-month stability we’re seeing above, coupled with the increase in average monthly revenue per agency, tells us that businesses have adapted well to the industry’s ongoing state of struggle.
While this can be viewed as a promising sign of economic recovery, it’s more likely that job scarcity has forced agencies to take a closer look at the metrics that matter to their bottom line with the view to improve what’s within their control (such as volume of BD calls, placement fees and leaning into talent shortages).
The value of the UK recruitment market declined by an estimated 3% in 2023, with conditions expected to remain bleak until 2025[1]. Even though average booked revenue per agency per month has increased for H1 2024, agencies should stay cautious and look to double down on what works in preparation for the potential shortcomings of H2 2024.
OneUp has been an absolute game changer in tracking all sales staffs KPI's and revenue, allowing our consultants to track their revenue individually
Connor B., Senior Resourcer (51-1,000 employees)
Consultant Benchmarks
Whether your agency exclusively deals with permanent employment, contract employment or a blend of both, it’s essential to recognise that they each operate and perform very differently. That’s why we’ve split our industry averages by employment type: to give your team clear-cut benchmarks, and to help take the guesswork out of achieving your revenue goals.
So with that in mind, here’s what the average recruiter achieved on a monthly basis throughout the first half of 2024:
Funnel Benchmarks
Based on our H1 2024 data, the average agency sees exactly 3 jobs added for every 1 permanent placement made, and 0.7 jobs added for every 1 contract placement (or, in other words, each job added will generate 1.4 placements on average). Each placement was worth, on average, £7,744 (permanent) and £2,137 (contract) in booked revenue.
Predictions
With nearly 8 in 10 businesses using or exploring AI as part of their operations[2], it’s clear that AI tools are here to stay. But what role will they play for recruitment agencies? And how will this relationship develop in the future?
According to Greg Savage, Founder of several highly-successful recruitment businesses and best-selling author of “The Savage Truth”, the answer is clear:
In 2025, successful recruiters will do more of what they do best: selling - and by selling, I mean listening, advising, consulting, offering a solution, and creating outcomes.
- Greg Savage on the role of AI in recruitment
Greg’s talk at the Recruitment Agency Expo in Birmingham earlier this month was not only a data-backed wake up call that ‘you can’t manage what you don’t measure’ - it was also a reminder to the industry that recruitment is sales, and selling is a human experience.
But the best consultants already know this. And as AI’s presence in the industry grows more established, the most successful recruiters will learn to embrace AI, ML and automation as a means of improving productivity, streamlining processes and freeing up time to focus on the recruitment process elements that will improve their clients’ experience.
In summary: top recruiters will become even better at delegating tasks to AI so that they can focus on delivering an improved sales experience.
TL;DR
The short version? It’s been tough.
The industry has had more than its fair share of challenges thanks to economic uncertainty, and the knock-on effect this has had on client hiring plans. But somehow, despite job scarcity and the strain this has put on agencies and their potential to grow, agencies have managed to stay relatively efficient.
One major factor in all of this has been the ability to maintain (or even improve) revenue per consultant. And while we’d LOVE to say this is a testament to the OneUp platform, the reality is that it’s taken recruitment businesses a lot of reflection and refinement to become so resilient.
Other influential factors include:
- Industry: Staffing agencies operating in specialised/niche markets likely had the upper hand compared to industries suffering at scale (think tech)
- Talent pool opportunities: Great recruiters know the value of their candidates, and the best ones played the scarcity card to their advantage by negotiating even higher salaries and placement fees for top talent
- Fees & services: Aside with scaling placement fees alongside salaries and inflation, some recruiters turned to offering value-add services (such as enhanced client screening or onboarding, training, etc.) to justify heightened fees
- Technological advancements: Thanks to intuitive performance management tools like OneUp Sales, agencies now have greater visibility and understanding of their data than ever before (remember: you can’t manage what you don’t measure!)
Here’s a table summarising all the averages laid out in this report:
Methodology
This report is based on data we collected from 311 recruitment agencies throughout H1 2024 (1st January - 30th June), 69% of which operate in the UK and have an average commercial team size of 9 consultants.
Disclaimers:
- Data is segmented by month where client base size varies with customers onboarding/offboarding the platform.
- We classed data beyond 3 standard deviations from the mean as ‘outliers’ and removed them from consideration.
- This report’s financial benchmarks only take into consideration agency revenue figures that are measured natively in Great British Pound (GBP).
- For H1 2024, we improved our process for extracting data from the platform, allowing us to make more accurate distinctions between permanent and contract placements. While previous reports reflected the best available data at the time, our H1 2024 data offers a more refined view of the metrics mentioned throughout this report. As a result, data within this report is not directly comparable to previous reports.
Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed this content!
For any queries, feedback or suggestions for future content you’d like to see from OneUp Labs, please feel free to email us at marketing@oneupsales.co.uk
If you’re looking to create an accountable, resilient sales team that has full performance visibility and is motivated by data, chat to a member of our team to learn more.