Contractor Services
Compliant contractor engagement, payroll and supply-chain support.
Benchmark your recruitment agency against the market
Know where you stand before you decide what’s next
Most agency leaders know their numbers. The harder question is whether those numbers are healthy, your cost base is under control and your growth plan is realistic.
Use Sapphire’s free recruitment agency benchmarking tool to compare the metrics that matter and see where you’re performing strongly, where there may be room to improve and where to focus next.
See more than just your own numbers
Sapphire’s benchmarks give your numbers context across the areas that have the biggest impact on the performance and resilience of a recruitment business.
Profitability
Understand how effectively you’re converting revenue and GP into profit.
People
See how productivity and people costs compare with other recruitment businesses.
Clients
Understand retention, concentration and the strength of your customer base.
Operations
See how efficiently your agency is structured to support growth.
Get a clearer view of where your biggest opportunities may be.
Benchmark your business against 100+ agencies
From benchmarking to real-time financial intelligence
A benchmark gives you a snapshot of how your business is performing – Sapphire’s Financial Intelligence Platform helps you keep that visibility.
Bring your financial and operational data together to track recruitment-specific KPIs, from desk profitability to consultant ROI, monitor performance and use market context to make better-informed decisions as your business changes.
One partner for everything your agency needs
Because Sapphire supports the wider operation behind recruitment businesses, your finance team can connect into specialist support across contractor services, global workforce and operational technology.
Global Workforce
EOR, AOR and international workforce support for overseas placements.
Operational Technology
Recruitment technology that connects timesheets, pay and bill, invoicing and reporting.
Trusted by agencies
Trusted by 500+ recruitment agencies, with eight years of FCSA accreditation and an Excellent Trustpilot rating from 5,000+ reviews.
Sapphire is a trusted, compliance-first partner. Alex is always on hand, respectful of our preferred ways of working and quick to resolve queries and payment issues. As umbrella legislation changes, their audit-ready approach and clear, timely communication give us and our contractors real confidence.
Sophie Anderson, Associate Director, Venn Group
I have worked with Sapphire for a number of years and have consistently found their service and attention to detail in account management to be exceptional. Marcus, in particular, stands out — he resolves any issues quickly and, no matter how busy he is, always takes the time to personally speak with customers and clients. That level of dedication goes a long way. I would highly recommend Sapphire.
Jim Fleming, Director, Buildforce Solutions
I’ve worked with Sapphire for years and brought the relationship over to my own agency. They register temps quickly, keep us updated throughout and make sure they’re paid reliably each week. Any issues are resolved swiftly, allowing me to focus on placing temps with complete confidence. Jake’s guidance was also invaluable when launching my business, and the whole team consistently goes the extra mile. I see Sapphire as an extension of my accounts department and couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
Luke Lysandrou, Director, LLC Recruitment
We’ve worked with Sapphire for over a year and have found them an excellent company to deal with. The Quartz system is easy to use, but what really stands out is their proactive customer support and willingness to listen, adapt and accommodate the specific requirements of our business. Ray, Shauna and the wider team are responsive, practical and genuinely great people to work with. I’d have no hesitation in recommending them.
Steve Gearing, Managing Director, Gearing Recruitment Solutions
Accreditations
Frequently asked questions
What is recruitment agency benchmarking?
Recruitment agency benchmarking is the practice of comparing your agency’s performance against similar businesses in the market, giving your numbers a reference point. Knowing your own figures is step one. Knowing whether they’re good is what turns data into decisions.
How do I benchmark my recruitment agency?
You can benchmark your recruitment agency for free using Sapphire’s benchmarking tool. It only takes a few minutes to complete and gives you a clear picture of how your business performs across profitability, people, marketing and customers.
You answer a short set of questions about your agency, and Sapphire compares your figures against similar-sized recruitment businesses. Because Sapphire works exclusively with recruitment agencies, the comparison uses genuine peers, so you see exactly where you stand and where the biggest opportunities to improve sit.
Which metrics should recruitment agencies benchmark?
The metrics that matter most fall into four areas: profitability, people, marketing and customers. Together they show whether your agency is being run deliberately or on instinct.
Sapphire’s benchmarking tool compares you on:
- GP per revenue-generating head, the single most important productivity measure for any agency
- GP to operating profit conversion and cost per billing head
- Profit per person and months cash at breakeven
- Sales team cost as a percentage of GP, back office ratio and LinkedIn spend as a percentage of GP
- Client retention, repeat billers and biggest customer concentration
- Vacancy fill rate
Seeing these figures side by side with your peers shows where you’re strong and where the biggest gains are.
How does Sapphire's benchmarking tool work?
Sapphire’s benchmarking tool works in three steps. You answer a short set of questions about your agency, the tool compares your figures against similar-sized recruitment businesses and you get a benchmarked picture of your performance across profitability, people, marketing and customers.
The whole process only takes a few minutes and it’s free. Because Sapphire works only with recruitment businesses, every benchmark comes from genuine market peers rather than general business averages. That gives you an accurate view of where you stand and a clear starting point for building a plan to improve.
