Redeployment rate

Definition

The share of workers who move straight to another assignment when their current one ends.

Why It Matters

Recruiting is the largest controllable cost in staffing, and a worker who redeploys costs nothing to find. A high rate means the agency has enough overlapping demand to keep people busy, which is a fact about the client base and not about the recruiters. Ask for the rate by branch and by skill, and compare it to what the agency spends on job advertising. A low rate with a healthy margin usually means the margin is being paid for by a recruiting spend that a buyer will have to keep funding.