At the heart of Hays, we create economic and social value by placing skilled workers in roles that meet and solve our clients’ talent needs. We help clients to maximise their employer brand, allowing them to attract and engage with the best talent.
We aim to curate the broadest and deepest Talent Networks, powered by expert consultants and leading technology, giving real-time access to candidates at the local level. We provide detailed compliance, background and on-boarding services, and total talent management.
How we generate fees
We have core expertise across Temporary, Contracting and Permanent recruitment contract forms. In FY25, 62% of our net fees were generated from Temporary & Contracting assignments and 38% from Permanent placements.
Our net fees are driven by two broad variables:
1. Volume – The number of Temporary & Contracting workers paid in a given period, and the number of Permanent placements made.
2. Placement value – For Temporary & Contracting, we charge clients the candidate pay rate plus a percentage mark up, for the number of hours worked. In Permanent, on successful placement of a candidate, we typically charge an agreed percentage of the candidate’s salary.
How we manage the business
We manage Hays by business line which differentiates by country, specialism and contract form and acknowledges the differences between markets
We closely monitor a range of key performance indicators including:
1. Monthly net fees per consultant (also referred to as consultant net fee productivity)
2. Conversion rate, which we define as pre-exceptional operating profit divided by net fees
3. Forward indicators including new job interviews in Permanent recruitment and starter volumes in Temporary & Contracting
1. Superior job matching capability through scale.
We are market leaders in Germany, Australia, the UK & Ireland, and many other countries. Our broad network of client and candidate relationships provides superior insight and job matching capability in higher skilled labour markets. We have strong and growing positions in many other markets where the outsourced use of recruitment agencies is relatively immature and considerable opportunity exists to take share from in-house HR teams.
2. Global capabilities with local delivery.
We provide global reach across 31 countries combined with local knowledge and insights at a client and candidate level and the highest level of compliance with local labour market and tax regulations. We can drive significant synergies across our global network which supported strong net fee growth with large Enterprise clients in FY25.
3. Brand and longevity.
Hays Recruitment was founded in 1968 and we seek to operate with one brand globally. We are recognised as professional recruitment experts by clients and candidates with more than 8.5 million followers on LinkedIn.
4. Technology and data.
Hays’ consultants have more than 20,000 daily interactions with clients and candidates which provides unrivalled insight into local labour markets. We aim to be the tech-enabled leader in our industry (as detailed on pages 40-41).
5. Investment in people.
We recruit and retain the best talent in the industry by offering a high energy culture, an inclusive environment, exciting careers, world-class training and development, and opportunities to contribute to the communities in which we operate. Most new recruits join us from university on our graduate scheme, or from a vocational career. We train them in the art of recruitment and a typical first year joiner will spend on average 46 days in training, helping them to climb the productivity curve while simultaneously embedding the Hays culture. We also use forensic analysis to actively reallocate experienced consultants from roles with low net fee productivity to business lines where they can generate higher productivity and personal performance.
6. Lifelong partnerships.
Millions of relationships are formed and nurtured by our consultants and, by becoming trusted advisers to talented people, helping to navigate their careers and fulfil their potential, we unlock significant opportunities. Clients can count on our high quality of service and market insights to provide unrivalled access to top talent and help them scale and flex their evolving workforces. We add additional stakeholder value through our commitment to being sustainable and operating responsibly.