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Definition

Temp staffing software

Temp staffing software is the system a temporary staffing agency runs its placements on. It holds the worker records, the client job orders, the shifts, the confirmation history, the hours, and the file that goes to payroll, so the same information is not typed by hand into four separate tools.

Also called temporary staffing software, temp agency software, staffing agency software. Last updated .

A temp agency is four jobs stitched together. It recruits, like a hiring company. It schedules, like an operations team. It is the employer of record, so it carries the compliance. And it pays the worker before the client pays the invoice, so it carries the cash gap. Software for the category has to hold all four, or the office ends up re-typing between tools.

The market splits by size. Applicant tracking suites are built for agencies with recruiters, a sales desk, and somebody to configure the system. Shift scheduling apps are built for a single employer scheduling its own staff, and they treat a client as a location rather than a company that gets an invoice. Between the two sits the agency of 25 to 100 workers that needs the operations and not the sales desk.

In Canada the compliance layer is provincial, and that is the part generic software gets wrong. Ontario requires a temporary help agency licence. Overtime starts after 44 hours in a week in Ontario, after 40 in British Columbia with a daily rule on top, and Alberta counts both 8 in a day and 44 in a week. A tool that assumes one national rule is wrong in at least two provinces.

The honest test of any tool in this category is the re-typing count. Ask how many times a worker's name, a client's rate, or an hour figure has to be entered by hand between the application arriving and the invoice going out. Every one of those is a place where two numbers can quietly disagree.

What the software has to hold

  • Workers, with the certificates they hold and the dates those expire.
  • Clients, with the rate for each role, so nobody re-types a rate onto an order.
  • Job orders and the shifts they generate, including recurring weekly patterns.
  • Every contact attempt and its answer, so the confirmation history survives staff turnover.
  • Hours, in whatever format each client sends them, mapped into one payroll file.

Where Kordis fits, and where it does not

Kordis is built for the middle of that market: Canadian temp agencies of roughly 25 to 100 workers in light industrial, warehouse, and logistics work. It sits alongside the accounting and payroll systems the agency already uses instead of asking anyone to move off them.

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Common questions

What is the difference between an applicant tracking system and temp staffing software?

An applicant tracking system manages hiring: applications, interviews, offers. Temp staffing software has to keep going after the hire, because a temp worker is placed again every week. Scheduling, confirmations, timesheets, and the payroll file are the parts a hiring system was never built to carry.

Does temp staffing software replace payroll?

It should not. Payroll providers handle remittance, stubs, and year-end filing, and moving them is expensive and risky. Good staffing software prepares the hours file that payroll consumes and stops there. A tool that insists on doing both is asking you to move your payroll to prove its point.

How much does temp staffing software cost in Canada?

Published figures range from a few dollars per worker per month for scheduling apps to per-seat pricing in the hundreds for recruiting suites. Many vendors publish nothing and quote after a call. Our comparison pages carry each vendor's own published figure with the date we checked it.

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What is temp staffing software? · Kordis