How NPS Helps Staffing and Recruiting Firms Grow

The staffing and recruitment industry faces a major challenge: finding and placing the right talent efficiently. As top candidates become harder to source, staffing firms face increasing pressure to deliver the best hires—yet many still struggle with misaligned placements.

Hiring the wrong candidate—whether for a temporary or permanent position—can be costly. A bad hire can cost as much as $17,000, factoring in recruiting expenses, training, lost productivity, and potential damage to client relationships. Rushing to fill positions without a clear feedback loop often leads to poor matches and dissatisfied clients.

But what if you could proactively measure client satisfaction and refine your approach before it’s too late? Net Promoter Score (NPS) provides staffing and recruiting firms with a proven way to track hiring success, ensuring you’re not just filling roles but making the right placements. By capturing client feedback, NPS helps staffing firms refine their candidate selection process, strengthen relationships, and increase client retention.

In this article, we'll show you how NPS for staffing and recruitment firms can boost client retention, drive growth, and enhance placements.

What Is Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Why Does It Matter?

NPS is a simple yet effective tool used by staffing and recruitment firms to measure client satisfaction and loyalty. The concept was created by Fred Reichheld at Bain & Company and Satmetrix and was later introduced as the Net Promoter® Score methodology in 2003 when Fred published an article in the Harvard Business Review titled "The One Number You Need to Grow." 

NPS involves asking one critical question: "How likely are you to recommend our staffing services to a friend or colleague?" Clients rate their likelihood on a scale from 0 to 10.

The NPS methodology categorizes respondents into three groups:

• Promoters (Score 9-10): These clients are loyal and highly satisfied with your staffing services. They are likely to recommend your firm to others, improving your reputation and driving business growth.
• Passives (Score 7-8): These clients are satisfied but not enthusiastic enough to refer others. They don’t actively contribute to growth but aren’t a threat to your reputation.
• Detractors (Score 0-6): These clients are dissatisfied with your service and are unlikely to recommend you. If not addressed, their feedback can damage your firm’s reputation and cost you future placements.

To calculate NPS, subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. This score can range from -100 (if all your clients are detractors) to +100 (if all your clients are promoters). A higher score signifies better customer loyalty and satisfaction.

One of the key benefits of using NPS is its simplicity. By gauging whether clients are promoters or detractors, staffing firms can identify what’s working, what’s not, and where they can improve.

Understanding a Good NPS Score for Staffing and Recruiting Firms

When you’re evaluating your staffing firm’s NPS, the goal is to set a target score that reflects both your firm’s performance and its standing in relation to the broader industry. To determine what constitutes a "good" NPS score, you must assess multiple factors: 

Global NPS standards

In global terms, an NPS score of 50% is considered excellent, indicating strong customer loyalty and satisfaction. Firms with an NPS of 70% are categorized as world-class, placing them in the top tier of customer experience across industries. These benchmarks are a good starting point for determining your firm's performance. 

If your staffing firm is consistently achieving scores above 50%, you're on track to maintain a competitive edge. However, aiming for world-class status (70% or higher) requires refining your processes for both client and talent satisfaction.

To access the latest benchmarks and industry insights, explore ClearlyRated's 2025 Staffing Buyer Insights Report.

Staffing industry-specific benchmarks

The staffing sector also has its distinct set of NPS metrics, and by knowing these, you can place your company's performance into context. For instance, the NPS for rated staffing companies averaged 36%. This is the industry standard of client satisfaction across the staffing sector, indicating that it is the normal rate at which clients expect staffing companies to consistently meet client demands.

However, talent NPS has improved significantly. The 2023 NPS benchmark for candidates is at 30%, a 11% rise compared to 2022. This is also the highest talent NPS we've seen since 2013, showing a strong rebound from 2020, when the talent NPS hit an all-time low of just 18%. 

For your staffing firm to stand out, you must surpass these benchmarks. Firms that consistently score above 50% can be classified as strong performers, but to achieve industry-leading status, your goal should be to match or exceed the performance of the Best of Staffing award winners, who in 2023 averaged NPS scores of 77% from clients and 73% from placed talent. 

Achieving these levels requires not just good recruitment practices, but a firm-wide commitment to improving the overall experience for both clients and talent.

Competitor benchmarking

Another great way to determine if your staffing firm's NPS is "good," you need to assess it in relation to your competitors. If your firm scores 55% but your competitors average 36%, you're outperforming the industry. 

However, if competitors are scoring 70% or higher, there's a clear gap that requires attention. Benchmarking against competitors helps you understand if your NPS reflects unique operational advantages or if you're simply meeting industry standards. It also highlights areas for improvement, such as client service, talent engagement, or placement accuracy, which has a direct impact on client loyalty and satisfaction.

For a broader perspective, compare your firm's NPS to industry leaders outside staffing. Companies like Starbucks and USAA, with an NPS of 77% and 75% respectively, set the bar for outstanding customer satisfaction. On the other hand, companies like Comcast, with scores of around -9%, show the consequences of poor client experience. 

Aiming for an NPS of 70% or higher places your staffing and recruiting firm in the top tier of customer experience, not just within staffing but across industries.

Why Staffing and Recruiting Firms Should Track NPS for Growth

Tracking NPS is critical for staffing and recruitment firms aiming to optimize their service delivery and drive growth. NPS offers direct, actionable insights into client and talent satisfaction that are specific to the challenges and dynamics of the staffing industry. 

Here’s why staffing firms should make NPS a key part of their growth strategy:

Simplicity and clarity

NPS is a simple metric, which makes it easy for staffing companies to measure and monitor. Just one question can gauge whether clients and candidates would recommend your services and give you a clear indication of loyalty.

Its ease of use enables you to track satisfaction levels over time, discover trends, and compare to industry norms. This transparency makes NPS an indispensable metric for enhancing client and candidate satisfaction.

Data-driven insights

NPS is inherently data-driven, meaning that it provides direct feedback from clients and placed candidates, the two key stakeholders in the staffing industry. Unlike surveys that rely on assumptions or indirect observations, NPS measures real sentiment, giving you access to authentic insights from the people who matter most.

For staffing firms, it eliminates guesswork and gives them actionable data that points to areas of improvement. Whether it's the quality of your job placements, the efficiency of your recruitment process, or the responsiveness of your team, NPS can provide clarity and focus on areas that need attention.

Additionally, you can break down the results into specific categories, such as client satisfaction with candidate quality, communication effectiveness, or the hiring process. This makes NPS a versatile tool that speaks to many dimensions of your firm’s service offering.

Time is everything

Staffing clients and candidates are busy, and their time is valuable. Traditional surveys or lengthy questionnaires often result in low response rates. Luckily, NPS addresses this problem by being concise, straightforward, and direct.

The rapid response enables your company to react quickly, being responsive to client requirements and remain agile in an industry that is fast-paced. By valuing your clients' time, you strengthen relationships built on respect and responsiveness.

Promotes transparency and accountability

NPS provides a clear, quantifiable metric that enables staffing and recruiting firms to assess performance consistently. Without a standardized way to measure satisfaction, it can be difficult to understand how your firm is truly performing or where improvements are needed. NPS addresses this by directly reflecting how clients are likely to recommend your services, which is a clear reflection of their overall satisfaction.

Staffing firms can set concrete goals based on NPS scores. For instance, if your score is below the industry average, it highlights areas that need attention. With this clear benchmark, your team can focus on improving service at every touchpoint.

This transparency also drives accountability. When everyone in the organization understands how their actions affect NPS, they’re more likely to adopt a client- and candidate-first approach. 

How to Implement NPS for Staffing and Recruiting Firms

To successfully implement NPS in staffing and recruiting firms, follow these clear, step-by-step instructions.

Step 1: Design the survey

To implement NPS, start with a simple yet powerful survey. The core question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our staffing services to a colleague or friend?" gauges overall satisfaction. Along with this main question, include a follow-up question: "What’s the primary reason for your score?"

This allows you to gather qualitative feedback and understand the reasoning behind the score. This is crucial for identifying specific areas that need attention.

Step 2: Decide when to distribute the survey

Timing is a critical aspect of gathering relevant and timely feedback. To ensure you get accurate responses, distribute the NPS survey at the right moments in the client and candidate experience.

• For clients: Send the survey after a successful placement or project completion. You want the experience to be fresh in their minds, so do this shortly after the event, within a few days.
• For candidates: Send the survey after they have been in their new role for a few weeks. By then, they’ll have had enough time to assess the placement and their overall experience with your firm.

Step 3: Automate the survey process

Implement a system to automate survey distribution. Rather than sending surveys manually, use your CRM system or survey tools to automate survey requests. Many staffing and recruitment firms use CRMs that can trigger automated survey requests after key milestones, such as when a candidate is placed or when a client completes a project.

Integrate with client experience platforms like ClearlyRated to automatically sync contacts and data with your CRM/ATS. This integration sends surveys to both clients and candidates at the right time, without the need for manual tracking.

In addition, use other tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms for automation, based on your firm's needs and platform preferences. 

Step 4: Collect and organize feedback

After sending the surveys, focus on monitoring responses.

Segment the responses into two categories: clients and placed talent. Such segmentation enables you to target feedback from each group. For instance:

• Clients: Are they satisfied with your communication? Was the placement correct? Did you deliver?
• Talent: Are they content with the role? Was the recruitment process transparent? Do they feel supported post-placement?

Classify responses using the NPS scale into Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), and Detractors (0-6). This gives an easy method for measuring satisfaction levels.

Step 5: Analyze the data

Once feedback is collected, analyze it thoroughly. Look at the trends for both clients and candidates separately. Break down the feedback into actionable segments:

• For clients: Identify if there are recurring issues like miscommunication, mismatched candidate skills, or service delays. Highlight where the relationship is failing—whether it’s in the candidate selection process, project management, or follow-up communication.
• For candidates: Look for feedback on aspects such as the quality of job placements, the recruitment process, and candidate support. Are there common complaints about how candidates were prepared for interviews or how well the placement aligns with their career goals?

Use this data to understand the specific challenges or positive experiences your stakeholders are having. Track the NPS score trends over time to evaluate if changes are positively impacting satisfaction levels.

Step 6: Set actionable goals

Once you have analyzed the data, create clear action steps to improve based on the feedback. Your NPS results will serve as a benchmark, and your goals should directly address areas where your scores were lower.

If your client NPS is lower than expected, prioritize improvements in areas such as:

• Talent quality: Ensure your talent pool matches client needs more closely.
• Communication: Streamline communication processes, from initial contact to job placement feedback.

If your candidate NPS is low, focus on areas such as:

• Candidate experience: Improve candidate screening and job matching
• Onboarding support: Increase the level of support after placement

Set realistic targets for improvement based on your current scores. If your client NPS is 40% and the industry average is 50%, set a goal to increase your score to 45% over the next quarter by addressing specific areas of client dissatisfaction.

Step 7: Share results across teams

To drive improvements, share the NPS feedback across your organization. See that everyone in your firm understands the importance of client and candidate satisfaction and how their actions contribute to improving the NPS score.

For example:

• Recruiters: Understand how their candidate selection process affects both candidate and client satisfaction.
• Account managers: Recognize the role of clear communication and expectation management in shaping client experiences.
• Support staff: See how their responsiveness and follow-up impact overall satisfaction.

Make NPS results part of your internal discussions and goal-setting. Incorporating the data into regular team meetings keeps everyone aligned around the common goal of improving service quality.

Step 8: Implement process improvements

Based on the feedback and goals set, implement process improvements.

For example, if communication was identified as an issue, implement new protocols for client check-ins. If talent engagement after placement was a concern, introduce a post-placement feedback system to check in with candidates.

Focus on specific, measurable improvements based on the feedback received. These should be actionable steps that can be tracked over time.

Step 9: Monitor progress and adjust

NPS is not a one-time process, but an ongoing cycle. Monitor your NPS regularly to track improvements and setbacks. For example, if you implemented a new candidate engagement process, track whether it improves the NPS score in subsequent surveys.

Review feedback at regular intervals—quarterly or monthly—depending on your business cycle. If the actions taken don’t seem to improve NPS scores, review and refine your strategies. This iterative process will help your firm continue to improve and stay ahead of the competition.

Step 10: Repeat and refine

Finally, repeat the process consistently. 

As your firm evolves, so will your clients' and talent’s expectations. Regularly revisiting your NPS tracking keeps you on top of shifting needs and preferences. It also allows you to continuously refine your services to meet changing market demands.

Key Benefits of Using NPS in Staffing Firms

In the staffing industry, one of the most persistent challenges is turnover. High turnover rates not only impact the firm’s bottom line but also create gaps in client satisfaction, strain relationships, and lead to inefficiencies in talent placement.

And on top of that, 73% of hiring managers believe that employee turnover places a heavy burden on remaining employees, potentially damaging engagement and morale. NPS is a structured and actionable way to address these key challenges. When integrated into your customer experience strategy, it provides significant and measurable benefits for staffing and recruiting firms.

Here’s a more detailed look at how NPS can transform your staffing firm's operations:

Drives data-driven decision-making

The insights you gather from NPS help drive decisions in your staffing processes. From improving communication strategies to optimizing the recruitment pipeline, NPS helps you prioritize changes that matter most to your clients.

For example, if a group of clients reports low satisfaction with the communication process, your team can act swiftly to enhance communication strategies, through more regular check-ins or clearer expectations about service timelines. This data allows you to prioritize changes that directly impact client satisfaction, creating a more tailored approach to improving your staffing processes.

Improves client retention

The average staffing firm loses 20 or more clients for every 100 in a typical economic year, highlighting the critical need for proactive client retention strategies. This churn can erode long-term profitability and disrupt operational efficiency, especially when firms have invested heavily in acquiring these clients.

NPS helps staffing firms to identify early signs of dissatisfaction before they escalate into client loss. Additionally, a sudden drop in NPS can act as an early warning system, alerting management to systemic issues like subpar service delivery or changes in client expectations. With this knowledge, firms can implement targeted interventions, whether it's enhancing service levels or adjusting recruitment strategies.

Apex Systems, for example, partnered with ClearlyRated to implement NPS surveys and gained valuable feedback from clients and talent. These insights helped them identify areas for improvement, resulting in a 55.6 NPS for client satisfaction. In turn, they retained clients and earned a 10-Year Diamond Award for excellence in client satisfaction. 

Identifies loyal clients

Promoters (scoring 9-10 on the NPS scale) are a goldmine for your business. Not only can they provide valuable referrals, but they can also serve as your firm's ambassadors in the market.

When your firm receives a high score from a client, it signifies that they are not just content but are highly likely to spread positive word-of-mouth. In fact, 88% of consumers trust word-of-mouth recommendations, making your Promoters a powerful channel for organic growth. Nurturing these relationships by acknowledging their support and showing appreciation can lead to even stronger ties and more opportunities.

Drives revenue by boosting client lifetime value (CLV)

As a staffing firm, the longer a client stays with you, the more revenue you generate. NPS directly correlates with client lifetime value by fostering better service, higher satisfaction, and deeper relationships. 

A study by Bain & Company revealed that a 5% increase in client retention can lead to an increase in profits by 25% to 95%, indicating the long-term financial impact of client loyalty driven by NPS. When clients consistently rate your firm highly, they are more likely to return for future staffing needs and engage you for new projects. 

Additionally, satisfied clients are more willing to invest in higher-value staffing solutions, increasing the overall revenue per client.

Common Challenges in NPS Implementation & How to Overcome Them

Implementing NPS in staffing and recruitment firms can bring a wealth of valuable insights, but there are several common challenges that firms must navigate to effectively leverage this tool.

Let’s take a look at a few of these challenges and how you can overcome them for maximum impact.

Low response rates

Low response rates compromise the accuracy and reliability of your NPS data, making it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about client and candidate satisfaction. When the feedback pool is too small, identifying trends becomes nearly impossible, and your insights lose their value. 

To boost response rates, focus on gathering feedback immediately after key milestones like successful placements or interviews. Personalize survey requests and automate distribution through your CRM/ATS to streamline the process. 

Similarly, offer incentives such as discounts or prize draws to help encourage more participation, resulting in a more representative data set.

Unclear actionable insights

A high score doesn’t always guarantee that everything is running smoothly, and low scores require a deeper understanding to determine where adjustments are needed. When you add follow-up questions asking respondents for specifics, you can turn vague answers into valuable, actionable feedback. 

On the other hand, you can also segment NPS data by different service types, regions, or other factors to identify recurring issues and target areas for improvement with precision. This clear breakdown helps you take targeted action where it matters most.

Survey fatigue

Excessive surveys can lead to disengagement, as clients and candidates may feel overwhelmed. This can significantly decrease the quality and quantity of feedback you receive, ultimately skewing your data and limiting the insights that you can act on. 

To avoid survey fatigue, limit the number of surveys sent and time them strategically. Focus on key moments in the client or candidate journey—such as post-placement or after interviews. By timing the surveys properly and offering rewards for participation, you can encourage more meaningful feedback.

Not connecting NPS to performance metrics

When you collect NPS data without correlating it with performance metrics such as client retention, placement success, or cost per hire, you lose the ability to measure the real business impact of client satisfaction. Without these connections, you lack visibility into how improvements in NPS directly affect your bottom line.

Hence, you must integrate NPS data with your key performance indicators (KPIs) to create a clear relationship between client satisfaction and business outcomes. This approach allows you to see the direct effects of client happiness on revenue, retention, and overall performance.

Difficulty in engaging detractors

Ignoring or neglecting detractors can lead to them becoming vocal about their dissatisfaction elsewhere, damaging your reputation and client retention rates. To avoid this, proactively engage with detractors within 24-48 hours of receiving their feedback. 

Reach out to understand their concerns in detail and outline steps your firm will take to address the issues. Following up and showing commitment to resolving their problems can turn these unhappy clients into loyal advocates, significantly reducing the risk of churn.

Best Practices for Improving Your Staffing Firm’s NPS

To boost your staffing firm’s NPS, it's crucial to adopt practices that focus on enhancing client and candidate experiences.

Here’s what you need to look out for:

• Act on feedback quickly and publicly: When you receive feedback, act swiftly and inform your clients and candidates about the changes made. Transparency in implementing changes based on feedback builds trust and shows that you value their input, strengthening loyalty.
• Create a client-centric culture: Promote a client-first mentality across all levels of your staffing firm. Train employees to anticipate and prioritize client needs, foster empathy, and ensure service excellence. A client-centric approach will enhance client satisfaction, leading to better NPS scores.
• Improve communication throughout the journey: Maintain open, clear, and consistent communication with clients and candidates. Regular updates on placement statuses, market trends, and any changes in the process help prevent misunderstandings and increase client satisfaction.
• Identify and leverage promoters: Your promoters are key assets. Engage them regularly to gather insights into what you are doing well. Nurture these relationships, ask for referrals, and convert them into long-term advocates for your services.
• Share NPS results internally to prevent misconnections: Share NPS results across your team to highlight how actions affect client and candidate satisfaction. This clears up common misconceptions and helps identify areas for improvement, like communication delays or misaligned expectations. Regularly circulating results keeps everyone focused on enhancing the client experience.

Future Trends: The Evolving Role of NPS in the Staffing Industry

As the staffing industry continues to evolve, the role of Net Promoter Score (NPS) will become even more critical in shaping client and candidate experiences. Here are some key trends that will define the future of NPS in staffing:

Integration with AI and Automation

NPS will increasingly be integrated with AI-powered tools, reducing manual effort and unlocking deeper insights. ClearlyRated’s Gen AI tools, for example, can automatically categorize sentiment from open-ended responses, providing more valuable context. 

These AI-driven insights allow staffing firms to benchmark their performance against industry standards and take immediate, actionable steps to improve client and candidate experiences. 

Automation will simplify the feedback process, allowing for real-time analysis and quicker decision-making for firms to stay ahead of client and candidate expectations.

Advanced data analytics for predictive insights

The role of NPS will expand beyond just measuring satisfaction to predicting future outcomes. Advanced data analytics will allow staffing firms to forecast potential churn, identify high-value clients, and predict successful placements based on NPS feedback. 

These insights will help firms proactively improve operations and retain top clients.

Expanded use across candidate pools

NPS will no longer be limited to client feedback. 

As firms place a greater emphasis on candidate experience, NPS will be used to measure satisfaction throughout the entire recruitment process, from initial contact to placement. 

Deeper integration with employee experience

The future of NPS in staffing will involve deeper integration with employee satisfaction metrics. As employee experience is closely linked to client and candidate satisfaction, firms will increasingly use NPS data to improve internal processes. 

Enhancing employee engagement will lead to better service, positively impacting both client and candidate experiences.

Implement NPS for Your Staffing and Recruitment Firm with ClearlyRated

As we saw above, NPS offers staffing and recruitment firms a direct way to gain valuable insights into client satisfaction. By collecting and analyzing this feedback, you can enhance client relationships, increase retention, and attract new clients.

ClearlyRated provides a customized NPS solution for staffing firms, allowing you to easily create surveys, set follow-ups, and gather detailed responses. Our Satisfaction Survey Checklist ensures your surveys are effective, helping you avoid common mistakes and build a successful strategy from the start.

With ClearlyRated, you can compare your NPS against industry standards, using its powerful analytics and benchmarking tools to measure your firm's performance. The platform provides staffing-specific insights, giving you the knowledge to stay ahead of the competition.

Ready to improve your staffing firm’s reputation? Explore the Best Staffing Firms for Women 2024 and schedule a free demo with ClearlyRated to improve client satisfaction today.

FAQs

How can staffing and recruiting firms improve their NPS score?

Staffing firms can improve NPS by enhancing communication, addressing client and candidate concerns promptly, providing personalized services, and continuously collecting feedback to refine processes and exceed expectations.

What are the industry benchmarks for a good NPS score in staffing?

In the staffing industry, a NPS of 50% is considered excellent, while a score of 70% or above is considered world-class, indicating outstanding customer satisfaction and loyalty.

How does NPS impact client retention and growth for staffing firms?

NPS directly influences client retention by identifying areas to improve satisfaction. A higher score fosters loyalty, leading to repeat business, referrals, and sustainable growth for staffing firms.