Staffing agency org chart example
A staffing firm of forty internal staff placing a couple of thousand temporary workers a year, drawn to answer the question every agency chart faces first: is a desk one person who sells and recruits, or two people who do one each? This one splits them — and the temps are not on it.
How a staffing agency is usually structured
The agency has two workforces and the chart shows one. Internal staff — sales, recruiters, branch managers, payroll — appear. The temporary workers on assignment do not, even though there may be two thousand of them: they are the product, not the organisation, and a chart that lists them is a client roster with names attached. The exception is a large on-site programme, where a coordinator managing a client's temps is internal staff and appears under the branch.
Inside, the split is sales and recruiting. Business development managers win clients and job orders; recruiters fill them. The split-desk model draws them as separate lines under the branch or the managing director, with an account manager where the two meet. The 360 model — one consultant sells and recruits — collapses the two lines into one, usually in professional and executive search, and the chart should say which model it is because the metrics are different.
Branches repeat the shape. Each has a manager, its sales and recruiting desks and a coordinator; head office holds what all branches share — payroll for the temps (weekly, and the single most consequential function in the firm), compliance and credentialing, marketing, finance and the applicant tracking system. Professional-search desks sit beside the branches, organised by vertical rather than geography.
Typical titles by level
The vocabulary these charts use, from the top down. Titles vary by country and by company; the levels don't.
| Level | Titles you'll see |
|---|---|
| Leadership | Managing Director or President, VP Sales, VP Recruiting or Delivery, Director of Operations, Branch Manager, Practice Lead (professional search) |
| Sales | Business Development Manager, Account Manager, Key Account Manager, Inside Sales Representative, On-Site Programme Manager |
| Recruiting | Recruiting Manager, Senior Recruiter, Recruiter, Sourcer, Recruiting Coordinator, Contract Recruiter (as a contractor), 360 Consultant |
| Back office | Payroll Manager, Payroll Specialist, Compliance & Credentialing Manager, Onboarding Coordinator, Billing Specialist, Marketing Manager, ATS Administrator, Finance Manager, HR Manager (for internal staff) |
Where these charts go wrong
Agency charts go wrong by listing the temporary workforce, by merging sales and recruiting into one line when the firm actually runs split desks, by burying payroll under finance, by leaving out the compliance and credentialing team that keeps the firm licensed to place people, and by drawing branches as clones without the manager who actually runs each one.
Questions people ask
- Should temporary workers be on a staffing agency org chart?
- No. The chart shows the organisation; the temps are its product and its output. Note the headcount on assignment in a caption, and draw the on-site coordinators and programme managers who manage them at client sites — those are internal roles.
- What is the difference between a split desk and a 360 desk?
- Split: separate people sell and recruit, meeting at an account manager. 360: one consultant does both for their clients. Split scales and specialises; 360 keeps the relationship in one head and suits executive and professional search. Draw whichever you run, and say so, because the metrics are not comparable.
- Where does payroll sit?
- As its own department under operations or the managing director, with a manager and specialists. Paying two thousand people weekly against client timesheets is the operation of a staffing firm, and the back office that does it is usually larger than any single branch.
- How do you show branches?
- Each branch as its own subtree under the managing director or a regional director: manager, sales desk, recruiting desk, coordinator. Head office functions — payroll, compliance, marketing, finance — sit beside the branches, not inside any one of them.
Other industries
- ManufacturingTwo shifts, and quality kept out of production's line.
- LogisticsDispatch runs the day; supervisors run the people.
- ConstructionOffice and field, meeting on every project.
- Software startupSquads under a CTO; product managers on a dotted line.
- NonprofitThe board on top, programmes beside the money.
- Medical practiceA clinical line and a business line, crossing at nursing.
- SchoolDepartments led by teachers who also manage.
- HotelSix divisions around one general manager.
- Marketing agencyDisciplines own people; pods own the work.
- Security & facilities servicesSites stacked under supervisors; a 24-hour control room.
- Sales teamRegions for closers, a team for openers, RevOps beside them.
- Accounting firmA partner pyramid, three service lines.
- Law firmPractice groups, and the business side that runs the firm.
- ChurchA board that governs, a pastor who leads, ministries below.
- RestaurantFront of house and back of house, meeting at the pass.
- IT departmentRun, build and secure, under one director.
- HR departmentPartners, specialists and operations: the three legs.
- Local governmentElected above appointed, and two officers who answer to the council.
- Utility companyField crews, a 24-hour control centre, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defence, drawn as lines.
- HospitalTwo hierarchies that meet at the bedside.
- Retail chainHead office, the field, and a store drawn once.
- Small businessOne owner, two managers, and the jobs the owner still does.
Or start from a structure — functional, divisional, matrix or flat — or from your own spreadsheet. The guides cover a reorg, a merger, an assistant's chart and a consultant's deliverable.
Make it yours
Download the spreadsheet, replace the names, import it — the chart redraws itself. Or start empty and drag people until it's true. Building is free at any size.