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 organization, and a chart that lists them is a client roster with names attached. The exception is a large on-site program, 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 president, 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, organized 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 | President 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 Program 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 organization; the temps are its product and its output. Note the headcount on assignment in a caption, and draw the on-site coordinators and program 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 specializes; 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 president, 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 president 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, programs 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 center, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defense, 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.
- Finance departmentAccounting closes the books; FP&A says what they mean.
- Marketing departmentDemand, product, brand, and the operations under all three.
- Customer service departmentTeams on the floor; quality, training and scheduling beside them.
- Engineering departmentProduct teams under a VP of engineering; platform, data and security under the CTO.
- Operations departmentSupply chain, fulfillment and the functions that keep both honest.
- Product departmentProduct, design, research and the operations that measure them.
- Consulting firmThree practices, one firm behind them, and no engagement on the chart.
- Real estate brokerageAgents who are not employees, on the chart anyway.
- Insurance agencySales on one side, service on the other, and the lines where they meet.
- Dental practiceA clinical line the law draws, and a business line the office manager runs.
- UniversityAn academic line and an administrative line, and governance kept off the chart.
- E-commerce companyThe site is the store, the warehouse is a contractor, and the lines between them are drawn.
- Veterinary clinicThe doctors own the medicine, the manager owns the day, and the technicians answer to both.
- Auto dealershipThe front end sells the cars; the back end pays the bills; the chart shows where they meet.
- School districtSchools on one line, the money on another, and a board that governs from a second chart.
- Police departmentPatrol takes the calls, investigations takes the cases, and professional standards answers to the chief alone.
- Nursing homeThe administrator holds the license, the director of nursing holds the building, and the survey reads both lines.
- Property management companyThe owners and the boards are clients, the site staff are employees, and the chart is where the two facts meet.
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.