Glen Cathey

The Chick-fil-A Manifesto: What Service and Value Should Mean in Staffing Across multiple conversations with contingent workforce leaders this month, a familiar frustration trend emerged: the staffing industry has become commoditized. Across the entire ecosystem, suppliers, MSPs, VMSs, HR Tech, and the clients they serve have found ever-more-creative ways to devalue ourselves. Vendors underbid, clients squeeze at the expense of quality, candidates are ghosted, and hiring managers are stuck navigating a system that feels more like a transaction machine than a talent solution. Here’s a radical thought: what if we looked to Chick-fil-A as the model to improve? Yes, the chicken place. Chick-fil-A generates 2x the revenue and profit per location than any other fast-food chain and they are closed on Sundays!! Why? Not because their prices are lowest, but because their experience is exceptional. In the early 2000s, they hired The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. consultants to train their teams. The “My pleasure” became more than a tagline; it was a cultural shift. They accept just 0.5% of franchise applicants, 10x more selective than Harvard. They invest in people and service, and it pays. Meanwhile, much of the staffing industry has done the opposite. We’ve raced to the bottom, cut costs, automated relationships, and measured success in fill rates and spend, not outcomes or experience. We’ve made contingent labor feel, frankly, disposable. There is an opportunity here, not just for Ursus, Inc. , but our entire industry. What if we reimagined our industry around value and experience, not just cost? What if our recruiters were trained like hospitality pros, focused on respect, response time, and true partnership? What if hiring managers got more than just resumes, and contingent workers felt pride, not disconnection? For procurement and program owners, this is your moment too. Your mandate and your responsibility are bigger than just compliance and cost containment. You shape and curate how your brand is experienced by thousands of workers who aren’t on your payroll but are part of your team. In today’s fiercely competitive market, experience drives retention, and reputation is currency. Do your contingent workers feel part of something great, or just another number in the system? You get what you pay for. But more importantly, you keep what you value. We don’t have to be the fast food of professional services. We can choose to be the Chick-fil-A. It starts with redefining value: from transactions to trust, from price to partnership, from “filling seats” to fueling teams. Service isn’t a commodity. Talent isn’t a transaction. It’s our pleasure. Chick-fil-A Restaurants #Staffing #ContingentWork

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I’m seeing a concerning trend in our industry. Enterprises are underinvesting in the very people who keep their contingent labor programs running. It’s shocking to talk to highly qualified candidates. These are professionals who have led global programs, overseen massive VMS rollouts, and driven real transformation, yet they are struggling to find work. At the same time, companies often hire inexperienced resources and then wonder why their programs stall. The reality is simple: we should be investing in qualified talent. There are experts on the market who can elevate and transform a program if given the chance. The success of a contingent workforce program starts with the people leading it.

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One veteran opened the door for many. Another veteran shut it for all. Last week, I met two senior leaders: - CHRO of a manufacturing company - TA Head of a renewable energy firm Both had experiences in veteran hiring. Both had very different outcomes.  The CHRO proudly shared how it all began with hiring one veteran a few years back. He delivered excellence. He earned trust. He became almost indispensable. This opened opportunities for many more veterans. Today, they’re hiring veterans across roles — and have confirmed participation in our next job fair in August. The TA lead’s story was the opposite. They hired a veteran for the first time. The process took two months. The veteran accepted. Had two months’ notice. But one week before joining, backed out for another offer. The result? - 4 months lost. - Business upset as role is bleeding and impacting business - Decides not to try veteran hiring anymore. Not anytime soon. She told me — “We don’t expect this from veterans. Their word should be their bond.” I reassured her that in the last 12 years, I’ve seen only 2–3 such cases in a year. But her mind was made up. She is not keen for a participation in the veteran job fair either. This post isn’t about blame. It’s about responsibility. We must know that when you were in the military, you carried the weight of the entire military community's branding on your shoulders. The responsibility continues in corporate. Like it or not, corporate will see the entire veteran community with the same lens based on their experiences with the veterans they have met. Thus, the shoulders of veterans in corporate are heavy. Remember, you carry more than just your name. You carry the hopes of many others comrades behind you. Choose wisely. Act honorably.

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Is your ATS costing you placements? We see it all the time, healthcare staffing firms using non-healthcare specific or patchwork ATS systems that actually slow them down instead of helping them place people faster. I put together a quick guide: “7 Signs Your ATS Might Be Costing You Placements” These insights come from our experience helping firms onboard between 50 and 500,000+ providers, streamlining the process and eliminating common challenges. If you’d like the guide or want to talk through how to spot these gaps (and fix them), feel free to reach out or grab some time here:  https://lnkd.in/gawwp5k3 #HealthcareStaffing #RecruitmentTechnology #ATS #Efficiency #HealthcareRecruiting #CeipalHealthcare

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TA/Recruiter job openings in the U.S. continue to climb (surprisingly!) For the first time in nearly three years, postings are holding steady above the 45,000 mark. The sharpest demand we’re seeing is from clients in Data Centers, AI, Aerospace Engineering, and VC-backed and pre-IPO tech. What’s especially interesting: this strength in TA roles is happening at the same time overall U.S. job openings are trending down (per the latest JOLTs report). August’s jobs report showed just 22K new jobs created nationwide, yet demand for recruiters is starting to surge. Why? My hunch: - Lowering interest rates are fueling capital expenditures in tech - IPO activity is picking up - VC funding is flowing again - Companies are positioning for broad hiring in tech Recruiting is often the “canary in the coal mine” for hiring cycles. If this momentum holds, it could signal a broader acceleration in tech hiring heading into 2026. 👉 Do you think this trend continues?

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3 trends we’re seeing in hiring. By new, I mean in a “what’s old is new again” sort of way: 👉The “hubs on the coasts” model is back. Besides my home market of Chicago, we’re seeing more and more hiring just in New York and San Francisco. Not exclusively of course. But a noticeable uptick. Not to mention more and more are going the RTO route. 👉Downward pressure on salary in offers. Won’t be a shock to anyone that the days of runaway salary inflation are over. (I miss you, 2021.) But it does appear to have increased still. 👉”They didn’t seem like they wanted it.” Now, I’m an advocate that both sides (interviewees and interviewers) should really sell themselves. Here’s why you should hire me / here’s why you should work here. But let’s just say things feel a bit one-sided these days and leave it there. So we’ve got the trifecta: in office (in less locations), less pay, and you gotta want it. Basically, 2019. Y’all know I hate anecdotal insights with no basis in data for a broader context, so here’s the dump courtesy of Business Insider (link in comments): 👉Indeed postings for remote are 7.5% in May compared to 10% in mid- 2022. 👉Year-over-year pay increases fell from 9.5% in 2021 to 3% in April 2025. 👉The average lowest wage people would accept for a new job dropped from $82,000 in November 2024 to $74,000 in March 2025. Blah blah blah. I’m not just making this up. Here’s my question: Why? Why limit talent pools to specific locations for roles that don’t require it? Why haggle over a $5k difference in offer, when the positive mindset in a new hire shifts negative? If they decline, it’s onto the next one… Why expect someone interviewing to be more excited about your company than you are in selling it to them? And why are we having these same conversations about talent, over and over again? Because we’re human. We do dumb things that feel logical but are actually emotional. Cognitive biases are inescapable. When business gets tough, we refer back to times when things weren’t and try to emulate those conditions. Even if one has nothing to do with the other. Power dynamics reinforce old habits. Negotiating down is what you’re supposed to do when you have your manager’s hat on. It’s the ‘responsible’ thing to do, consequences be damned. Fear of making a hiring mistake drives one-sided behavior. “I don’t want the candidate who needs to be sold, I want the one who can see how great we are on their own.” Most people will jump on the “hiring is broken” bandwagon. But it never seems to get fixed. Because admitting people (not companies) being the underlying issue is something not everyone is willing to do.

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HR isn’t about managing people. It’s about understanding them. For years, HR systems have been focused on processes. Forms, reports, approvals. But that’s not where the real leverage is. At Sloneek, we’re shifting the focus from tracking people to actually understanding them—with a new layer we call Sloneek Intelligence. It’s not just dashboards and data. It’s: ✅ Signals about engagement. ✅ Early warnings on burnout. ✅ Trends in team dynamics. All in one place. All actionable. Because managing headcount is one thing. Leading people? That takes insight. If your HR system could answer one question about your people, what would it be?

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What Healthcare Staffing Leaders Are Telling Us Lately: After dozens of conversations with healthcare staffing executives this month, one theme keeps coming up: “We’re growing, but our systems aren’t built to scale with us.” Teams are hiring, demand is high, but outdated workflows and disconnected tools are slowing everything down. The right tech stack shouldn’t just keep up, it should drive your growth. If your team is feeling the friction, you’re not alone. What’s one process you know needs to evolve before Q4 hits? #HealthcareStaffing #WorkforceManagement #StaffingSolutions #HealthTech #DigitalTransformation #HealthcareLeadership #ScalableSolutions #TechStack #OperationalExcellence #FutureOfWork #HealthcareInnovation #GrowthStrategy #ProcessImprovement #Q4Planning #LeadershipInsights #ATS #CeipalHealthcare

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I keep seeing reports that track GCC performance with headcount and utilization. And I get it, those are easy to pull. But they don’t tell you anything about whether the center is actually maturing. When you're setting up a GCC, the real questions aren’t “how many people can we hire” or “what’s the cost per hour.” It’s: - How many decisions can this team make without pinging HQ? (Decision surface area) - How much ambiguity can they close without sending it back up the chain? (Problem Closure Rate) - How fast does a signal (a bug, a user complaint, a quality issue) move through and get acted on? (Loop Velocity) It doesn’t matter how many people are in your GCC or what your utilization rate is. If every third task gets escalated and ambiguity always flows upstream, it's no different from an offshore helpdesk with better infra.

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Something's not adding up in the staffing world The US staffing industry declined 10% in 2024 to $189 billion, according to Staffing Industry Analysts' latest report. But here's what I'm seeing from working with agencies over the past year: The decline isn't because there's less demand. It's because most agencies can't handle demand fluctuations efficiently. When client requests spike, they scramble.  When things slow down, they're stuck with overhead that eats into profits. I've worked with about 15 agencies this year, and the pattern is consistent: ◾Fixed-cost thinking in a variable-demand world. Here's what it looks like in practice: ◾Agency hires 2 full-time recruiters at $85K each (plus benefits, that's about $115K total cost per person). → Q2: 30 roles come in.  Recruiters are overwhelmed, placements take 3+ weeks, clients get frustrated. → Q4: 8 roles come in.  Same fixed costs, way less revenue. Alternative approach I've seen work: ◽Mix of core team + flexible capacity. When demand spikes, you add support.  When it drops, costs adjust automatically. One legal staffing client did this last year.  Instead of hiring a third full-time recruiter,  they used on-demand support during busy periods. Result: ◽Handled 35% more volume without adding permanent headcount.  When Q4 slowed down, their costs scaled down too. This is about building a business model that can adapt instead of breaking when demand changes. If your biggest client called tomorrow needing 5 urgent placements, how would you handle it? Panic? Turn it down? Or scale up smoothly?

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Is Your Head of Government Affairs in the Right Seat? Over the past several months, I’ve seen a surge in demand for government affairs and public policy leaders, particularly for newly created roles. Companies are realizing what many of us in the corporate affairs world have long known. Regulatory uncertainty is no longer a niche issue. It’s a central business risk and, in many cases, a competitive advantage if managed well. So here’s the question I’m asking CEOs, Chief Communications Officers, GCs, and Chief Corporate Affairs Officers right now: Does your head of government affairs have a seat at the table? If not, it may be time to reconsider your organizational structure. Why Now? From tariffs and antitrust to AI regulation, cybersecurity, and tax policy, today’s political landscape is more complex and more consequential than it’s been in years. In the last quarter alone, I’ve seen companies in health tech, energy, consumer goods, and financial services all create new government affairs roles or elevate their existing functions to report directly to the C-suite. These aren't symbolic moves. They’re survival tactics and growth strategies. The Risk of Leaving It Buried. If your government affairs leader reports three layers down or is viewed purely as a “monitoring” function, you’re missing a critical opportunity. • They should be in the room where strategy is made • They should be informing your reputational risk discussions • They should be guiding how your company shows up with stakeholders from the Hill to the media to your own employees. What High-Performing Orgs Are Doing (the most forward-looking companies I work with are): 1. Reframing government affairs as a strategic advisor, not a compliance gatekeeper 2. Elevating the function to report to the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, General Counsel, or even the CEO 3. Ensuring alignment with communications, ESG, and investor relations to speak with one voice in a polarized landscape If the last few months have taught us anything, it’s that policy is not separate from business; it is business. And the companies that win will be the ones who treat it that way. Do you agree or disagree? I'm writing an article, in partnership with our #IndustrialPractice, and would love to hear from my network. #governmentaffairs #publicpolicy #corporateaffairs #communications #executivesearch #ccomms #CEO #orgdesign #regulatorystrategy #stakeholdertrust

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Harnessing AI to Revolutionize Healthcare Staffing I know this isn’t a new topic, but its relevance hasn’t changed. AI is no longer the future, it’s here, transforming every facet of healthcare staffing. From sourcing talent to optimizing placements, healthcare staffing firms are tapping into AI-powered solutions to elevate their impact. Here’s how AI is driving innovation across the healthcare staffing landscape: • Smart Candidate Sourcing & Screening AI algorithms analyze vast pools of candidates, identifying top talent faster and more accurately than ever before. • Predictive Analytics for Workforce Demand AI models forecast staffing needs by analyzing historical data, seasonal trends, and market shifts — helping firms proactively manage talent pipelines. • Automated Scheduling & Shift Management AI-powered tools optimize shift scheduling to maximize staff availability and reduce overtime costs, while improving employee satisfaction. • Personalized Candidate Matching AI matches candidates’ skills, certifications, and preferences with client requirements to create the best fit for every role. • Enhanced Candidate & Client Engagement Chatbots and virtual assistants provide 24/7 communication, answering questions and speeding up the hiring process. The question is: Does your ATS have AI integrated to help you leverage these benefits? If not, it might be time to explore smarter technology that can transform your staffing operations. By integrating AI across these functions, healthcare staffing firms not only improve efficiency but also elevate the quality of care delivered by the professionals they place. How is AI reshaping your approach to healthcare staffing? Let’s discuss! #HealthcareStaffing #AIinRecruitment #WorkforceTech #HealthcareInnovation #FutureOfStaffing #CeipalHealthcareATS

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