# What is a staffing agency?

> A staffing agency employs workers and places them at clients. How hours, client approval and payroll work in the staffing model.

URL: https://timetracking.tech/glossary/staffing-agency
Language: en
Last updated: 2026-10-24

**Definition:** A staffing agency (temp agency, in Dutch uitzendbureau) employs or contracts workers and places them at client companies for a period. The agency pays the worker and invoices the client for the hours worked.

## How the staffing model works

Three parties are involved: the agency, the worker and the client (the hirer). The worker does the job at the client, under the client's daily direction, but the employment relationship is usually with the agency. That split is why hours are so central: the same hours determine the worker's pay and the client's invoice, and the client must agree with them.

In the Netherlands, most agency work falls under a collective agreement for temporary agency workers, from ABU or NBBU. In Germany, temporary agency work is regulated by the AÜG and is a regulated business.

- [ABU and NBBU cao](https://timetracking.tech/glossary/abu-nbbu-cao)

## What agencies need from time tracking

An agency with dozens of clients needs hours per placement, approval by many different client contacts, client allowance schemes and a clean export to payroll every week. TimeTracking handles client approval through magic links, compares the worker's hours with the client's, reads client timesheets from email or spreadsheets, and exports to payroll, starting with the SD Worx format.

- [Time tracking for staffing agencies](https://timetracking.tech/for/staffing-agencies)
- [Placement](https://timetracking.tech/glossary/placement)
- [Client approval](https://timetracking.tech/glossary/client-approval)
- [Client timesheet template](https://timetracking.tech/timesheet-templates/staffing-agency-client)