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Running a staffing agency in Canada

The costs nobody itemizes, the rules nobody explains, and honest looks at the tools, written from inside a working Canadian staffing operation and checked for Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta.

Food processing

Canada's food processing labour shortage, in the numbers a staffing agency can use

Food Processing Skills Canada counts 50,000 unfilled roles and $3.7 billion a year in lost revenue. What the shortage means for an agency filling plant shifts.

Updated August 2, 2026

No-shows

What a no-show actually costs a staffing agency (the honest math)

There is no reliable Canadian average for a worker no-show. Use this plain formula to calculate the real cost from your own margin, time, and client credits.

Updated July 30, 2026

How to reduce no-shows at your staffing agency: the confirmation loop

A practical confirmation loop for temp agencies: get an explicit reply, call quiet workers, stage qualified cover, keep regulars, and measure your own baseline.

Updated July 30, 2026

Payroll

The staffing agency payroll process, step by step (and where the hours go)

How temp staffing agencies process payroll each week: collecting client hour sheets, matching names to workers, splitting regular vs overtime, and remitting to CRA.

Updated July 11, 2026

How to reconcile client hour sheets with ADP without losing an evening

Match client hours to workers without re-typing: use stable IDs, drop subtotals, handle split OT rows, and verify counts before importing into ADP.

Updated July 11, 2026

Compliance

Credential tracking: where the spreadsheet stops helping

A spreadsheet can record worker cards and expiry dates. It cannot stop a dispatch, connect a requirement to a role, or prove what was checked at assignment.

Updated July 30, 2026

Starting up

How to start a staffing agency in Ontario (2026): licence, WSIB, insurance, first client

Seven steps to start a temp staffing agency in Ontario in 2026: registration, the THA licence, WSIB, CRA payroll, insurance, and your first client.

Updated July 11, 2026

Comparisons

Bullhorn pricing for small agencies: what you actually pay (2026)

Bullhorn pricing in 2026: Starter $99 per user per month, Core $165. The real annual cost for a 5 to 12 person agency, plus add-ons and implementation.

Updated July 11, 2026

Instawork vs your own temp workforce: the marketplace tradeoff

A fair comparison of Instawork's hourly-worker marketplace with running your own warehouse, food-processing, or manufacturing temp workforce.

Updated July 30, 2026

The 6 best temp agency tools for agencies under 100 workers (2026)

A staffing agency tech stack for under 100 workers: dispatch, payroll, scheduling, accounting and growth, with published pricing and why each one matters.

Updated July 11, 2026

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The Kordis blog: running a Canadian staffing agency