The risk for full time hiring has never been higher
Microsoft suspended from PERM. 72% of buyers hit candidate fraud. AI agents cut Job&Talent costs 30%.
Matthew MottolaGet this in your inbox every week. Join 26,000+ subscribers.
Two things on the calendar before this week's stories.
Next week Tony chairs the PEI Operating Partners Forum in New York, then hosts our dinner with Safeguard Global on why specialized sourcing and EORs belong in the top 3 leadership priorities. Cory Eaves, Partner and Head of Portfolio Operations at BayPine and a main stage speaker at PEI, joins us as our distinguished guest.
Then later this month we have our community call. We'll break down the science of candidate profiles with Ian Davidson, former VP at ZipRecruiter, and how EORs and talent platforms are partnering to scale flexible workforces with Charlie McGinn.
Now to this week, here's what I'm watching:
| - The government is auditing who companies hire. The Labor Department suspended Microsoft, Adobe, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Cognizant, and Capgemini from the PERM green card program over alleged H-1B abuse.1 Microsoft's reply: 80% of its H-1B filings were extensions, and new hires were 1% of its US workforce.4 |
| - Government is auditing the AI companies hire with, too. Illinois bans AI with a discriminatory effect on hiring decisions.16 California requires a human to review before AI can fire or discipline a worker.15 Connecticut makes employers disclose when AI played a role in a layoff.13 The class action over Workday's screening AI, alleging bias against Black, disabled, and over-40 applicants, is in discovery in federal court.17 |
| - Buyers are auditing who shows up. 72% of staffing buyers hit candidate fraud this year, nearly double last year. Risk management now outranks cost savings as a top buyer priority.2 |
| - CFOs are auditing the staffing P&L. Job&Talent says in-house AI agents cut operating costs by more than 30%, and it expects 2026 EBITDA to more than double.3 |
| Access all stories » |
Here's what I think this means
Every one of those stories is an audit of the old way of getting work done. Which is why I had a big epiphany this past week.
I've been driving innovation in the talent industry for 10+ years, and I've learned that while we love new terms - direct sourcing, gig, freelance, fractional - there's already a huge industry, the contingent talent industry, that is so broken that 60% of leaders hire outside of it.
I had a second epiphany - AI might freeze both the full time and traditional contingent talent industry, and that's a good thing. I mentioned the term bloat our industry loves. Well talent platforms and EORs aren't terms, and they're us. We're technology driven models that are fundamentally different and better than traditional contingent or staffing firms.
What's so different about us? For one, we're specialized. We're not large open marketplaces. We go deep on one skillset.
| - Uncompany for designers |
| - Remotely for LATAM developers |
| - Gigged.AI for data science |
We're also incented for proven outcomes, not one time hires, which means we stay and support the work after the match.
Last, and probably most important, is we're not staffing that shows up then leaves, or agencies that manage teams companies never meet. We're the best of both. We provide talent that can work with teams directly. Yet we can manage the talent, manage the scoping of the project, and own the compliance.
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Here's how we're helping at Human Cloud
It's simple - we're the honest broker that helps companies find and get started with talent platforms and EORs.
We've spent 10+ years educating leaders about the human cloud, a world where specialized sourcing solutions use technology to create better talent channels. Now the Human Cloud Platform is where 32,000 leaders come a month to find, vet, and get started with the right solutions.
- Matt
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CEO of Human Cloud. 4x entrepreneur, angel investor, author of The Human Cloud (w/ HarperCollins), with experience advising companies like Microsoft, Deloitte, and G7 governments on how to use flexible talent. |
The 2026 Market Map
The 2026 Market Map is live. 3,296 solutions ranked, the top 5% of every segment on one page. This year it is all about specialized sourcing and EORs, the two segments buyers are asking for most. If you are on it, share it. If you are not yet, this is where you fit.
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| • Download the map » |
| • Read the release » |
Featured Events
 |
Operating Partner Dinner at PEI New York 20 seats
Tuesday, October 20 · 6:30 PM ET · Del Frisco's Grille, New York · Alongside the PEI Operating Partners Forum · Invite only
Twenty private equity operating partners and portfolio talent leaders at one table, chaired by Tony Buffum and hosted with Safeguard Global.
Distinguished guest
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| Request an invite » |
HC Community Call: Where flexible talent fits
Thursday, October 29 · 12:00 PM ET · Zoom · Members only
The SIA and PEI deep dive, the science of candidate data, and how EORs and talent platforms partner to scale flexible workforces. Hosted by Matthew Mottola and Tony Buffum.
Featuring
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| Save your seat » |
Shoutouts!
Wins from across the community over the last month. Keep them coming.
Business Cases
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Hourly workforce platform AllWork verified a business case where GPS-verified clock-ins replaced manual timesheets for a client's hourly workforce. Accuracy went to 99% and labor costs fell 20 to 40% versus the staffing agencies it replaced. |
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Global EOR Safeguard Global verified a business case with Fluent Commerce, where it hired the Sydney company's Canadian team as employer of record so Fluent could enter Canada without standing up a fifth legal entity. |
Add yours with the Business Case Agent »
Kudos
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AllWork received kudos from Brad B., Head of Field Operations. |
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Safeguard Global received kudos from Jenn H., Senior Director of Talent Operations. |
Collect yours with the Kudos Agent »
Industry Insights
Deals & M&A
| • JobSource and The Reserves Network merged with backing from Catalur Capital, six brands under one roof and a stated goal of a billion-dollar national workforce platform within four years.5 |
| • Pixid Group folded VectorVMS into one brand two years after acquiring it. The products are now Pixid VMS Pro and Pixid VMS Core.6 |
Product Launches & Reports
| • Workday says AI is rewriting jobs more than cutting them. 40% of leaders expect AI to get more from existing staff, 28% expect headcount cuts, and the median filled job now draws 69 applicants, up from 58.7 |
| • Rippling opened a 133,000 square foot New York office for 1,000+ staff, doubling its Manhattan footprint.8 |
Signals Worth Knowing
| • Hays posted its 14th straight quarter of fee decline. Net fees fell 3%, permanent placements fell 7%, temp and contracting fell 1%, and the US grew 8%. Another £50 million in cuts is coming.9 |
| • Jobless claims fell to 197,000, the fourth straight week under 200,000. Employers are holding onto workers.10 |
| • Staffing hours hit a 2026 high, up 9% year over year on the SIA-Bullhorn indicator.11 |
| • China issued its first nationwide labor protections for gig workers, the biggest regulatory shift yet in the world's largest gig economy.12 |
| • Connecticut now requires employers to disclose whether AI played a role in a mass layoff, the first state to tie AI disclosure to WARN notices.13 |
| • Canada shed 68,300 jobs in September and unemployment rose to 6.5% as public-sector cuts deepened.14 |
Industry Events
| • HRSouthwest Conference · Oct 12 to 14 · Fort Worth, TX |
| • SIA Executive Forum Europe · Oct 13 to 15 · London, UK |
| • Future of Work APAC · Oct 15 to 16 · Singapore |
| • HR Tech · Oct 20 to 22 · Las Vegas, NV |
| • Staffing World (ASA) · Oct 20 to 22 · Nashville, TN |
| • Unleash World · Oct 20 to 21 · Paris, France |
| • EOR Global Summit · Nov 3 to 4 · London, UK |
| • SIA Healthcare Staffing Summit · Nov 5 to 7 · Las Vegas, NV |
Sources
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