Redeployment staffing goes wrong when the next assignment is first discussed on the last day: by then the worker may have said yes to another agency. This blog is for recruiters and branch managers who place frontline workers.
On this page: Key takeaways · What is redeployment in staffing? · Why do good temporary workers leave between assignments? · What should you know about a worker before the last shift? · What should you recheck before a worker moves to a new client? · How do you measure redeployment? · What does good redeployment mean for agencies, clients and workers? · How Radius helps · FAQ
Key takeaways
- An end date is often known weeks ahead. Use those weeks to plan the next placement.
- Ask the worker what they want next before you look at open orders.
- Check what will expire. A certificate that runs out during the gap can stop a quick restart.
- Keep the evidence from the last placement on one record for the next decision.
- Measure the redeployment rate the same way every month.
What is redeployment in staffing?
Redeployment is placing a worker again when an assignment ends. It usually means a new client or site; an extension of the same assignment is counted separately.
Agency work in the Netherlands has shrunk. According to the CBS labour force survey, an average of 344,000 residents aged 15 to 75 worked as agency workers (uitzendkrachten) in 2025, against 362,000 in 2024. In the second quarter of 2026 the figure was 331,000, compared with 345,000 a year earlier [1] (NL). In our view, a smaller market makes the workers you already know worth more effort.
A worker you have placed also brings a record of the last assignment. Keep it somewhere safer than a planner's memory.
Why do good temporary workers leave between assignments?
Often because nobody told them in time what came next. For many temporary workers a gap between assignments is a gap in income, and a worker who does not know whether there is work on Monday takes the first firm offer.
A study of 1,827 hourly retail and food service workers in the United States found that unstable schedules strongly predicted leaving the job for workers with relatively unstable schedules, about one third of the sample [2]. These were US employees, not Dutch agency workers, so read it as a signal (US, proxy): people leave when they cannot plan their week.
In our view, three other reasons recur in frontline placements:
- The next assignment is offered on the last day, after the worker has said yes elsewhere.
- A certificate expired during the assignment and only shows up when the new client asks for it.
- The worker is asked to repeat the whole application, as if the agency had never met them.
What should you know about a worker before the last shift?
Six facts, recorded and dated, before the assignment ends.
| What to know | Why it matters | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed end date and chance of an extension | Decides whether you plan a redeployment | Ask the client contact when an end date appears |
| What the worker wants next: shifts, hours, travel, type of work | A role the worker does not want will not hold | Call the worker and write it down |
| Certificates and documents expiring in the next two months | An expired forklift or VCA certificate stops a fast start | Check expiry dates on the record |
| How the assignment went, in the supervisor's words | Gives the next client evidence, not a phone reference | Ask the supervisor before the final week |
| Requirements the worker mentioned but never showed | Tells you what to check before the next offer | Compare what was said with what was seen |
| Limits in your client agreement and in the worker's contract with you | Avoids promising a move you cannot make | Check both before you call |
Timing follows from your own lead time. Work out how many days usually pass between a client order and a worker's first shift, and call the worker well before that many days remain.
If you place workers for several clients and sites, see how Radius works for staffing agencies.
What should you recheck before a worker moves to a new client?
Only what has changed, expired or is new for the next role. Asking again what you already know wastes the worker's time.
- What has an end date? Certificates such as forklift, reach truck or VCA, and any document with an expiry date. Check each date against the whole next assignment, not against today.
- What does the new role need that the last one did not? A reach truck role is not a counterbalance forklift role, and night shifts or a language on the floor may be new.
- What did the worker say but never show? If a certificate was mentioned and nobody saw it, ask for it now.
Everything else stays on the record with its source and date. For the checks that can happen before an offer, see which identity, right to work and certificate checks can happen before the offer.
How do you measure redeployment?
Count the assignments that ended, then count who started again with you. Fix the rules once: count extensions separately, use a fixed window (for example a new start within 14 days), leave out workers who told you they were stopping, and record one reason for every worker who did not start again.
Illustrative example (invented figures). In September, 60 assignments ended at one branch. Twelve were extended. Of the other 48 workers, 27 started a new assignment within 14 days.
Redeployment rate = 27 ÷ 48 = 56%
Of the other 21, eight took work elsewhere, six had no suitable role in time, four wanted hours the branch could not offer and three had an expired certificate. Nine of them (no role in time, an expired certificate) are problems the branch can work on.
48 workers whose assignments ended in September without an extension
Redeployment rate = 27 ÷ 48 = 56%. The nine in light blue are problems the branch can work on.
Definitions differ between agencies, so compare with your own previous months.
What does good redeployment mean for agencies, clients and workers?
Fewer restarts from zero, for everyone involved. The agency fills the next order with someone it knows, the client gets a worker with a record, and the worker keeps an income.
- One owner per ending assignment. A named recruiter makes the calls and keeps the record current.
- A person decides the next placement. Doing well on one site does not make someone right for the next; a recruiter checks the new requirements against the evidence.
Some workers want a break or a permanent job. Do not hold people with vague promises.
How Radius helps
Radius Hire is the AI hiring platform for frontline roles. Its AI Interviewer, Match and Radius Passport sit on one candidate record, and for redeployment that record is the point. Each interview can be kept as a recording, a transcript and a summary, and each check carries its source and date. Where the employer uses Radius Passport, identity and right to work are checked with a trusted verification partner and certificates are recorded with their expiry dates. Match shows, for a new role, which requirements each person meets, with the evidence behind each one. Radius never rejects a candidate on its own: a recruiter reviews the evidence and makes every hiring decision.
Radius, including the Radius ATS, is built for staffing agencies that recruit for several clients and sites. How clients, branches and permissions are set up is agreed in the demo. Radius is new, so this blog explains how the product works rather than claiming results.