What the SIA 2026 Buyer Survey tells staffing agencies about their clients 

SIA's 2026 Europe Workforce Solutions Buyer Survey covers 88 companies across the region. Published May 2026, it's one of the most detailed pictures available of how enterprise contingent workforce (CW) programmes are run right now. Here's what staffing agencies should take from it. 

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The maturity gap 

The same agencies pitch the same buyers and land in very different places, depending on where those buyers are when they hear it. 

In low-maturity programmes, buyers haven't defined their processes. Approvers aren't clear to anyone. Suppliers get little structured feedback and limited visibility into how their clients evaluate them. Buyers and agencies fall into transactional patterns by default, and both sides perform worse for it. 

High-maturity buyers do things differently. They consolidate their supplier base to go deeper with fewer partners. They tier suppliers, they share data, and they treat their staffing relationships as part of a deliberate ecosystem. Agencies do stronger work for clients who operate this way, and they rate them higher for it. 

Lesson for agencies: pay attention to where your clients sit on the maturity spectrum. It matters as much as how well your team delivers. When you know which clients are set up to be good partners, you can invest your best account managers' time more wisely. 

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Candidate fraud is now your problem too 

SIA's survey found that 75% of enterprise CW buyers have encountered candidate fraud in the past year. Recruiters are seeing identity fraud, interview substitution, and credential misrepresentation across enterprise programmes. 

Here's the part that matters for agencies: most buyers still rely primarily on their staffing suppliers' own screening to catch it. Few teams have invested in analytics or verification tools that flag fraud proactively. 

Your front-line recruiters end up as the last line of defence for clients who haven't yet invested in verification technology. It's an unfair position, and agencies who place candidates without structured screening in place are taking on real risk. 

Agencies who build trust with high-maturity buyers are the ones who can demonstrate structured, consistent screening processes. Because that's what high-maturity buyers now expect from relationships that actually hold.

How Kiku helps staffing agencies screen at scale without adding headcount 

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Buyers are adopting AI faster and setting new requirements 

Teams now use AI in 35% of European CW programmes, and they're adopting it faster year-on-year. Buyers apply it most often across screening, sourcing, and internal management. 

More importantly, buyers are starting to set requirements for the suppliers and tools they work with. 61% now require human review for key hiring decisions when AI is involved. Many buyers also expect their AI providers to disclose when AI is used, and they restrict how their data can be used to train models. 

Some buyers still have no formal AI requirements at all, but that's changing. European regulators are pushing governance up the agenda fast. 

For agencies, this means two things. First, if you're using AI tools in your process, expect clients to ask about it. Second, agencies who can demonstrate responsible, transparent AI use have a real commercial differentiator. 

See how Kiku's AI screening works and what governance looks like in practice 

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Programme maturity determines your experience as a supplier 

Buyers don't get rated only on programme size or age. Buyers who adopt more technology, particularly VMS and analytics tools, tend to run more mature programmes. 

For a staffing agency, this matters. Low-maturity clients are more likely to have fragmented approval processes, higher rogue spend, less structured feedback, and more layers of subcontractors. High-maturity clients offer clearer rate structures, better visibility, and stronger relationships. 

Buyers running more mature programmes have also moved further on AI. Agencies working with those clients face more sophisticated conversations about data, performance, and process. Agencies who are ready for those conversations have a competitive advantage. 

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What's worth watching in the next 12 months 

A meaningful share of European buyers plan to take their MSP, VMS, or supplier panels to market in the coming year. Finance and insurance teams are the most active. Pharma teams are the most stable. Either way, buyers are about to move a lot of supplier relationships.

Agencies who've invested in structured processes, transparent AI use, and strong candidate quality data are better placed to win and retain business through that shift. Enterprises rely on contingent labour as a structural part of how they get work done, and that isn't changing. Agencies who treat their role in it with the same seriousness are the ones who'll still be running preferred supplier relationships in five years. 

Want to see how agencies like yours are using Kiku to handle high-volume screening and build stronger client relationships? Explore the customer cases or book a demo. 

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The content cited here is provided by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), the global research and advisory firm focused on staffing and workforce solutions. The company's proprietary research covers all categories of employed and non-employed work. Please visit www.staffingindustry.com for more information.