Marketplaces are excellent at the first sixty days and structurally poor at year three, because escrow, vetting signals and mediation lose value once you trust the person while the fee on their hours does not. The verified fee and conversion mechanics, the arithmetic of staying versus converting, the retention and bus-factor problems nobody plans for, and a five-question test.
Staffing or Staff Augmentation? Start With Who Directs the Work
Precise definitions for staffing, staff augmentation, contract-to-hire, managed capacity, RPO, EOR and C2C, the margin mechanics behind each, current US co-employment rules after the NLRB February 2026 reinstatement and the DOL April 2026 proposal, a three-year cost comparison, and a direct answer on which model supports long-term growth.