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Randstad said time to fill in its Digital business fell from 26 days to 12.

The EEOC moved to rescind parts of its hiring-test guidelines, industrial staffing hours hit a late-2022 level, and Elwood bought CoWorx.

By Pedagogue Systems · October 25, 2026

Randstad put a time-to-fill figure on digital matching, and Robert Half's CEO remarks did not mention AI.

Randstad reported third-quarter revenue of about EUR 6.1 billion on Oct 21, up 3.9% organically. Underlying EBITA rose 10% organically to EUR 211 million, and the underlying margin was 3.5%, up from 3.3%. US operational revenue grew 19%.

On the call, CEO Sander van 't Noordende said that in Randstad's Digital business, "average time to fill has been cut in half from 26 days down to just 12," with automated matching lowering recruiting costs, according to the company's transcript. He named no country or period, and these are company-reported figures. He said employees working per internal FTE in the United States were up more than 20% on last year. A results slide places "deploying AI at scale" beside 6% more talent per FTE than a year earlier. The CEO also cited "already 1.5 million meaningful AI conversations with talent," with no period given.

Robert Half reported third-quarter revenue of $1.359 billion on Oct 22, up 0.4%, or down 0.2% adjusted, according to its SEC filing. Talent solutions revenue rose 1.6% adjusted, which CEO Keith Waddell called its first adjusted growth since 2022. Permanent placement rose 5.6% adjusted. His remarks in the release do not mention AI, which appears only in its list of risk factors.

Pedagogue Systems' view. Randstad gave a before-and-after figure for a single business. It still falls short of a benchmark: it covers the Digital business only, it is not in the results slides, and the transcript does not say how either number was measured or over what period. When the CFO explained profit gains in the US operational business, he credited the digital marketplace and delivery centers, not AI as such. Neither company attributed a revenue or margin amount to AI, and the 1.5 million conversations is an activity count, not a result.

The EEOC moved to rescind parts of its hiring-test guidelines, and Colorado holds its rules hearing.

The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures stayed in the EEOC's regulations after OPM removed references to them in July (Aug 2). On Oct 16 the EEOC sent the White House's regulatory review office a final rule to rescind the interpretive parts of those Guidelines, according to Ogletree and DirectEmployers. The text is not public. The agency projects final action in November and an effective date in January 2027. White House clearance, a Commission vote and publication come first. The EEOC has not yet proposed a companion rule on related recordkeeping. Ogletree notes that Title VII disparate-impact liability stays in place. Once a plaintiff shows that a specific practice causes a disparate impact, the employer must still show it is job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Colorado's Attorney General holds a hearing on Oct 26 at 10 a.m. in Denver and online on proposed rules for automated decision-making and conversational AI. Written comments close that night, or on the last hearing day if the hearing runs longer. The office released its Regulatory Analysis on Oct 21. The law, rewritten in May, takes effect Jan 1, 2027. It gives consumers a right to request meaningful human review, to the extent commercially reasonable.

Pedagogue Systems' view. The federal rule would remove guidance, not the legal duty behind it. If a plaintiff shows that a test or AI screen causes a disparate impact, the employer still has to show the tool is job-related. Colorado's notice and review duties start on Jan 1 either way.

Industrial staffing hours reached a late-2022 level while ADP's weekly hiring estimate slowed.

The SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator stood at 108 for the week ended Oct 10, up 11% from a year earlier and 0.6% from the prior week. The headline matched last week's reading. What is new is industrial: its index reached 100 for the first time since December 2022, up 17% year over year. Professional hours rose 9%, and office and clerical hours were 7% below a year earlier. SIA treats the last four weeks as preliminary.

ADP's weekly estimate slowed to an average 18,500 private jobs a week in the four weeks ending Oct 3, from 26,000 for the period ending Sept 26. That earlier figure now reads higher than the 24,750 we reported. The estimates are preliminary and seasonally adjusted.

ADP Research's Canaries dashboard added September data. For workers aged 22 to 25, employment fell 3.7% year over year in the most AI-exposed occupations and rose 0.2% in the least exposed. In August, the same group fell 4.4% and 2.0%.

Pedagogue Systems' view. Industrial and professional hours are driving the index's annual growth, while office and clerical hours remain below last year. For young workers, the gap between the most- and least-exposed jobs widened in September even as the decline in exposed roles eased. ADP Research describes the pattern as a correlation, not evidence that AI caused it.

Elwood bought CoWorx as SIA measured a three-year margin decline.

Elwood Staffing said on Oct 19 it had acquired CoWorx Staffing Services, which has 45 locations in 21 states. CoWorx keeps its brand as a subsidiary, and Elwood did not disclose terms.

A San Francisco court approved a settlement with WorkWhile, a shift-work platform, on Oct 19. WorkWhile will pay $2.1 million to delivery drivers plus $200,000 in penalties. From Jan 1, 2027, it will treat all its California gig workers as employees, the City Attorney said.

SIA found that average gross margin at 14 public staffing firms with North American operations was 26.2% in 2025, down from 28.1% in 2022. Margins fell from 2024 to 2025 at 13 of the 14. The average is unweighted and includes non-staffing lines.

Pedagogue Systems' view. SIA's series puts last week's ManpowerGroup margin decline in context: thinner gross margin is a three-year pattern across public firms, not one company's quarter. WorkWhile's settlement changes how it operates. A 2024 agreement already moved its non-driver workers to employee status, and from January its remaining California drivers move onto employee payroll, with the time and pay records that requires.

What we are watching.

  • Oct 26: Colorado's rules hearing, and Kforce results.
  • Oct 30: Court-authorized depositions of 15 opt-in declarants close in Mobley v. Workday.
  • Ongoing: Bullhorn's incident investigation. On Oct 24 all products were back with some features still down, and Bullhorn had not found whether customer data was taken.
  • Nov 6: The BLS October jobs report.

About Pedagogue Systems. Pedagogue Systems builds Cassion, a governed data foundation for staffing operations. It serves shift-based, credential-heavy operators in healthcare, industrial, and aviation staffing. It helps staffing operators keep operational records attributable and auditable before they automate decisions.

Sources.

This Brief was produced with AI assistance and adversarial review, then edited by a human before publishing. AI and people both make mistakes, so please verify anything critical independently. How we produce the Brief.

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