Navigating Compliance in the Contingent Workforce
An Interview with Rob Geist, SVP of Growth, SimpleVMS
If you’ve been watching enforcement trends lately, you already know what’s coming: compliance rules that have been sitting quietly on the sidelines for years are now being enforced with an intensity this industry has never seen before. Audits are ramping up, fines are climbing, and staffing agencies without a solid, scalable compliance system are paying the price.
Now more than ever, agencies equipped with the right tools are pulling ahead—staying safe, efficient, and fully compliant. One thing is clear, whether you achieve through client-driven software, such as a VMS, or a comprehensive ATS platform, you need the right tools in your tech stack to keep your business safe and scalable.
Given the importance of this topic for staffing agencies, Suzanne Stelman-Arroyo, Senior Content Strategist at Avionte, sat down with Rob Geist, SVP of Growth at SimpleVMS, to discuss what he’s hearing from staffing agency partners and buyers about this new compliance landscape, and how smart technology doesn’t just offer a checklist for compliance—it’s a game-changer for growth and differentiation.
Suzanne: Rob, there’s been a lot of talk about the changing compliance landscape. From your perspective working with staffing agencies every day, is this just noise, or are you seeing real impacts?
Rob Geist: Absolutely. You’ve got new laws, new regulations, and this administration is shining a light on things that maybe weren’t getting as much attention before. With all the ICE enforcement happening, staffing agencies and their clients are having to be way more careful about making sure the people working in their buildings are actually allowed to be there.
What I’m seeing is this knee-jerk reaction from clients. They’re thinking, “Hey, we’ve got all these temp workers here; they’re doing great work—let’s just hire them all full-time.” But then they go running their usual pre-employment checks, and—surprise—a lot of these people don’t qualify to be on their payroll.
So, it makes you wonder: were we doing the right compliance checks before letting these folks work here in the first place? I’ve seen tons of lawsuits where people who shouldn’t have been in facilities were there, something goes wrong, and suddenly the company’s getting sued.
Everyone’s way more focused on covering their bases now. Companies are realizing they need to know that everybody in their building meets their standards, because if something happens, they want to be protected.
Look, at the end of the day, if someone’s working in your facility, you better know they’ve passed your background checks and can legally work here. A lot of HR teams used to kind of ignore that part, but with enforcement getting stricter, all that stuff is coming out.
That’s why using a VMS is becoming such a big deal. When you’re working with all these different types of employees, you need a tool that helps you keep track of everyone and make sure they’re all compliant.
Suzanne: So how are employers actually dealing with all this? You mentioned digital tools helping with compliance—can you walk us through how a VMS fits into solving these problems?
Rob Geist: What we’re seeing is a split. Some employers have invested in their own compliance systems — they’re managing background checks, E-Verify, and credential tracking in-house to make sure every worker on-site meets their standards. But a lot of employers either don’t have the infrastructure for that or are realizing it’s a hassle to manage on their own. That’s where a VMS like SimpleVMS steps in.
It acts as a compliance checkpoint built into the workflow. Employers can set specific requirements — whether it’s drug screens, background checks, certifications, or E-Verify — and the system makes sure staffing agencies can’t move someone forward unless those boxes are checked. It creates a clean, auditable process without forcing employers to chase paperwork or manually verify every file. In this environment, where enforcement is ramping up, having that layer of built-in control has made VMS tools a much bigger part of the compliance conversation.
Suzanne: So that’s the employer side — what’s happening behind the scenes with staffing agencies when it comes to staying compliant?
Rob Geist: ICE is putting pressure on staffing agencies too. They’re showing up at offices, checking records, and making sure the workers agencies are sending out are properly vetted. What’s been interesting is that before all this ramped-up enforcement, the agencies that were doing everything by the book—background checks, drug screens, E-Verify, were competing against agencies offering rock-bottom rates because they weren’t putting as much effort into compliance.
I always called it the race to the bottom. After COVID, rates dropped, margins tightened, and everyone was trying to stay in the game. But the reality is, ensuring compliance the right way costs money. It’s tough to compete with someone who’s cutting corners and offering lower rates.
Now though, with enforcement turning up, it’s starting to even out. The agencies who’ve been doing it right finally have some backup. It’s weeding out the ones who weren’t following the rules, and pricing is starting to come back to a place where it actually makes sense. I’m seeing clients raise markups again because let’s be honest—staffing agencies aren’t in business to lose money. You’ve got to be profitable to keep placing people and running a business. And this shift might be making that possible again.
Suzanne: So, what you’re saying is, prior to stricter enforcement, especially during COVID when there was a race for talent, the agencies who could provide the most talent for the cheapest price were the winners.
But it sounds like all that’s changed now. With companies getting more cautious and scrutinizing agencies differently, the ones prioritizing compliance — even if they’re more expensive — are the ones employers are sticking with. Is that what you’re seeing?
Rob Geist: 100%! And I think the firms and staffing agencies who are meeting all the pre-employment screening requirements also probably have better recruiting processes in place. They’re setting expectations correctly for the talent, so the talent knows what to expect when they walk into a facility to do a job for an end client. This helps them get better quality people.
So, at the end of the day, the people who are doing all the things they should are the ones who are currently winning in this market.
Suzanne: But not every agency who misses a compliance issue is a bad actor. They may even want to be complaint, but they still get hit for mistakes, right? Can you talk about agencies that don’t have the right tools in place? Are they still subject to high risk if mistakes happen, even if they’re trying to be compliant?
Rob Geist: That’s a great point, and, yes, they are. The people who have the right tools in place—whether that’s their ATS, their background check provider, or a background check provider that’s integrated with their ATS—that’s going to eliminate those little clerical errors that can now cause big risk for their business. It’s going to make the executives at the staffing firm sleep better at night, knowing that all this stuff is done correctly.
I’ve seen it a million times where there’s a small firm running on Excel spreadsheets. Like you said, it’s not a bad actor—it’s just somebody making a mistake and sending somebody out to work who didn’t meet a client’s requirements.
That one little mistake, if you don’t have the right tech and automation in place, could sour the client on the way they think about you. You could be moved from a Tier 1 vendor down to a Tier 2 vendor and not get as many opportunities.
So having the right tools and technology in place to avoid those little mistakes that could happen unwittingly is huge. There are only a finite number of opportunities out there, and I’m a firm believer in capitalizing on all the opportunities we have.
Suzanne: What kind of fallout are agencies actually dealing with? Is it just about higher fines, or are there bigger consequences starting to show up? You mentioned reputational damage with clients — is that becoming a real issue now?
Rob Geist: Yes. All of what you mention. And, as an example, I just talked to a client who manages the contingent workforce for an employer based in California. He has all these staffing agencies calling on him all the time, and I asked him what these salespeople need to do to set themselves apart.
He said, “We need to step back before that. I know the reputation of all the firms in my area because I’ve been here for 20 years.” And he sits at HR roundtables and talks to other HR people who are getting the same phone calls from the same staffing agencies. He’s warning people at his roundtables: “Hey, I heard XYZ agency, who you said is one of your best vendors, doesn’t do some of their pre-employment checks.”
Now, could this be a one-time mistake that gave them a bad reputation that bubbled up to the surface? Yes, but what you have to keep in mind is that it’s a very small world when it comes to the staffing industry, even among decision makers who are hiring staffing vendors. So, your reputation is paramount, and you really must get in front of that, because if you get a bad mark associated with you, that could follow you for years to come.
Suzanne: Let’s talk specifically about VMS technology. Why do you think that companies and employers are turning to VMSs, especially in relation to compliance?
Rob Geist: Honestly, compliance is probably one of the top two or three reasons prospects want to keep the conversation going with us. It all comes back to this new spotlight on things people didn’t realize they had to worry about — like compliance for non-traditional, non-full-time workers.
The reality is that different jobs have different requirements. One position might need a drug test, background check, and E-Verify. Another might need those plus a forklift certification. It gets complicated fast. And having a system that automatically handles all that in the background is huge. It means you don’t have to think about it, and your staffing agencies don’t either. When a job order goes out, it spells out exactly what’s needed to get that worker compliant and ready to go.
A lot of hiring managers aren’t experts in this stuff, yet we’re handing them a very sophisticated problem — especially now that supervisors who used to manage one type of worker are overseeing multiple types. And without something like a VMS keeping it all straight, you’re creating blind spots that can hurt your business. It could cost you real money, or worse, land you in legal trouble.
Suzanne: So, it’s not just ICE showing up asking for worker verification, right? There’s a whole web of complexity — legal status, tax rules in different jurisdictions, and specific client or industry requirements.
Rob Geist: 100%! Take food manufacturers—they have to follow Good Manufacturing Practices, so it’s not just about legal compliance. It’s also about meeting the standards of the industries they work in.
I’ve got a client that does packaging for pharmaceutical companies, and they have what are called FDA rooms. Any contingent worker who steps into one of those rooms needs a certification showing they understand FDA guidelines for that environment. If someone unqualified works in there, it could trigger a recall of an entire batch of blister-packed medication. That’s a huge financial hit and a liability risk.
So, when I talk about compliance, it’s not just about ticking legal boxes to get people in the door. It runs much deeper — it’s about operational, industry-specific, and client-driven standards too.
Suzanne: With increasing regulation, if you don’t have technology behind you, you really just can’t do this. It would be almost impossible to manage manually.
Rob Geist: Yeah, I mean, you’re talking about people who spend anywhere between $50-100 million a year in contract labor. Think about the number of people that equates to and how do you keep that on a spreadsheet? And is keeping all that information on a spreadsheet opening you up to risk? What if somebody hacks your email and you have all this information in there?
So having it in a SOC 2 compliant system with all the encryption that needs to be in place—that bank-level encryption—is important. But it never ceases to amaze me how much data an end client has about their contract workforce that they should not have.
All it takes is one person to send an email to the wrong recipient or, heaven forbid, somebody hacking into your system. Could you imagine if you were hacked and had ransomware, and then they have all this worker data they’re selling? This is crazy.
I’ve had clients—I’m not going to name names obviously—who had lists of thousands of workers with their Social Security numbers in spreadsheets. Every time somebody gets hired, there’s the risk of keeping that data, the co-employment risk, the risk of losing somebody’s data and having them sue you.
Also, many of our clients have people they don’t want back in their buildings—their “do not re-hire” lists. So, every time a new worker was sent over, somebody in that company had to search that spreadsheet to see if that person had worked there before. Think about the time that took.
Having a VMS in place eliminates all that manual work and all that risk—everything.
Suzanne: We know there’s a lot of VMS options out there, and they’re all going to claim they have similar capabilities. What makes SimpleVMS stand out in this space?
Rob Geist: People ask us all the time, ‘What makes you different from XYZ VMS?’ And I tell them — a lot of our competitors are shifting to a self-service model, which means: ‘Here’s the platform, now go figure it out.’
But SimpleVMS is full-service. We implement it, set it up, and customize it to fit your program exactly the way you need it.
I’ll give you an example. One of the biggest VMS vendors out there rolled out their system to their professional division first. In that world, compliance meant uploading degree verifications and all kinds of documents. But when they pushed it down to their light industrial division, they didn’t customize it. So those vendors still had to upload documents — and half the time, they were fake, because the requirement didn’t make sense for that job. It just created busywork.
With SimpleVMS, we customize compliance at the job level. If a job requires one document, that’s all that gets asked for. If another job needs two, those are the only ones required. Most of our competitors can’t customize it that specifically.
It makes life easier for clients because they’re not reviewing irrelevant or fake documents just to check a box. And it makes it easier for agencies to fill orders. That means recruiters want to work those jobs — and in the end, the client gets better workers.
Suzanne: So how does that customization ensure that your recruiters can hire faster but also stay compliant? Because those are the two things we want—to stay compliant without slowing down operations.
Rob Geist: When I implement with a client, I say to them, “The one thing I do not want to do is make it so hard for your staffing agencies to fill these orders that they look at your job orders as B-orders.” We want to make it so simple and easy for them that they don’t mind jumping into another system to fill that order.
When it’s specific to the job you need, recruiters don’t mind using the system. At the end of the day, recruiters are humans, and they’re going to send the people they think are the best candidates to the jobs that are easiest to fill.
I tell clients this all the time: You cannot make it so hard to do business with you that your staffing agencies and the recruiters sitting at the desk don’t want to fill your orders first.
Suzanne: So let me summarize what you just said. Employers are juggling more complex compliance rules while still needing to fill orders quickly. And having a tool tailored to their specific needs helps speed things up and makes it easier for their staffing vendors to get the right people in place. Does that sound about right?
Rob Geist: 100%. I do have clients that are so hard to work with naturally that there are certain agencies that won’t even do business with them. If that’s the case, you’re limiting your workforce, and you do not want to limit the number of people who can be placed.
Suzanne: I love this because staffing isn’t just agencies chasing employers. Employers have to make it easy for agencies to want to fill their jobs. If you bog agencies down with pointless steps or waste their time, they’ll prioritize other clients. It’s a two-way street.
Rob Geist: Exactly. Some clients depend so heavily on one agency because that agency delivers better than anyone else—good candidates, low turnover, smooth operations. That’s where agencies want to be indispensable. Those agencies have real influence over day-to-day hiring because the client can’t do without them. I see this all the time.
Suzanne: And it happens because those agencies have the right tools—like VMS and SimpleVMS—to move fast, stay compliant, and meet what companies demand today. VMS isn’t a threat; it can make you a premier vendor.
Rob Geist: That’s a big misconception—people think VMS means constant cutthroat competition for every order. But we have a case study of a staffing firm in Cincinnati that’s the sole supplier for a big client. They built trust, delivered consistently, and became true partners. They don’t worry about other agencies stealing business, and if issues arise, the strong relationship lets them fix it and move on.
Another myth is that VMS kills client relationships. It doesn’t. Especially in light industrial, relationships still matter. Clients want them. Agencies want them. That’s what keeps work flowing and problems solved.
And despite all the talk about automation, the human element is critical. Agencies need feedback and conversations to adapt and keep meeting client needs.
Suzanne: So, the tools make all the difference—they’re relationship builders, not relationship holders.
Rob Geist: Absolutely. What tools can do is allow you to have the time to continue to build that relationship instead of doing all this manual work. And it gives the client more trust in you because you’ve got the correct tools in place, and you’re actually getting things done behind the scenes without a person having to do those things.
In the end, employers want agencies to act as true partners and consultants — not just suppliers of warm bodies. Agencies that stick to that limited role won’t stay relevant for long.
Suzanne: I also imagine that this can be a real differentiator and sales tool for agencies. Staffing has always been about relationships, but now those relationships are evolving. Employers need agencies that deliver fast, safely, and handle compliance seamlessly—and offer solutions that make that happen. That creates opportunity, not just risk.
Rob Geist: Exactly. About half the business SimpleVMS gets comes from staffing partners recommending it to their clients. I’ve walked into demos with agencies where HR’s first question was, “Why didn’t my other agencies tell me about this?” It lets agencies be strategic partners by saving clients time, reducing errors, improving reporting, and making compliance easier.
Suzanne: Easy auditing too, right?
Rob Geist: Absolutely. You can’t just hand compliance docs directly to clients because of risks. Someone has to audit, but without a system, how do you track what’s been done? A checklist on someone’s laptop disappears when they leave. A central portal with an audit trail is essential.
Suzanne: So, a couple years ago, you partnered with Avionté to build a direct integration with their ATS. What does that do, and how does it help with compliance and risk management?
Rob Geist: It’s simple but powerful. Job orders entered in SimpleVMS flow straight into AviontéBOLD. Recruiters get notified in their ATS, no double data entry. After interviews and screenings, they select candidates and send compliance docs with one click. It keeps data clean, and both sides are synced.
Suzanne: That matters because duplicate manual entry kills speed and invites errors. One wrong keystroke in compliance can cause big problems.
Rob Geist: Right. And storing sensitive info on laptops risks leaks or loss. This integration keeps everything secure and saves recruiters from juggling files.
Over the past 15 years, most VMS platforms have ignored staffing agencies. It was all about the client. Agencies were often told, “If you won’t comply, we’ll find another.” But our clients want to keep working with the agencies they know. So, we built this integration to make life easier for agencies—cutting duplicate work and errors, treating orders like they should: as A-priority.
Suzanne: So, it’s designed with staffing agencies in mind, which sets it apart from others like Beeline?
Rob Geist: Exactly. And making it easier for agencies means clients keep working with their preferred partners. It’s a win for everyone.
Suzanne: You mentioned in prior conversations that your channel partnerships with staffing agencies have been game-changers. How can agencies use this to persuade employers, especially compliance?
Rob Geist: Well, I would say, first, don’t try to push SimpleVMS on every client. It’s not a fit for all. But for those struggling with compliance, audits, or vendor management, it’s a perfect solution. Be the resource. When clients share headaches, bring this tool forward.
Also, when sales reps hear, “We’re not adding vendors,” have them ask why. Is it compliance? Too many vendors to manage? That opens the door to present a solution that simplifies and strengthens their processes.
This isn’t just a differentiator—it’s foundational for scaling your agency without risking chaos or compliance failures. And here’s the kicker: agencies risk nothing introducing us. We’ve seen partners win business simply by bringing SimpleVMS to the table. Sell us while you sell them.
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