As the voice of the staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry, ACSESS works to advance the interests of the industry through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices.
Job Postings and Artificial Intelligence
Health and Safety Prevention Initiatives
Employment Standards Review
Federal Government Procurement
Pay Transparency
Conversion Fees
Gig Economy and Worker Misclassification
Since our last report, we have represented members on several public policy fronts, including industry licensing, misclassification, pay transparency, employment standards and federal procurement. Our continued focus has been on improvements to existing legislative requirements for industry, employment standards and licensing consultations as well as proactive relationship building with key government officials on a national scale.
At the federal level, we continue to recommend improvements to the procurement process and support our members involved in recent Overbilling file as they respond to the federal government. Our objective is to represent the collective interests of members, offer support as they coordinate respective responses and protect the reputation of professional staffing firms.
As the world of work evolves, educating staffing firms, employees and clients about the risks of misclassification is an important aspect of our mandate in 2025.
Other key policy issues we are monitoring in 2025 include:
ACSESS opposes legislation that bars or unduly restricts staffing firms from charging “conversion fees” when clients hire their employees permanently. Over the course of the past several years we have witnessed government attempts to interfere with our members contractual relationship with clients – we have seen this happen with imposed limitations on conversion fees in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec and while these limitations have not caused undue financial hardship on industry, further interference or meddling could impact our members ability to operate without restrictions. ACSESS has maintained the position that employment standards legislation (Employment Standards Act) in all provinces governs the relationship between employers and employees. The Acts should not dictate or attempt to interfere with established contractual agreements between staffing firms and their clients. We are seeing this play out in several states south of the border (most recently New Jersey and California imposing strict limitations) and we will be working diligently to proactively educate all ministries on a national scale to avoid any further interference.
One of the many services that ACSESS member agencies provide to clients is to source, screen, assess, and retain qualified workers. Clients gain several benefits from this arrangement, including the flexibility to retain workers based on project requirements and timelines, economic conditions or seasonal patterns, as well as access to workers with niche or scarce skills that prefer to work on a temporary, fixed-term, project-specific or contractual basis. For workers, staffing firms can offer access to a range of opportunities, and assist workers in finding arrangements that maximize their earning potential in a context where the benefits of working in a traditional full-time position are decreasing. Further, many workers prefer the assistance of a staffing firm in searching for flexible employment as opposed to sourcing and applying for job opportunities independently.
Staffing firms make major investments in advertising, recruiting, onboarding and orienting their employees, a process that can take months depending on the skills and credentials required for the position. If clients hire employees before those costs can be recovered, the staffing firm will sustain a significant financial loss. Reasonable, negotiated client conversion fees are essential to protecting the interests of the industry.
ACSESS supports provincial ministries efforts to provide clarity and information to job applicants in relation to the hiring process. However, ACSESS also believes that such efforts should be balanced with the need to ensure that any new regulations do not cause unnecessary red tape for employers and are responsive to the realities of the modern employment market. ACSESS supports the maintenance of a strong regulatory and enforcement environment in all provinces while, at the same time, ensuring our members, clients and the workers our members support are not detrimentally impacted by legislation.
In January and February, 2025, ACSESS held meetings with the Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Services Procurement Canada to discuss necessary improvements to the procurement model. As the national voice of the industry, ACSESS offered our full support and expressed a willingness to collaborate and work closely with the Federal Government in an effort to establish meaningful reforms that will support Canadians. We recommended the establishment of an advisory committee or comité consultatif without delay which will provide an opportunity/forum for industry leaders to be heard and share valuable feedback about how the contracting process can be optimized from the perspective of professional staffing firms.
Many suppliers in the National Capital region received Overbilling We also continue to work closely with the named suppliers as they retain legal counsel to align on an appropriate response to PSPC. We are hopeful that this can be resolved swiftly in accordance with the high ethical standards we uphold as an industry. ACSESS also held meetings with John Gorrie, Director General, PSPC to provide more information about how the contracting process is managed from the perspective of professional staffing firms.
Click here to consult our most recent March, 2025 Government Relations Report.
