KORE1 contract terms, as of October 2026
Contract Staffing SLAs and Guarantees What KORE1 commits to on a contract, and what it doesn’t
Three commitments on every contract placement, one honest no, and the direct hire guarantee for comparison. Read it before you sign the MSA.
KORE1’s contract staffing SLA is three commitments. Contractors show up on time, KORE1 pays them every Friday, and after 1,040 hours you can hire them at no fee. There’s no replacement guarantee on contract.
Last updated: November 6, 2026
- This page
- The commitments themselves, side by side for contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire, for whoever has to check a staffing firm’s terms before the agreement gets signed.
- Not this page
- How timesheets, the weekly invoice and payroll actually run is how contract staffing works with KORE1. The broader case for us is why companies choose KORE1.
Ask a staffing firm for its SLA and you’ll often get a page of fill-time targets, submittal ratios and response windows, all written so they can be met on paper whether or not your seat ever gets filled. We don’t publish those. They’re easy to promise and hard to hold anyone to.
Our list is shorter. On a contract staffing placement we promise three things, we say plainly what we don’t promise, and we put the direct hire terms right next to them so you can see why the two models are built differently and where the money sits in each one. That’s the whole page. Plain enough.
Contract Staffing SLA Terms, Side by Side
Every line KORE1 commits to is punched out on tape. Where a buyer usually expects a promise and there isn’t one, the slot is left empty on purpose.
KORE1 terms board
Standard terms, October 2026. Your signed agreement governs.
| Term | Contract | Contract-to-hire | Direct hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who employs them | W2 with KORE1KORE1 is the employer of record for the whole assignment. | W2 with KORE1KORE1 until you convert them. Then your company. | Your company, from the first day. |
| Showing up | Shows up on timeStarts when agreed and works the hours you set. | Shows up on timeSame commitment, for as long as they’re on contract. | Your employee, under your own policies. |
| When they’re paid | Paid every FridayKORE1 runs weekly payroll on the hours you approve. | Paid every FridayUntil conversion. After that, your payroll. | On your own payroll schedule. |
| Dental and vision | 100% dental and visionKORE1 pays all of it for the contractor. | 100% dental and visionUntil they move onto your benefits plan. | Your benefits plan. |
| How you pay KORE1 | An hourly bill rate on approved hours. | An hourly bill rate, then the conversion terms below. | 20% of first-year base salary, once. |
| Replacement guarantee | None on contract. There’s no fee to refund, so there’s nothing to guarantee back. | None while they’re on contract. | 60-day replacementWe replace them at no additional cost within 60 days. |
| Hiring them yourself | No fee after 1,040 hrsBefore that, a conversion fee that falls as hours build. | No fee after 1,040 hrsThe plan from day one. Converting earlier carries the falling fee. | Nothing to convert. They’re already yours. |
TapeSomething KORE1 commits toA promise buyers expect that isn’t therePlain text is simply how it works
Count the tape. Nothing on it is a target or an average. Each strip is a yes or a no you can check every week.
The two empty slots matter just as much, because a firm that leaves a replacement promise vague on contract, and then argues about it later when a seat goes sideways, has cost you more than one that told you up front there wasn’t one.
What KORE1 Commits To on a Contract Placement
The commitments are short because they’re the ones we control. We can make sure a person shows up. We can make sure they get paid.
“The only SLAs that we have is that our people are going to show up on time, that we’re going to pay them on Fridays.”
- On time. The contractor starts on the date you agreed and works the schedule you set. Simple. Also the thing that goes wrong first when a firm stops paying attention.
- Paid every Friday. KORE1 pays the contractor weekly as their W2 employer, on the hours you approve.
- We carry the employer side, too. Payroll taxes, unemployment tax, workers’ comp, the insurance policies and, in California, the paid sick leave the state requires all sit with KORE1 as the employer, not with you or the contractor.
- 100% dental and vision. We pay all of it for our contractors, which most people don’t expect from a contract job.
Why does Friday pay belong on an SLA at all? Because a contractor who gets paid late, even once, starts answering calls from other recruiters by the following week, and the seat you spent a month filling quietly goes back on the market. Hold us to it. The full list of what a bill rate pays for is in what’s inside a KORE1 bill rate.
Is There a Replacement Guarantee on Contractors?
No. Not on contract.
“As far as guarantees, there aren’t any. Not on contract.”
That sounds blunt, and it is. Here’s the reasoning. On a contract you direct the work and you manage the person day to day, and you pay an hourly bill rate for the hours they put in, so there’s no upfront placement fee sitting with us that a guarantee would protect.
Devin’s other point is the one managers skip. A contractor who’s managed badly leaves. No guarantee fixes that.
So what happens when a contractor isn’t working out? You talk to us early. You can coach, change the scope, end the assignment, or ask us to start a new search, and we’ve written up when a contractor is not working out in more detail. Just don’t read any of those options as a replacement we owe you. They aren’t.
When Can You Hire Your Contractor Without a Fee?
After 1,040 hours on assignment. That’s 26 weeks at 40 hours a week, or half a working year.
“If this person completes 1,040 hours, then they are eligible to convert over to full time with that particular company at no additional charge from KORE1.”
Before 1,040 hours you can still hire them. There’s a conversion fee, and it falls as the hours build, on the scale in your agreement. Most buyers who plan to convert simply wait it out, because by week 27 they’ve watched six months of real work, through a release or a quarter-end close, and the decision is easy either way.
Is waiting cheaper than hiring direct? Not really, and we’d rather say so. Devin’s own math on a $100,000 hire ends the same way every time. “There’s really no savings in going direct hire versus contract.” The difference is what you get for the money, so here it is laid out.
Across KORE1’s own records, 37.5% of contract-to-hire placements converted (207 of 552). The rest ended or extended as contracts. Our contract-to-hire staffing page covers how to set one up.
60-day replacementHire direct now
- On your payroll
- From the first day
- Fee to KORE1
- 20% of base, so $20,000 on a $100,000 salary, paid once
- First six months
- You carry salary, payroll taxes and benefits yourself
- If it goes wrong
- A replacement at no additional cost within 60 days
No fee after 1,040 hrsContract, then convert
- On your payroll
- Week 27, at 40 hours a week
- Fee to KORE1
- No conversion fee once 1,040 hours are in
- First six months
- An hourly bill rate that covers pay, taxes, insurance and benefits
- If it goes wrong
- No replacement guarantee. You end the assignment.
What does six months of contract cost? KORE1-placed IT project managers billed $105 to $124 an hour, median $116 (n=21), about $120,900 for 26 weeks. Help desk technicians billed $41 to $55, median $49 (n=39), about $51,000. Both are KORE1 observed cells in the Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, placements primarily in Southern California (methodology). Every other seat is in contract staffing rates by role and metro.
How Direct Hire Guarantees Differ
Direct hire is a different deal, so it carries a different promise. You pay a one-time fee of 20% of first-year base salary under our standard agreement, and if the hire doesn’t hold, we search again.
“There’s a guarantee of 60 days in which we will replace them at no additional cost.”
The direct hire guarantee exists because the fee does. You paid us up front for a person, so if that person walks out or doesn’t work out inside 60 days, we owe you another search and another person, and that obligation is the whole reason the promise exists. On contract nothing is paid up front. Different shape, different promise. For the full direct hire terms, see direct hire staffing.
How Fast a Contractor Starts
Fast, usually. Across 1,997 KORE1 contract placements the median time from offer to start was 3 days, 86% started within 7 days, and 37% started the same day they accepted.
Those are records, not promises. We won’t put a start date on the terms board, because a start depends on your interview loop and your onboarding as much as on us, and a promise we can’t control is exactly the kind of SLA line we told you we don’t write. The median assignment then ran 116 days (n=1,887). For scale, the American Staffing Association counts nearly 2.0 million temporary and contract employees working for U.S. staffing firms in an average week of 2025.
3 days
median from offer to start for KORE1 contractors (n=1,997)
86%
of KORE1 contractors started within 7 days of the offer
116 days
median KORE1 contract assignment, all roles (n=1,887)
37.5%
of KORE1 contract-to-hire placements converted to your payroll (207 of 552)
KORE1 placement records, W2 contract, 2019 to 2026. Track record, not a commitment. Rates in the KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, effective October 16, 2026.
What to Check in Any Staffing SLA
Four questions to put to every firm on your list, us included. Get the answers in the agreement, not the pitch.
The employer
Whose W2 is it?
Ask who the employer of record is, and who carries the payroll taxes, insurance and benefits.
What a bill rate coversThe paycheck
Which day do they get paid?
Late pay is the quietest way to lose a contractor. Get the actual day written down.
How weekly pay runsThe conversion
When does the fee reach zero?
Ask for the hour count where hiring the contractor yourself stops costing anything at all.
Contract-to-hire termsThe exit
What if it isn’t working?
Get the replacement and ending terms in plain words, before a seat goes wrong.
Questions to vet an agency
Comparing two quotes as well as two sets of terms? Read both. Pricing is its own read, and our IT staffing agency pricing guide walks through it.
Common Questions
Does KORE1 guarantee its contractors?
No. There’s no replacement guarantee on a KORE1 contract placement. What KORE1 does commit to is that contractors show up on time, get paid every Friday, and can be hired by you at no fee after 1,040 hours. Direct hire placements are different and carry a 60-day replacement guarantee.
When can I hire a contractor without paying a conversion fee?
After 1,040 hours on assignment, which is 26 weeks at 40 hours a week. You can convert earlier, but a conversion fee applies, and it falls as the hours build.
What day do KORE1 contractors get paid?
Every Friday. KORE1 is the contractor’s W2 employer and runs weekly payroll on the hours you approve, and you get one invoice for the week.
How quickly can a KORE1 contractor start?
The median is 3 days from offer to start, across 1,997 KORE1 contract placements, and 86% started within 7 days. That’s our track record, not a promise, since your own interview loop, your background check and your onboarding set a good part of the pace, and we can’t sign for any of those.
What does the direct hire guarantee cover?
A direct hire placement carries a 60-day replacement guarantee, so if the hire doesn’t work out within 60 days, KORE1 replaces them at no additional cost. The fee is 20% of first-year base salary under the standard agreement.
Start a Contract Req
Send us five things and we’ll come back with who we’d put in the seat, and what it bills.
- RoleThe title, the stack and the level.
- Start dateWhen you’d like the first day to be.
- LengthYour best guess at how long the work lasts.
- Hours a weekFull time or part time.
- ConversionYes or no. Do you plan to hire them after 1,040 hours?
Want a price first? Get a bill rate quote, or call 949-706-6990.
