How Contract Staffing Works With KORE1, From Req to Conversion
Weekly timesheet approval, contractors paid every Friday, one weekly invoice, and a no-fee path to full time after 1,040 hours.
How contract staffing works with KORE1 comes down to three repeating steps. You approve hours each week, KORE1 pays the contractor every Friday as their W2 employer, and you receive one weekly invoice.
Last updated: October 19, 2026
Everything else is a decision. Extend the assignment, end it on its date, or convert the contractor to your payroll, and once 1,040 hours are in, that conversion carries no fee from KORE1. One thing is missing from the terms. A replacement guarantee. There isn’t one on contract.
Most people reading this have already chosen a contractor. Maybe a hiring manager with a project, a procurement lead holding a vendor form, or an AP clerk who just inherited a new supplier, and nobody has told any of them what the next eight weeks of paperwork look like. That’s the gap. This page fills it.
If you want the definition first, start with what contract staffing is, and if you want the roles we place, our contract staffing page has them. Comparing models first? Contract staffing vs staff augmentation draws that line. What follows is the operating manual. It runs from the first req to contract-to-hire staffing, the point where a contractor becomes an employee.
How Does Contract Staffing Work, Step by Step?
Eight steps run from the req to a conversion. A railway signal box keeps a locking sheet that lists which lever cannot move until another one has. A contract works the same way, so each step below is locked until the thing it depends on is done.
- You move it
- KORE1 moves it
- The contractor moves it
- Ringed plate repeats every week
- 1,040Tag means locked until that many hours
| Step | Who moves it | Locked until | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1IntakeRole, level, start date, length and who approves timesheets, settled in one conversation. | You | Nothing. This lever is free. | Day 0 |
| 2SubmittalsKORE1 puts qualified candidates in front of you and you interview the ones you like. | KORE1 | Intake finished | After intake |
| 3OfferYou choose a candidate and KORE1 makes the offer as the employer. | KORE1 | Your choice of candidate | On your pick |
| 4Start paperworkThe contractor completes W2 onboarding with KORE1 while you arrange access. | Contractor | Offer accepted | Offer to start, median 3 days |
| 5Timesheet approvalThe contractor logs the week’s hours and you approve them. | You | A week of hours worked | Every week |
| 6Weekly invoice and Friday payKORE1 sends you one invoice and pays the contractor. | KORE1 | That week’s hours approved | Every Friday |
| 7Extend or endYou tell your KORE1 recruiter whether the assignment continues. | You | The end date in view | Before the end date |
| 8ConvertThe contractor joins your payroll. KORE1 charges no conversion fee after 1,040 hours. | You | 1,040 hours for no fee | Any time, free after 1,040 hours |
Terms stated by KORE1 partners, October 2026. Offer-to-start median from 1,997 KORE1 contract starts. Conversion before 1,040 hours carries a fee that falls as hours build.
Ready for lever 1? Send the role, level, metro, start date, length and who approves timesheets, and a KORE1 recruiter takes it from there.
Start a Contract Req →
What Happens Between the Req and the First Day?
Four things, in order. Intake, submittals, an offer and start paperwork. Intake is one conversation about the role, the level, the start date, how long the work should last and where it happens, and a vague req gets vague candidates, so this is the cheapest hour in the whole process.
Submittals are the candidates KORE1 sends you. You interview them. You choose. Then KORE1 makes the offer as the contractor’s employer.
Then the quick part. Once an offer is accepted, the median contractor starts three days later (n=1,997). Three days. Eighty-six percent are working within a week, and 37% start the same day. Start paperwork is the contractor’s W2 onboarding with KORE1. Your side is access, equipment and one named person who knows the contractor is coming, and that’s the part where first weeks go missing, which is why our contractor onboarding checklist works backward from the start date.
Who Employs the Contractor, KORE1 or You?
KORE1 is the employer of record. The contractor sits on our W2 payroll from the first shift to the last, and while you tell them what to work on and review what they produce, the payroll, the paperwork and the legal employer role all stay with us. You manage the work. We carry the employment.
Payroll and taxes
KORE1 runs payroll, withholds, and pays the employer share of Social Security and Medicare, per IRS Publication 15. In California the state adds unemployment tax, with rates on the EDD payroll tax page.
Insurance
Workers’ compensation and the rest of the coverage a W2 employer carries sit on KORE1’s policies, not on yours.
Paid sick leave
California requires paid sick leave for covered workers, and the W2 employer provides it, per the Labor Commissioner. On a KORE1 contractor that employer is KORE1.
Health extras
KORE1 pays 100% of a contractor’s dental and vision.
None of those costs gets its own line on your invoice. Not one. They all sit inside the bill rate, which our contractor burden rate page takes apart, and our tech contractor hourly rates page shows what that rate looks like by role, with IT contractor rates by metro doing the same by city. Worker classification is a separate subject with its own risks, and W2 vs C2C vs 1099 covers it, as does contractor misclassification risk, and the IRS publishes its own test for whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor.
How Do Timesheets, Weekly Pay and Invoicing Work?
Every week runs the same loop. The contractor logs hours. You approve them. KORE1 pays the contractor on Friday and bills you once.
Approval is the only step that belongs to you, and it’s worth being fussy about. You’re confirming hours worked, which is the number the invoice follows, and in California, where daily overtime starts after eight hours in a day, approving a long day means approving overtime too, per the DIR overtime FAQ. Read the sheet. Then approve it.
Friday pay is a commitment, not a courtesy. Every Friday. Your own payment terms to KORE1 are set in your agreement and don’t change that.
For accounts payable the result is plain. One weekly invoice. Its hours tie back to a timesheet your own team already approved, so two of the three documents in a match were made the same week, which is about as easy as AP gets.
3 days
the median wait between an accepted offer and the first shift, counted over 1,997 starts
116 days
typical length of a KORE1 contract from first day to last, across 1,887 assignments
1,040 hrs
26 weeks of 40-hour weeks, and the point where conversion stops costing a fee
37.5%
of contract-to-hire trials ended in a conversion, 207 of 552
Figures come from KORE1 placement records for hires dated 2019 to 2026, the same records behind the Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4. Terms are as KORE1 partners stated them in October 2026 and are reviewed each year.
What Does KORE1 Commit to on a Contract?
Three things, and only three. We would rather put a short list in writing than a long one we can’t keep.
Reliability
Contractors show up on time
Your contractor is on site and on schedule from the first shift to the last one.
Prepare the first weekPayroll
Contractors are paid every Friday
Pay goes out weekly, on Fridays, from KORE1 as the W2 employer of record.
How W2 comparesConversion
Conversion is free after 1,040 hours
Past 1,040 hours the contractor can join your payroll without a KORE1 conversion fee.
How conversion works
That is the whole list. Devin Hornick, a KORE1 partner, said it this way on a call with our team. “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… As far as guarantees, there aren’t any. Not on contract.”
So there is no replacement guarantee on a contract and we won’t imply one, but if you want a guarantee, direct hire carries it, at a fee of 20% of base salary with a guarantee that runs 60 days. Our direct hire staffing page has the terms, and contract-to-hire vs direct hire cost compares the two on price.
How Do Extensions, Endings and Conversion Work?
Every assignment has an end date, and the decision comes due before the date does. Extend it, end it on schedule, or convert the contractor to your payroll. All three are normal. The median KORE1 assignment runs 116 days (n=1,887), so the end date arrives sooner than most budgets expect.
Extending is the easy answer. It’s also the one to question. Make it on purpose, with a reason you can write down. Our guide to the contract extension decision shows how, our notes on how to retain contractors cover the weeks in between, and what to do when a contractor is not working out covers an early ending.
Conversion is the one with money attached, and under our standard agreement the fee steps down as hours build, 20% of first-year base through 800 hours and 15% through 1,040. After that there is none. As Devin puts it, “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.”
Forty hours a week reaches 1,040 in 26 weeks, so a six-month contract ends right where conversion turns free. Not every trial converts. Of KORE1’s contract-to-hire placements, 37.5% did (207 of 552), and the contract-to-hire conversion rate page breaks the number down.
Common Questions
How does contract staffing work with KORE1?
You approve the contractor’s hours each week, KORE1 pays them every Friday as their W2 employer, and you receive one weekly invoice. As the end date nears you can extend, end or convert the assignment. There is no replacement guarantee on contract.
Who pays the contractor, and when?
KORE1 pays the contractor every Friday as their W2 employer. You never run their payroll, withhold their taxes or carry their workers’ compensation. Your only payment is the weekly invoice from KORE1, on the terms in your agreement. That’s it.
Who approves the timesheet, and what if the hours look wrong?
Someone on your team approves it, the approver you name at intake. If the hours look wrong, raise it with your KORE1 recruiter before you approve, because the weekly invoice follows the approved timesheet. Raise it first.
Can I convert a contractor to full time, and what does it cost?
Yes, once 1,040 hours are billed, about six months at full time, the contractor can move onto your payroll and KORE1 charges no conversion fee. Before that, our standard agreement charges a fee that steps down as the contractor’s hours build.
Is there a replacement guarantee on a contract?
No, KORE1 contracts carry no replacement guarantee. The written commitments are that contractors show up on time, are paid on Fridays and can convert with no fee once 1,040 hours are in. Direct hire is different, with a 20% fee and a 60-day guarantee.
How long does a contract assignment last, and how fast can someone start?
The median KORE1 contract assignment lasts 116 days across 1,887 ended assignments, the median first shift comes three days after an accepted offer across 1,997 starts, and you can extend before the end date or let it finish. Plan for the end date early.
Start a Contract Req and Pull the First Lever
Send the role, level, metro, start date, length and who approves timesheets. A KORE1 recruiter takes the req from there.
Start a Contract Req →Or see the roles we place under contract staffing first.
