Staff leasing: what it is and what it means for you as a buyer

Staff leasing (employee leasing) is an arrangement where one company employs workers and assigns them to a client, which pays a fee that covers wages, benefits and overhead. Staff augmentation is the wider idea: adding outside people to your own team for as long as you need them.

What it means for you as a buyer

The label matters less than four answers: who employs the person, who directs the daily work, who checks it, and who replaces a leaver. In classic staff leasing and staff augmentation, another company employs the worker, but you direct and supervise them as your own staff. That works if you have a manager with time to spare; if not, you become the trainer and the checker. A dedicated agent supervised by the provider moves the checking off your desk. Ask any provider to answer the four questions in writing before you compare prices.

A worked example with numbers

For one customer service seat, staff leasing leaves the daily direction and checking with you, while a provider-supervised dedicated agent hands them to a team lead.

Now the cost, using the figures in our calculator. A US customer service representative costs about USD 35.60 an hour with benefits: the Bureau of Labor Statistics median wage for the job (May 2025) plus the average employer benefit cost per hour for private industry workers (June 2026). At 173 hours, that is about USD 6,159 a month. A full-time dedicated agent at USD 10.50 an hour is about USD 1,817 a month for the same hours, supervision included.

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Where this appears in our pricing or process

The model on this site is staff leasing plus supervision: the how-it-works page shows the exact split between you, Distal Desk and our partner provider in Davao City. The comparison of a managed office team, OnlineJobs.ph and a local hire puts the same four answers side by side with costs. If you want someone else to employ a person you already found, read about the employer of record model instead.