Relaycairn

AI operations for staffing & placement agencies

Get your recruiters off admin and back to placing people.

We design and build done-for-you AI operations systems for owner-operated staffing, light-industrial, healthcare and trades placement agencies doing $1M–$20M. The aim: reclaim recruiter and back-office hours currently lost to chasing timesheets, retyping job orders and fixing invoices.

Request an operations review See a sample exception report

Reviews are arranged by email for now. The main button takes you to the intake form below. Send it and we'll reply to set up a 30-minute call.

  • Chasing clients and temps for weekly timesheet approvals
  • Invoice errors and billing that lags the work week
  • Chasing new candidates for missing paperwork and documents
  • Job orders arriving by email and phone, then retyped into the ATS
  • Recruiters stuck on admin while open orders wait
  • Owners without a quick weekly read on the business

Four workflow systems, built around how your agency already runs

Each system sits alongside your existing ATS, payroll provider and inbox. We don't replace them. Staff review and approve at defined points. The outcomes below are the goals each system is designed for, not guaranteed results.

System 1

Timesheet-to-invoice

Collect, check and approve hours, then prepare invoice drafts for your team to review.

Before

  1. Timesheets arrive by email, text, photo and portal, at different times.
  2. Coordinators chase missing or unapproved hours by hand.
  3. Hours are re-keyed into payroll and again into billing.
  4. Mismatched rates or hours surface after the invoice goes out.

After (the design goal)

  1. Timesheets are gathered into one queue and matched to placements and bill rates.
  2. Reminders go to late workers and approvers on a schedule you set.
  3. Exceptions (missing hours, rate mismatches, unusual overtime) are flagged for a person.
  4. Invoice drafts are prepared for staff approval before anything is sent.

Goal: fewer chasing emails, fewer re-keying steps, and billing that is closer to the close of the work week. See an illustrative exception report.

System 2

Candidate onboarding document chase

Keep new-candidate paperwork moving without a recruiter playing reminder-bot.

Before

  1. A checklist lives in someone's head or a spreadsheet.
  2. Recruiters text and email candidates repeatedly for missing items.
  3. Nobody is sure which candidates are ready to start until the morning of.

After (the design goal)

  1. Each placement type gets its own checklist that you define.
  2. Candidates get clear, friendly requests and follow-ups by the channels you choose.
  3. Received items are logged and sorted to the right record for staff to verify.
  4. A readiness view shows who's complete, who's stalled and who needs a call.

Goal: less chasing and a clearer start-readiness picture. Your team still reviews and decides on every document. The system makes no compliance determinations.

System 3

Job order intake to ATS entry

Turn messy client requests into clean, structured orders.

Before

  1. Orders come in as emails, voicemails, forwarded threads and call notes.
  2. Someone retypes details into the ATS, sometimes hours later.
  3. Missing details (shift, pay rate, location, requirements) are found late.

After (the design goal)

  1. Incoming requests are read and key fields are extracted into a standard order format.
  2. Gaps are flagged, with a draft reply to the client asking for what's missing.
  3. A recruiter reviews the structured order and approves it.
  4. The approved order is entered or staged for your ATS, depending on what it supports.

Goal: less retyping, fewer missing details, and faster time from client request to recruiter action.

System 4

Weekly owner dashboard

A single weekly read on fill rate, unbilled hours and aging receivables.

Before

  1. Numbers live in the ATS, payroll and accounting, each with its own export.
  2. The owner asks around, or waits for someone to build a spreadsheet.
  3. Problems like stale receivables are noticed late.

After (the design goal)

  1. Data from your systems is pulled together on a weekly schedule.
  2. The owner gets a short summary of fill rate, unbilled hours and aging receivables.
  3. Items that need attention are called out in plain language.

Goal: the owner spends minutes, not hours, on the weekly picture. Accuracy depends on the quality of the underlying data, and we'll check it with you.

What the output looks like: a sample timesheet exception report

So you can judge the format before the review. This is one illustrative example of the kind of report System 1 is designed to produce. Your real report would use your placements, rates, rules and approval steps, agreed in scoping.

Illustrative example · invented data · not a client report

Weekly timesheet exceptions: draft for coordinator review

Every name, client, rate and hour count below is made up for demonstration. Worker and client names are replaced with placeholders, as they would be in a redacted sample. No real agency, person or result is shown.

  • Timesheets in batch12
  • Clean, ready for invoice draft7
  • Flagged for a person5
  • Held from invoice draft5
Exceptions found in the sample batch (illustrative)
#Worker / clientExceptionWhat was foundSuggested next stepStatus
1Worker 03 / Client AApproval missingHours submitted Monday. Client approver has not signed off.Draft reminder to approver, ready to send once staff okays it.Needs review
2Worker 05 / Client BRate mismatchTimesheet shows $24.00/hr bill rate. Placement record shows $25.50/hr.Coordinator confirms the correct rate before invoicing. Do not auto-correct.Needs review
3Worker 07 / Client AUnusual overtime52.5 hours logged against a usual 40. No overtime authorisation on file.Ask the client contact to confirm the overtime, then record the answer.Needs review
4Worker 09 / Client CMissing hoursNo entries for Thursday and Friday. Placement shows as active.Draft a text to the worker asking for the missing days.Needs review
5Worker 11 / Client BPossible duplicateTwo submissions for the same week (photo by email: 38.0 hrs, portal: 38.5 hrs).Coordinator picks the correct version, the other is archived.Needs review
·7 other timesheetsNo exceptionsHours, rates and approvals matched the placement records.Included in the invoice drafts, which still wait for staff approval.Draft ready

1 · What the system does

  • Gathers timesheets into one queue
  • Matches each to its placement, bill rate and approver
  • Applies the rules you set (for example overtime thresholds)
  • Flags anything it can't match or isn't sure about

2 · What a person does

  • Reviews each flagged line and resolves it
  • Approves or edits the drafted reminders and messages
  • Approves the invoice drafts before anything is sent

3 · What it does not do

  • Send invoices or client messages without the sign-off you've configured
  • Decide overtime or pay-law questions
  • Make compliance determinations

Layout, columns and rules vary by agency, and how it connects to your ATS or payroll depends on what those tools support. In the review we can walk through a version built from one of your own redacted timesheet batches.

How an engagement works

A simple sequence, with a person from your team approving the important steps.

  1. Discovery review

    We walk through your current flow, tools and bottlenecks, and sample real (redacted if you prefer) timesheets, orders and checklists. You leave with a clear view of what is worth automating first, and what isn't.

  2. Scoped build

    We agree a written scope: which systems, which integrations, what's out of scope and the investment. Then we build and test against your real-world cases.

  3. Human-approval checkpoints

    Invoices, client messages and records can be set to require staff sign-off before they go anywhere. You decide where approvals sit, and which can relax over time.

  4. Handoff and training

    We document how each system works, train your team on reviewing exceptions and making changes, and tell you plainly what to watch for after launch.

Investment

$5k – $25k

Engagements are scoped from $5k to $25k, depending on how many of the systems you need and how many integrations are involved. We don't publish fixed packages because two agencies rarely have the same stack.

  • One system with light integration sits toward the lower end.
  • Several systems and deeper connections to your ATS, payroll and accounting tools sit toward the higher end.
  • You see a written scope and price before any build begins.

We make no promises about specific savings or return. In the review we'll talk through where your hours actually go so you can judge the value for yourself.

Is this a fit?

We'd rather say no early than build the wrong thing.

Likely a good fit

  • Owner-operated staffing, light-industrial, healthcare or trades placement agency, roughly $1M–$20M in revenue
  • An owner or operations lead who can make decisions and give us access to examples
  • Repeating admin pain: timesheets, billing, onboarding paperwork or order entry
  • An ATS, payroll provider or accounting tool you plan to keep
  • Willing to have staff review outputs at agreed checkpoints

Probably not a fit

  • You want to replace your ATS or payroll provider
  • You're looking for legal, tax or compliance advice or sign-off
  • You want fully unattended automation with no human review
  • You're looking for a low-cost template or a tool subscription
  • There's no consistent process yet and no one to own it

Request an operations review

Tell us about your agency and your biggest bottleneck. This form is how reviews are requested for now. We reply by email to arrange a 30-minute call. Please don't include candidate personal data or sensitive documents here.

We use your details only to reply about this request. See our privacy policy. Prefer email? Write to julien@relaycairn.com.

Frequently asked questions

How do you handle data security?

Staffing data includes personal information, so we keep access as narrow as the job allows and talk through how data moves before any build starts. We ask for only the access each system needs, and we can work with redacted samples during discovery. We don't claim any security certification or compliance status. If your agency has requirements, tell us in the review and we'll say plainly whether we can work within them.

Will a person review what the AI produces?

Yes, by design. AI can misread a timesheet or an email, so invoices, client messages, and records you care about can require staff approval before they're sent or saved. Exceptions and low-confidence items are flagged rather than silently passed through. You decide where the checkpoints sit.

Is the sample exception report from a real client?

No. It is an illustrative example with invented data, shown so you can see the format before a review. We don't show client work here. In the review we can build a version from your own redacted timesheets.

Will this work with our ATS and payroll tools?

It depends on the tools. Some offer APIs, some allow exports or email-based workflows, and some are more closed. In the operations review we check what route exists for your specific stack and tell you honestly what's practical, what needs a workaround and what isn't. We don't guarantee compatibility with any named product up front, and we aren't replacing your ATS or payroll provider.

Do you give compliance or legal guidance?

No. These systems help organize and chase paperwork and prepare drafts. They don't determine whether a document, payroll practice or form meets any legal requirement. That judgment stays with your team and your advisors.

What results should we expect?

We design each system toward goals such as less chasing, less retyping and faster billing, but we don't promise specific hours saved or dollar returns. Results depend on your volumes, data quality and how your team uses the system. In the review we'll look at where your time goes and help you judge whether the engagement is worth it.

How do I book the review?

Reviews are arranged by email for now. Submit the intake form above (or email julien@relaycairn.com) and we'll reply to arrange a time for a 30-minute call.