Most organizations hiring a Workday consultant through an agency see one number: the bill rate. The consultant's own rate and the agency's share are folded into it, and the invoice rarely separates them. That makes it hard to tell whether a high bill rate buys a more experienced consultant or a wider margin, and hard to compare two agencies quoting for the same person.
The examples below use the median rate across vetted Workday consultants on Turbin, $92 an hour, which is the figure consultants set on their own profiles. The markup range is what we see when clients share their agency invoices and the consultant tells us what they were paid.
What does the same consultant bill through each route?
The same $92 an hour consultant bills $129–$184 through a staffing agency, $110 through Turbin, and $92 if you hire them directly. The consultant receives their full rate on Turbin and when hired directly; what changes between the routes is what sits on top of the rate, and whether you can see it.
| Route | Bill rate | On top of the rate | Shown on the invoice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staffing agency Agency engages and pays the consultant | $129–$184 | 40–100% markup | Rarely |
| Turbin Turbin engages and pays the consultant | $110 | Flat 20% | Yes, as its own line |
| Hire directly You engage and pay the consultant | $92 | Nothing | Not applicable |
USD per hour for a consultant who sets $92, the median across vetted profiles on Turbin.
Hiring directly is the cheapest route on paper, and the right one when you already know a consultant you trust and have the setup to contract them. The contracting, payment and classification work then moves to you, along with finding a replacement if the engagement does not work out.
What the markup actually buys
The markup is not pure margin; some of it buys real work. The question is whether it buys that work at 40 to 100 points when the alternative does the same for 20. Sourcing is the first part: finding and screening the consultant. On Turbin that happened once, at admission, before any client asked, and it carries across every engagement the consultant takes.
Contracting and payment are the second. An agency engages the consultant, pays them and handles the paperwork for their setup. Turbin is the contracting party too: it engages and pays the consultant whatever their setup (W-2, 1099, corp-to-corp, or a Canadian or UK equivalent), and you sign one MSA and receive one invoice.
Payment float and replacement make up the rest. An agency pays the consultant on its own schedule, waits for yours, and prices that wait into the markup; on Turbin, weekly timesheets approved by your lead roll into one monthly invoice on Net-30 terms. If the first week is not billing-quality, Turbin replaces the consultant within 72 hours at no charge. With an agency, check the contract for what a replacement costs and how long it takes.
What does the markup cost over an engagement?
On a typical engagement, the agency route costs $7k to $29k more than Turbin for the same consultant. Across engagements run through Turbin to date, the median is 15 hours a week for about 6 months, roughly 390 hours. The agency bill rate for a $92 consultant sits $19 to $74 an hour above Turbin's, and those hours multiply it.
The gap grows with the hours. A half-time post-go-live stabilization at 20 hours a week for six months, about 520 hours, costs $10k to $38k more through an agency. A full-time implementation seat for twelve months, about 2,078 hours, costs $39k to $154k more, for the same person doing the same work.
These figures compare bill rates only, and they are conservative. Contracts still running are counted up to the snapshot, so the median length is a floor, and an agency that steps its rate up on renewal widens the gap further with every extension.
What should you ask an agency before signing?
Ask four questions, whatever route you are comparing: the consultant's rate, the markup as a percentage, whether it changes over time, and what a replacement costs. An agency that will not answer the first has told you the size of the second.
- What is the consultant's rate? Not the bill rate: the number the consultant invoices or is paid. If the answer is "we don't disclose that," you have your answer about the markup.
- What is the markup, as a percentage? A flat figure you can check against the invoice. Turbin's is 20% and appears as its own line.
- Is it the same every month? Some agreements step the rate up after a probation period or on renewal. Ask for the schedule in writing.
- What does a replacement cost, in time and in money? On Turbin the answer is 72 hours and nothing.
For what the consultant's rate itself should be, by module and experience, see what a Workday consultant costs. If the comparison is with an application management retainer rather than an agency, the AMS retainer guide works through where that bill rate goes.
Questions we get asked.
40–100% on the consultant's rate is the range we see when clients share their agency invoices and the consultant tells us what they were paid. On a $92 consultant that is a $129–$184 bill rate. Some agencies charge less and some charge more on urgent fills. The point is that you cannot know which without the split.
They receive their full rate, the one on their profile; Turbin's fee is paid by you on top of it and never deducted from it. Whether that is more than an agency would pay them depends on the agency, and the consultant usually cannot see the bill rate to compare. On Turbin there is no sliding scale and nothing hidden from either side.
Matching, the admission review every consultant passed before you met them, contracting and paying the consultant whatever their setup, weekly timesheets approved by your lead and rolled into one monthly invoice on Net-30 terms, and a free replacement within 72 hours if the first week is not billing-quality.