Robert Half (RHI) 2026 年第三季法說會：人才解決方案重返成長

重點摘要

• 羅伯特哈夫 (Robert Half) 公布 2026 年第三季營收為 13.59 億美元，在經調整後基礎上與去年同期大致持平。人才解決方案 (Talent Solutions) 自 2022 年以來首次恢復調整後成長，增長 2%。
• 稀釋後每股盈餘 (EPS) 從 0.43 美元成長 14% 至 0.49 美元，為 2022 年以來單季 EPS 首次實現年成長。
• 調整後營業利益自去年的 6,100 萬美元 (佔營收 4.5%) 升至 7,300 萬美元 (佔營收 5.3%)。
• Protiviti 營收經調整後下降 3%，但其調整後毛利率從 23.0% 改善至 24.1%。管理層預計該業務將在第四季恢復營收年成長。
• 第四季財測預估營收為 12.85 億至 13.85 億美元，EPS 為 0.36 至 0.46 美元。以中位數計算，調整後營收年增長率為 3%，EPS 年增長率為 30%。
• 管理層指出，招聘活動改善、Protiviti 創紀錄的科技諮詢營收，以及反洗錢 (AML) 補救需求的增強，是主要的營運驅動因素。

主要財務數據

羅伯特哈夫於 9 月支付了每股 0.59 美元的季度現金股利，總現金支出為 5,900 萬美元。

業務與營運表現

人才解決方案自 2022 年以來首次實現調整後營收成長。約聘人才解決方案營收在 9 月及整個第三季均增長 1%，而正職代尋營收在第三季成長 6%，9 月成長 5%。

在第四季初期，10 月前兩週約聘營收年增 2%。前三週正職代尋營收增長 5%。管理層提醒，這些時間區間過短，尚無法確定明確趨勢。

經專業化、匯率及國家組合調整後，約聘人才解決方案費率年增 3.6%，而第二季成長率為 2.3%。約聘毛利率由 38.9% 提升至 39.3%。管理層將 40 個基點的改善歸因於一半來自轉正手續費營收，一半來自利差擴大，包括向高技能職務的轉移以及嚴格的定價策略。

人才解決方案整體毛利率自 46.7% 升至 47.4%。調整後營業利益自 2,400 萬美元 (佔營收 2.8%) 增加至 3,600 萬美元 (佔營收 4.0%)。

科技仍是約聘人員配置中最強勁的領域，而財務與會計則恢復年成長。管理層表示，需求仍集中在高優先順序領域，包括科技現代化、資料、網路安全與 IT 基礎設施。大型企業客戶復甦較快，而中小企業也開始跟上腳步。

Protiviti 創造了 4.83 億美元營收，其中美國市場為 3.83 億美元，國際市場為 1.00 億美元。經調整後營收在美國下降 5%，但在美國境外成長 2%。

Protiviti 調整後營業利益為 3,700 萬美元，與去年同期持平；調整後營業利潤率則從 7.5% 升至 7.7%。在平台轉型、網路安全、資料與 AI 相關專案的推動下，科技諮詢創下了單季營收新高。

風險與合規需求大幅提升。管理層將此增長歸因於監管執法行動，要求金融機構強化反洗錢計畫。這些專案高度依賴約聘人員，使 Protiviti 能善用人才解決方案的專業人員，並在企業內部擴大交付規模。

管理層展望

羅伯特哈夫發布以下 2026 年第四季財測指南：

營收中位數 13.35 億美元意味著調整後年增率為 3%。管理層預估的 EPS 中位數 0.41 美元代表成長 30%。該中位數假設人才解決方案營收成長 3%，Protiviti 成長 2%。

第四季人才解決方案的調整後營業利潤率財測為 2% 至 4%，Protiviti 為 6% 至 8%。調整後銷售、一般與管理費用 (SG&A) 預估佔合併營收的 33% 至 35%。

公司預計 2026 年資本支出與資本化雲端運算成本為 6,000 萬至 7,000 萬美元，其中第四季占 1,500 萬至 2,000 萬美元。

對於 2027 年第一季，管理層預計由於內部稽核季節性與年度薪酬調整，Protiviti 的部門利潤率將季減中個位數百分點。歷史上，第一季合併營業利潤率通常比第四季季減 1 至 2 個百分點。公司目前預計第一季稅率為 36% 至 40%，股票酬勞將帶來額外的變動性。

風險與關注焦點

• 管理層表示，總體經濟與地緣政治的不確定性持續影響通膨、利率及客戶的決策。
• 需求仍具選擇性，且主要集中於客戶無法延後推行的專案。管理層指出，過去復甦階段常見的廣泛「出清效應」(clearing event) 尚未發生。
• 約聘業務量與去年同期相比仍有所下降，但降幅正在放緩。
• 第四季假期可能帶來變動性，特別是在正職代尋和 Protiviti 方面，因為部分客戶在聖誕節至新年期間會放緩活動。
• 在定價調整完全實現之前，Protiviti 於第一季面臨來自內部稽核季節性與薪酬調升的常態性壓力。
• 管理層指出，內部 AI 工具帶來的個人生產力提升，並不等於會自動轉化為全公司同等的成本節省。

分析師問答亮點

反洗錢需求：管理層表示，近期的監管行動帶動了 AML 補救與合規業務顯著增長。這些專案預計將持續數個季度，有時甚至長達數年，不過具體時長取決於客戶資源及外部顧問的使用情況。

利潤率潛力：管理層長期仍致力於實現 Protiviti 達到雙位數的營業利潤率。近期的成本控管措施、更高的員工利用率以及偏重約聘人員的 AML 專案均支撐了利潤率的提升。先前的重組計畫預計每季可節省約 1,100 萬美元的薪資成本，包括第四季在內。

招聘復甦：管理層將人才解決方案的復甦形容為平穩而非暴增。正職代尋與約聘人員配置趨勢被視為同步發生，其中正職代尋通常在景氣下滑時降幅更深，並從較低基期更快反彈。

長期成長架構：管理層將中個位數成長定調為人才解決方案的長期預期目標。至於 Protiviti，則指出潛在範圍介於中個位數至低雙位數之間，同時強調這些是長期預估，而非近期財測指南。

AI 策略：羅伯特哈夫的 AI 投資目前主要集中於改善客戶與求職者的體驗、配對演算法以及潛在客戶優先順序排序。管理層亦注意到，對於能結合專業領域知識、熟練運用 AI、具備批判性思考與驗證 AI 生成內容能力的專業人才需求正持續上升。

完整法說會逐字稿

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完整財報電話會議逐字稿

管理層陳述

Operator

Please stand by. Hello, and welcome to the Robert Half Third Quarter 2026 Conference Call. Today's conference call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

Our host for today's call are Mr. Keith Waddell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Robert Half; and Mr. Michael Buckley, Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Waddell, you may begin.

M. Waddell

Hello, everyone. We appreciate your time today. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that the comments made on today's call contain forward-looking statements, including predictions and estimates about our future performance. These statements represent our current judgment of what the future holds. However, are subject to the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. ..

These risks and uncertainties are described in today's press release and our most recent 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update the statements made on today's call. During this presentation, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures as adjusted. Adjusted revenue growth excludes the impact of billing day variations and foreign currency exchange rates. Adjusted gross margin, SG&A and operating income reflect the combining of investment gains and losses related to employee deferred compensation plans with corresponding changes in those obligations. These items have no impact on reported net income.

Reconciliations and additional information are included in the supplemental schedules to our earnings release. For your convenience, our prepared remarks for today's call are available in the Investor Center of our website, roberthalf.com. For the third quarter of 2026, Global Enterprise revenues were $1.359 billion, roughly flat with last year on an adjusted basis. Talent Solutions returned to adjusted year-over-year revenue growth for the first time since 2022, with revenues increasing 2%. Global Enterprise earnings exceeded the midpoint of our third quarter guidance.

Hiring activity continues to improve, supported by gradually improving market conditions. Demand for risk and compliance consulting services also showed encouraging signs of improvement during the quarter. Our combination of innovative technology, specialized expertise and high-touch client service positions us well to deliver the talent and consulting solutions clients need to advance their business priorities. Net income per share in the third quarter was $0.49, up 14% from $0.43 a year ago. This marked the first year-over-year increase in quarterly earnings per share since 2022.

Cash flow provided by operations during the quarter was $66 million. In September, we distributed a $0.59 per share cash dividend to our shareholders of record for a total cash outlay of $59 million. Return on invested capital for the company was 17% in the third quarter.

Now I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Mike Buckley.

Michael Buckley

Thank you, Keith. Hello, everyone. As Keith noted, global revenues were $1.359 billion in the third quarter. On an adjusted basis, third quarter talent solutions revenues were up 2% year-over-year. U.S. talent solutions revenues were $670 million, up 3% from the prior year's third quarter. Non-U.S. talent solutions revenues were $206 million, 1% down. Delivered 6% growth. We conduct talent solutions operations through offices in the United States in 18 other countries.

In the third quarter of 2026, there were 64.6 billing days compared to 64.2 billing days in the third quarter 1 year ago. The fourth quarter of 2026 has 61.1 billing days compared to 61.4 billing days in the fourth quarter of 2025. Billing days for the 4 quarters of 2027 will be 61.5, 63.7, 64.5 and 61.5% for a total of 251.2 billing days in the year. Currency exchange rate fluctuations during the third quarter had a de minimis impact to reported revenues. Contract talent solutions bill rates for the third quarter increased 3.6% and compared to 1 year ago, adjusted for changes in the mix of revenues by functional specialization, currency and country.

This rate for the second quarter was 2.3%. Now let's take a closer look at results for Protiviti. Global revenues in the third quarter were $483 million, $383 million of that is from the United States, and $100 million is from outside of the United States. On an tasted basis, global third quarter productivity revenues were down 3% versus the year ago period. U.S. Productivity revenues were down 5%, while non-U.S. Protiviti revenues were up 2% compared to 1 year ago. Protiviti and its independently owned member firms serve clients through locations in the United States and 27 other countries.

Turning now to gross margin. In contract talent solutions, Third quarter gross margin was 39.3% of applicable revenues versus 38.9% in the third quarter 1 year ago. Conversion or contract to hire, revenues were 3.4% of contract revenues in the current quarter compared to 3.2% in the third quarter of 2025. Our permanent placement revenues were 13.4% of consolidated talent solutions revenues in the current quarter compared to 12.9% in the third quarter of 2025. When combined with contract talent solutions gross margin, overall gross margin for talent solutions was 47.4% of applicable revenues in the current quarter compared to 46.7% and in the third quarter of 2025.

For Protiviti, gross margin was 24.2% of Protiviti revenues in the third quarter and 20.9% in the third quarter 1 year ago. Adjusted gross margin for Protiviti was 24.1% for the quarter just ended compared to 23% last year. Enterprise SG&A costs were 33.6% of global revenues in the third quarter compared to 36.2% in the same quarter 1 year ago. Adjusted enterprise SG&A costs were 33.8% for the quarter just ended compared to 33.5% 1 year ago. Talent solutions SG&A costs were 43.2% of Talent Solutions revenues in the third quarter versus 48.2% in the third quarter of 2025.

Adjusted talent solutions SG&A costs were 43.4% compared to 43.9% for the third quarter 1 year ago. Third quarter SG&A costs for Protiviti or 16.4% of Protiviti revenues compared to 15.5% for the same quarter 1 year ago. Reported operating income for the third quarter was $75 million, adjusted operating income was $73 million in the quarter or 5.3% of revenues. This compares to $61 million or 4.5% of revenues 1 year ago. Third quarter adjusted operating income for Talent Solutions was $36 million or 4% of revenues. This compares to $24 million or 2.8% of revenues last year.

Adjusted operating income for Protiviti in the third quarter was $37 million or 7.7% of revenues, adjusted operating income for Protiviti in the third quarter 1 year ago was $37 million or 7.5% of revenues. Our third quarter 2026 income statement includes a $2 million loss from investments held in employee deferred compensation trusts. This is completely offset by an equal amount of lower employee deferred compensation costs, which are reflected in SG&A expense and direct costs. As such, it has no effect on our reported net income.

Our third quarter tax rate was 33% in both the current quarter and the third quarter 1 year ago. At the end of the third quarter, accounts receivable were $826 million and implied days sales outstanding, or DSO, was 54.8 days. Before we move to fourth quarter guidance, let's review some of the monthly revenue trends we saw in the third quarter and so far in October, all adjusted for currency and billing days. Contract talent solutions exited the third quarter with September revenues up 1% versus the prior year, the same as the 1% increase for the full quarter. Revenues for the first 2 weeks of October are up 2% compared to the same period last year.

Permanent placement revenues in September were up 5% versus September 2025. This compares to a 6% increase for the full quarter. For the first 3 weeks in October, permanent placement revenues were up 5% compared to the same period in 2025. We provide this information so that you have insight into some of the trends we saw during the third quarter and into October. But as you know, these are very brief time periods. We caution against reading too much into them.

With that in mind, we offer the following fourth quarter guidance: revenue, $1.285 billion to $1.385 billion, income per share $0.36 to $0.46. Midpoint revenue of $1.335 billion are 3% higher than the same period in 2025 on an adjusted basis. midpoint earnings per share of $0.41 and are 30% higher than last year. Our midpoint revenue guidance for the fourth quarter reflects year-over-year revenue growth of 3% for talent solutions and 2% for Protiviti. The major financial assumptions underlying the midpoint of these estimates are as follows: adjusted revenue growth year-over-year for talent solutions, up 1% to 5%.

For Protiviti, flat to up 4% overall up 1% to 5%. Adjusted gross margin percentages, contract talent, 38% to 40%; Protiviti, 22% to 25% overall, 37% to 40%. Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of revenue for talent solutions, 43% to 45% for Protiviti 16% to 18% and overall 33% to 35%. Adjusted operating income as a percentage of revenues for talent solutions, 2% to 4% for Protiviti 6% to 8%. And overall, 3% to 5%. The assumed tax rate, 31% to 33% and shares outstanding 100.5 million to 101.5 million shares.

2026 capital expenditures and capital cloud computing costs, $60 million to $70 million with $15 million to $20 million in the fourth quarter. For the first quarter of 2027, we offer the following directional observations. Number one, historically, Protiviti Q1 segment margins seasonally decline by mid-single-digit percentage points on a sequential basis. There are 2 primary drivers. Internal audit revenues are negatively impacted as clients focus instead on annual financial statements and related external audits.

In addition, Protiviti employees receive annual compensation adjustments effective January 1, which are recovered through pricing adjustments realized as client contracts are negotiated. Segment margins then improved accordingly. Based on this, first quarter consolidated operating margins have historically been 1 to 2 percentage points lower sequentially than the fourth quarter. Number two, there is typically more variability in the Q1 tax rate compared to other quarters related to the vesting of our employee stock compensation awards. We currently expect the Q1 tax rate to be between 36% and 40%. All estimates we provide on this call are subject to the risks mentioned in today's press release and in our SEC filings.

Now I'll turn the call back over to Keith.

M. Waddell

Thank you, Mike. Our third quarter results reflect continued improvement in our talent solutions operations and Protiviti, both contract talent solutions and permanent placement achieved year-over-year revenue growth. Technology remains the strongest performing practice group within contract talent solutions while finance and accounting also returned to year-over-year revenue growth.

Across markets, clients remain focused on securing specialized expertise for high priority initiatives particularly in the areas such as technology modernization, data, cybersecurity and IT infrastructure. Small and midsized businesses continue to face significant challenges finding the skilled talent they need. According to latest NFIB data, labor quality and availability is a top business problem, reflecting a persistent skills gap that highlights the value of Robert Half's ability to connect clients with highly experienced professionals who can make an immediate impact.

Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty continues, including impacts to inflation and interest rates. Against this backdrop, organizations large and small, remain resilient and are steadily increasing their investment and opportunities to modernize operations and strengthen their competitive position. Whether implementing new technologies, improving productivity or advancing strategic initiatives, organizations that need specialized talent and expertise to execute effectively. These investments create opportunities for our talent solutions and consulting services.

Highly skilled professionals remain difficult to find, particularly in specialized disciplines, and demand candidates have choices and remain focused on flexibility, career development and competitive compensation. These conditions play to Robert Half's strengths, including our ability to quickly connect employers with specialized talent, possessing the skills and experience organizations need.

AI has increasingly becoming part of how it gets done across the professions we serve. Rather than broadly displacing specialized roles. These technologies are instead adding to the skills employers value and increasing the importance of professionals who compare strong functional expertise with AI fluency, critical thinking and sound judgment. The ability to assess and validate AI-generated outcomes is becoming an increasingly important part of that skill set.

At the same time, the growing use of generative AI by job seekers is making it more challenging for employers to distinguish between candidates stated qualifications and demonstrated capabilities. This underscores the value of our candidate evaluation and vetting processes, combining proprietary performance insights, rigorous skills assessment and the judgment of our recruiters to help clients hire with greater confidence. As these challenges become more widespread, our ability to identify and validate highly capable talent represents an increasingly important competitive advantage.

Beyond its impact on the hiring process, AI adoption is also creating new opportunities for specialized talent, weather related to AI exploration or for implementation across their operations, we are seeing growing demand for highly qualified talent to support this transition. This includes professionals with expertise in technology, data, finance and business transformation as well as those who can apply emerging technologies with their respective disciplines. These evolving requirements reinforce the value of our specialized recruiting expertise and deep understanding of the skills employers need.

Protiviti's results exceeded our expectations for the quarter with every major solution or capability area above forecast. Technology consulting again posted all-time high quarterly revenues with high demand for platform transformation, cybersecurity and data-related and AI engagements. The risk and compliance practice made significant progress during the quarter, which is expected to continue. Leading the way were engaged to help clients address existing enforcement actions where regulators required further improvements to the quality and effectiveness of their anti-money laundering programs.

Demand across Protiviti's broader solution offerings remain solid with a growing and diversified pipeline of opportunities. We expect Protiviti to return to year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Our ability to strategically leverage contract professionals through our talent solutions business remains a distinct competitive advantage, enabling us to deliver flexible solutions for clients while strengthening collaboration across the enterprise.

We're encouraged by the progress in our business and remain confident in the opportunities ahead as businesses navigate changing technology workforce and operational requirements, we see continued opportunities to help clients access the expertise they need to adapt, execute and grow.

Our purpose has never been more relevant: helping companies succeed through specialized talent and consulting expertise while helping people build meaningful careers backed by our trusted brand, exceptional people innovative capabilities and diversified business model, we remain confident in our ability to create long-term value for our clients, our employees and our shareholders.

Finally, we want to recognize and thank our employees around the world for their continued dedication to our clients. Their commitment is reflected in Robert Half's recent accolades, including being named among Fortune's Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional Services, Forbes' World's Best Employers and Forbes world's Top Companies for Women.

Now Mike and I'd be happy to answer your questions. Please ask you just 1 question and a single follow-up as needed. If there's time, we'll come back for additional questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line of Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan.

分析師問答

Andrew Steinerman

Keith, could you just help us dissect the pickup within Protiviti, particularly, I'm curious about the demand for AML compliance services. Earlier in the year, we said that sort of like the regulatory backdrop. Was it as fierce for AML compliance.

Has something changed obviously, you're saying the demand for the risk and compliance is one of the drivers to bring productivity back to growth in the fourth quarter. Is it the biggest driver that's changed kind of third into the fourth quarter for Protiviti?

M. Waddell

The answer is yes. So during the last 90 days, treasury department regulators imposed significant fines and major enforcement actions against multiple large financial institutions, they -- most of them were in the news, and they related primarily to prior consent orders where the remediation efforts were found to be deficient. And this put banks generally all notice that AML compliance was still a top priority in part because it has direct links to national security.

And so these actions require many activities, including historical lookbacks, significant increases in transactions and file review volumes. Often, these involve third-party consultant to clear. Protiviti is fortunate to have a very strong presence in AML, have broad relationships across financial institutions. It does business with over 80% and of the largest financial institutions globally. We're seeing a meaningful increase in demand for AML remediation and compliance. And the really good news is it benefits the entire organization because a significant amount of the work comes from contractors sourced through talent solutions. So it's a win for everybody.

Operator

And your next question comes from Mark Marcon with Baird.

John Ronan Kennedy

Going from how difficult it is to find verified talented individuals and your ability to do that as well as a whole slew of new skills that are coming to the fore. And so the question is, to what extent do you think that those trends make you a little bit more resistant to any sort of macro downturn that we could potentially have given where fuel prices are, where interest rates are, just kind of the geopolitical environment.

And then as a follow-up to that, if we can keep going, what does that say with regards to the margin profile for next year because the incremental margins look like they're pretty good. And it seems like you have a lot of excess capacity. I know it's a long question, but I just wanted to drill down on those new elements.

M. Waddell

Well, and I think the first 1 was related to resilience if the macro weakens, and I would say, in addition to it's difficult for clients to find talent, particularly verified talent for the reasons we've talked about. Unemployment is low, generally speaking, which also makes it harder for our clients. The new skills are more difficult for our clients to source on their own. And we can also correlate existing skills to needed new skills in a way that is hard for our clients to do on their own.

And so I clearly think we're positioned well relative to prior cycles because of the lower unemployment, still at 4.2% in the U.S., in part because of the newer requirements, in part because verification of skills is more important than ever with AI. And so we feel relatively good about resiliency and as to margin profile, as you're already seeing, even with low single-digit growth that we've seen this past quarter that we're projecting for the coming quarter.

The combination of a little higher gross margin, a little leverage, we've got nice double-digit increases in operating income at midpoint for Q4, that's up 30%. With some luck, that will be even more as we move forward. And so coupled with Protiviti strength, particularly in regulatory compliance, we're pretty bullish about margin possibilities.

Mark Marcon

That's great. And can you just -- you've had really nice improvements in terms of Protiviti margins. Do you think that, that can also continue. I know the leverage that you've got on the on the talent solutions side. But I don't know if you have that same excess capacity with regards to AML?

M. Waddell

Well, I would say remember the cost actions that they took just last quarter, and so those cost actions are a big contributor to the better margins because the remaining people are higher chargeable or more utilized, if you will, use of contractors by Protiviti is margin accretive, and these AML projects are very contractor heavy. So that's a good thing for Protiviti's margins.

But as we've said many, many times for many, many quarters, the plan for Protiviti is to have double-digit operating margins, and that continues to be the plan. And so I think they made tremendous progress in a very short period of time with their margins. And this new demand and additional revenue that comes from more AML is even better news. And let's not forget that technology consulting is still Protiviti's largest practice group. And it just again the all-time high quarterly revenues.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Trevor Romeo with William Blair.

Unknown Analyst

Mike. I wanted to actually continue kind of on the margin theme, but shift to gross margins for the contract count solutions business. Because I think the bill rates accelerated nicely, I think, over a percentage point and your gross margins expanded even adjusted for the conversion.

So maybe you could just talk about that a little bit more, I guess, in terms of mix? Like are you starting to see more movement in terms of highly skilled talent or FTEP placements accelerating? Or just any other factors that might be helping the bill rates and the gross margins for the contract business right now?

Michael Buckley

So year-on-year, we're up 40 basis points in contract gross margin. Half of that's conversions, which is a derivative of the strength in perm placement. The other half is pure spreads, and we have increased our spreads over the last year. Part of that's mix. As we've said, we've moved to higher skill Part of that is mix as to FTEP, which is recovering because it was impacted the most on the downside the last few years. And part of it is just kind of disciplined execution because gross margin maintenance and defending those have always been a priority at Robert Half and will continue to be.

Unknown Analyst

Okay. That's great. And then I guess on the first quarter directional observations that you gave, of course, appreciate the comments on margins and the tax rate. I guess as you stand today with your current visibility, is there anything in terms of the top line that would tell you kind of differently than normal seasonality for revenue at this point? Or just how would you kind of I don't know, message the trends that you might see there?

Michael Buckley

I think the seasonal trend is a seasonal trend that will be around for a long, long time. And so because of the internal audit crowd out as clients focus on external audit. And because of all the compensation adjustments that all fall on the same first day of the year, you're going to have those impacts. But you recover from them the rest of the year, clearly, this improvement in regulatory risk and compliance will help the revenue side, but that doesn't directly impact internal audit, and internal audit is the 1 where they have the crowd out phenomenon, as I just spoke to.

Unknown Analyst

And I guess in terms of the talent solutions business, is there anything maybe different than you'd normally expect?

Michael Buckley

Not really. It's always a little quirky about what day of the week or months that the holidays fall, but that's just business as usual. But other than that, in talent solutions, we've seen steady, consistent sequential improvement day by day, week by week. It's not a hockey stick. But it's a steady rise that we've seen for a few quarters now that we see no reason wouldn't continue.

Operator

And the next question comes from Kartik Mehta with Northcoast Research.

Kartik Mehta

Just to maybe drill down a little bit on Protiviti. Obviously, in the first quarter, you talked about some seasonality. As you look at the fourth quarter, is there any seasonality or lumpiness? I know the holidays probably have an impact. But I'm curious, based on the growth guidance you gave, if there would be any onetime issues? Or this is just a consistent improvement in the business?

M. Waddell

Well, I would say the holiday impacts Protiviti more so than talent solutions because many of their clients do a soft close between Christmas and New Year's. And so there's that impact, which remains, but we have dialed in the benefit of the additional anti-money laundering demand in this fourth quarter, but it's not a one-off.

Kartik Mehta

And then just on the talent solutions. When you look at SMB customers and enterprise customers, any difference or is the recovery but pretty broad-based were both those participating?

M. Waddell

I would say that enterprise traditionally recovers sooner and more quickly. That's been the case this time around. SMB is starting to catch up a bit. And so that's good news. But enterprise always gets a head start.

Operator

And your next question will come from George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

Keen Fai Tong

Prime placement revenue grew 6% in the quarter, and that was well ahead of contract talent growth to -- what extent would you say the strength in prime placement serves as a leading indicator of a broader hiring recovery? And historically, what lag have you seen between firm placement and contract staffing?

M. Waddell

And so George, I would say they're coincident. And in fact, if you go to our website, we've got a slide that shows probably for 20 years, we superimpose growth -- year-over-year growth rates for perm over year-over-year growth rates for contract. And my conclusion, look at those graphs is that they're coincident because perm placement always get hit harder on the downside, it's starting at a lower point at a lower base and comes out stronger on the upside.

And I think that's exacerbated by low unemployment that we're currently in, added to by this need for validation because of AI, I think, makes perm relatively speaking, even more positive. And so effectively, easier comps because it gets -- takes a bigger hit on the downside. And because of low unemployment, more demand. because it's harder for clients to hire themselves.

Keen Fai Tong

Got it. That's helpful. And then talent solutions has seen sequential improvement now for a couple of quarters. With contract revenue up 1% and then bill rates up about 3.5%, would you say hours worked or active contract placements have begun to grow year-over-year at this point? And what would you expect to see volumes to become a positive contributor to revenue growth?

M. Waddell

Well, I think for the math to work, the volumes are still somewhat down, but they're increasingly less down and the trend is good for the reasons we've talked about.

Operator

And the next question is from Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

Unknown Analyst

This is Roman Kennedy on for Manav. Question on technology has led the recovery in finance and accounting has returned to growth. Are you beginning to see demand broad beyond mission-critical initiatives in some more discretionary hire projects. And -- or is the recovery still concentrated in areas clients simply can't defer?

M. Waddell

Well, it's primarily areas they can't defer. But to the extent they think or decide that there are projects that are critical to their competitiveness. They decide they need to modernize, to get ready for AI, whatever that's going to mean they're willing to spend selectively. But kind of contrasted to prior cycles that corresponded to overall recessions typically ending of an overall recession is a clearing event. There's an all clear bell, everybody, including our SMB clients feel more positive and demand overall increases.

I'd say, so far, it's still more selective. And the inflation concerns, the geopolitical concerns, all add to that. Our clients are grinding their way through those uncertainties but we haven't yet had the clearing event you've had traditionally at the beginning of up cycles.

John Ronan Kennedy

Got it. And then a question for my second, please, on talent solutions operating margin range. I think you've guided to 2% to 4% in 4Q? Can you help us think about what separates the low end from the high end, whether it's the revenue volume and SG&A leverage? Or does GM gross margin mix remain an equally important swing factor?

M. Waddell

Well, we always give a range, right? We focus heavily on the midpoint of that range, but there's no magic. I mean, how impactful will the holidays be that's particularly variable as it relates to perm placement. If you look back over time, the variability in perm placement Q4 because of the holidays is more than the variability in contract because of the holidays. But I wouldn't point to anything specific as to what's going to drive whether it's the midpoint low or high other than this client demand.

Operator

And the next question comes from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

Jeffrey Silber

Now that you returned to growth for year-over-year growth for talent solutions and you're guiding for that to happen in Protiviti in the current quarter. Can you remind us what you think the long-term growth rates are for those businesses? I know they're cyclical, but maybe if we're looking peak to peak, any color would be great.

M. Waddell

Well, again, it's a long-term question. We typically think mid-single digits for talent solutions. And for Protiviti, because it has such a small market share relative to the big 4 and there's so much opportunity there, we would we would expect even higher kind of maybe from mid-single to low doubles. But again, those are long-term educated guesses would maybe a way to call it.

Jeffrey Silber

That's what I asked for. So that's great. That's really helpful. And then as a follow-up, you had mentioned in your remarks, you talked about some of these big remediation projects. Can you tell us roughly how long those last? Is that something that might be rolling off in the first quarter?

M. Waddell

Well, the expectation is they last a lot longer than 1 quarter. I think if you look back, Protiviti has had some of those that have lasted years. Now remember, these aren't brand-new consent orders or enforcement actions. These are -- the regulators come in seeing what's been done so far and says, that's not enough. And so it's not a brand-new start, but the point is these clearly have legs, and they're expected to at a minimum to have multiple quarter legs.

But it depends on the client, it depends on how aggressive they are. It depends on their internal resources, their willingness to use external resources. There are a lot of variables, but it's not a quick in and out process to say the least.

Operator

And the next question will come from Tobey Sommer with Truist.

Tobey Sommer

I wanted to ask a question about your thoughts about the seasonality of profit impacts with tax and operating income, et cetera, margin in 1Q. What's the implied EPS impact at the bottom line from those factors?

M. Waddell

I'm not sure for this purpose, we've separated them and converted on to EPS. We basically said collectively at the pretax operating margin line, they typically cause a 1% to 2% pretax operating income impact. I guess, we could do the math and convert that to EPS. But again, it's orders of magnitude, that's what we're talking. The tax rate in the first quarter is all over the place because of stock compensation.

And the issue is typically at what price we're compensation grants made to employees versus when they vest, what tax deduction do you get for those and the differential positive or negative impacts your tax rate? And so that's why that tax rate in the first quarter is particularly volatile. I think last year, it was over 50%. The year before that, it was 20% and that's heavily impacted by stock prices.

Tobey Sommer

Makes sense. I wanted to ask about the opportunity for you to leverage talent solutions with the areas that are growing in Protiviti? Is the current mix of demand sufficient, so that your -- you do have opportunities for the 2 businesses to work together and sort of maximize your revenue and profit from those in -- and maybe could you refresh us on what areas of Protiviti should there be an increase in demand would be the sort of optimal ones

[Audio Gap]

M. Waddell

Are the risk and regulatory, in this case, anti-money-laundering projects that are very large and they're very contract. And having access to those contractors and to be able to scale as quickly as we can scale for our clients is unquestionably a competitive advantage. And so risk and compliance, that practice has always been very contractor-friendly. And it's loved by the enterprise as a whole, as I said earlier, because of the involvement of contractors.

Technology consulting which is taking advantage of the modernization, AI adjacent AI getting ready. That's also an area for contractors and even internal audit. Internal audit is an opportunity where Protiviti uses contractors as well. And so while it took us a while to get the collaboration we now have with the success we've enjoyed with contractor uses, it's unquestionably now at a competitive advantage. And these newer projects that we talk about today we're scaling significantly and quickly in a way it's hard for competitors to do. And that. wonderful thing.

Operator

And our next question comes from Bruna Warnick with UBS.

Unknown Analyst

This is Bruno for Kevin Mackay. Congrats on the results. Can you please confirm whether there was any benefit on the Q4 PA guide from the last quarter restructuring?

M. Waddell

Well, to the extent we took cost out of the business, those certainly accrue to the fourth quarter as well. And my recollection is, and correct me in the room, if I remember wrong, it was about $11 million a quarter in benefit from payroll savings alone, which clearly benefits the fourth quarter.

Operator

And the next question comes from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies.

Stephanie Benjamin Moore

I wanted to touch on your AI investments. I know that you implemented a lot of investments over the last 12 months or so. Could you talk a bit about what you have seen thus far in terms of fill rate, increased productivity at the individual level. And as we think about an up cycle, what does this mean in terms of your own head count with some of these tools?

M. Waddell

I'd say that initially, our tools are more focused on client and candidate experience than they are internal recruiter productivity and not that we're not getting any, but we're focused on improving matching and we've spent a lot of money improving our matching algorithms, including upgrading them to the larger to the latest large language models. On the client side, we've spent a lot of money in AI, trying to have more of an intelligent pipeline approach to which clients we reach out to and why.

And it's kind of like the Amazon, if you like this, then you'll like that. And so for our people, if we're doing with business with this client, this client has this kind of profile. Here are other companies with a similar profile. Here's new stories and other information that we have access to about those companies. And further, do we have any activity whatsoever across our organization, all of which give us a reason to call and have something to talk about.

And so again, I would say, rather than focus first on cost savings and productivity, it's more around expanding market, expanding access to clients' access to candidates. Now having said that, particularly in the case of prioritizing leads, that definitely has had a productivity improving quality for our people. But as quickly as I say that, I think many have learned and we would concur that translating individual productivity to organizational productivity.

There's a lot of slip between cup and lip when you're trying to look at your organizational savings versus taking individual savings you might get in a given location and extrapolate that to everybody that works for you. And so we feel good about our investments we're focused on client and Canada experience first. We're not ignoring that their productivity gains for our people, and we're getting some, but we're more focused on client and Canada experience.

Stephanie Benjamin Moore

Understood. And then maybe just for a follow-up, and maybe I just may be misunderstood what your comment. But -- maybe just talk a little bit about, as you think about focusing on roles in different end markets or different segments? And maybe talk about how that has changed as we think about this cycle versus prior cycles. And if there are some targeted verticals that you're now focused on versus historically?

M. Waddell

I would say from a vertical point of view, probably the biggest change is in technology. And historically, our SMB clients, the demand was for help desk PC technicians very operational-driven roles. And as technologies migrated over the years such that even smaller businesses have tech development requirements that historically they didn't have. Plus, as we focused more and more on midsize, mid-cap companies as it relates to technology, our mix of technology to the total, and I haven't looked at it in a while, but if you take a 10-year view, my guess is you would see technology is a much larger portion of the total today than it was 10 years ago. But that's in part because of the demand for our core SMB base has gravitated toward tech development because of how technology has changed.

That was our last question. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. If you missed any part of the call, it will be archived in audio format in the Investor Center of Robert Half's website at roberthalf.com. You can also walk into the conference call replay. Details are contained in the company's press release issued earlier today.