Good afternoon, and welcome to the third in our series of investor briefings. The purpose of these briefings is to provide you with additional insight as to why SThree, as a global STEM specialist talent provider, presents a unique opportunity to capitalize on structural mega trends with its differentiated model and disciplined approach to value creation for our shareholders. Today, we will focus on our opportunity with an employed contractor model, or also called ECM, a service offering that is often misunderstood, but a key driver for SThree's future growth, and which, combined with our focus across STEM skills in strategic geographies, is a key differentiator in the market. But before we do, let's start with a quick reminder of what we covered in our previous briefings.
We previously outlined that we expected to achieve our ambitions by seizing the market opportunity in front of us, by being disciplined and focused in our execution, and through our investments in advanced game-changing technology. In our first investor briefing, we discussed the global mega trends that underpin structural growth in demand for the scarce STEM skills we provide. Digitalization, decarbonization, and research-led healthcare will continue to drive high levels of demand for those skills. While demographic changes and the shift towards flexible work are creating tighter labor markets, driving increasing value in the services we provide to find and supply those skills. We also explained how our market investment model guides us, using data to make disciplined investments in the markets that will deliver the best returns.
We see this together with our focus on STEM and flexible talent as the key drivers of outperformance against the broader sector over the past two cycles since 2019. This first investor briefing can be found on the Investor Centre of the SThree website, or by clicking through on the QR code at the top right of the screen. In the second investor briefing, Technology Improvement Programme we explained how the combination of an innovative end-to-end technology infrastructure, combined with our 40 years of experience, will drive margin and scale over the mid to long term. To bring these concepts a little more to life, today, we'll be shining the spotlight on our expertise in ECM, a staffing model within our contract service offering that is an increasing driver of our performance.
We will cover what this service is and how it differs from the traditional independent contractor model, the structural growth drivers that are driving demand from our clients and therefore making it a bigger part of our business, why it is highly complex, and how this high level of complexity is great for SThree, as it creates a financially attractive model with high barriers to entry. Finally, how the implementation of the Technology Improvement Programme is removing the barriers to scalability for our business, including ECM, while providing a compelling platform for future acquisitions. As you know, our focus is contract, which constitutes over 80% of the group net fees and comprises independent contract and employed contract. This, together with permanent, forms a comprehensive suite of STEM staffing solutions provided by SThree to its client base.
While independent contractors are sole traders or limited companies, under ECM, contractors are directly employed by SThree and are seconded to clients. As employees, they receive a salary and accrue employee benefits, such as holiday or sick leave, though maintain the flexibility of a contractor with employment contract lengths usually matched to the client contract. We thought it may be helpful to demonstrate what the journey looks like for clients, candidates, and SThree in each of these staffing models. Permanent is the simplest model. SThree is engaged to find a candidate for a permanent position, and once successful, the client is invoiced a percentage of the candidate's starting salary as a one-off fee. This model is easy to replicate with low barriers to entry and no recurring revenue. Independent contractors is more complex.
Again, SThree is engaged to find a candidate, for example, a construction engineer, usually for a major project for a limited period. The contractor will submit regular time sheets for the time worked and will then invoice SThree for payment. The contractor is responsible for their own taxes, insurances, and pension contributions. SThree pays the contractor only for the time worked and will then invoice the client with a markup. As you see in this illustration, where the contractor doesn't work, for example, in August, they will not invoice SThree, and likewise, there will be no invoice sent to the customer. However, the course of the engagement invoicing takes place for the length of the contract, providing good forward visibility of net fees, as the client typically commits to around 4-6 months, and we usually see several extensions taking the average contract length to around a year.
The employed contractor model, in several ways, works much the same as the independent contractor model in that SThree finds candidates for major projects and collects time sheets from the contractor with which to invoice the client. However, as a contractor is employed by SThree for the life of the contract, they are paid a salary which includes holiday and sick leave. SThree is also responsible for retaining and paying taxes in line with the local regulations, together with making any necessary pension contributions and ensuring all the statutory insurances are in place. The fees charged to the client reflect these higher costs, in addition to the markup on the contractor pay rate. As with independent contractors, invoicing takes place for time worked through the length of the contract, giving good forward visibility of net fees.
However, unlike the independent contractor model, the contractor will still be paid their salary through periods of accrued leave, for example, in August. For the most part, SThree is able to match candidate and client contract lengths to mitigate bench risk, which is the risk of carrying contractors who are not assigned to a client. With different regulatory conditions across employment models and regions, which are continuously evolving, clients look to us to structure and deliver the most appropriate solution to resource their strategic programs. This means SThree's full suite of resourcing solutions goes well beyond traditional search-based staffing, not only finding scarce STEM skills, but providing a highly valued compliance platform in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. As we move across the spectrum of resourcing solutions, from permanent to independent contractors to employed contractors, the complexity increases, requiring greater levels of expertise and infrastructure.
This both enables us to command higher net fee margins and also creates increasingly higher barriers to entry. We excel at navigating the complexity, having identified and responded early to this emerging trend. Our focus on scale in 11 countries, combined with the ability to deliver this service, makes us uniquely positioned to capitalize on the mega trends towards flexible working. There are a few reasons we really love ECM, which we will dig a bit deeper into today. The first of which is the structural growth drivers that have fueled demand and will continue to do so over the coming years. Let me introduce you to Rakesh Patel, a client director who has been with SThree for over 20 years, to explain why ECM has been the fastest growing part of our business.
At SThree, we put clients and candidates at the heart of everything we do, and throughout our 40-year history, we have evolved our service offering to meet the changing needs of those customers. Until the 1980s, companies tended to employ their entire workforce on a permanent basis. However, over the next decade, a new trend emerged whereby companies would retain a core of salaried employees and outsource specialist roles, with STEM skills being regularly provided by contractors to work on key technology, engineering, and life science projects. At SThree, we identified this trend early on, and over the last 40 years have built up an expertise not just in finding talent, but in the provision of a highly valued compliance service platform. Over that time, we've also developed a tremendous database of candidates with scarce STEM skills.
These experienced contractors are in high demand and enjoy the flexibility that comes with the ability to move from major project to project, evolving their skills as they do so. More recently, governments have been implementing new regulations around the classification between contractors and employees, or deemed employment, with the aim of protecting workers' rights, raising greater tax revenues, and increasing pension contributions. Here in the UK, these regulations have come in the form of IR35, and we've seen similar legislation across all our major markets. Complex worker classification, especially around whether they should be regarded as deemed employees, and strict rules around the employment of contractors, is increasing the compliance and financial risk for our clients.
Again, SThree was early to recognize this trend, and a number of years ago, we started investing in the infrastructure needed to offer our clients a fully compliant employed contractor service that can significantly ease this process for our clients, enabling them to resource the skills they desperately need for their business. Clients are willing to pay a premium for this expertise in providing a service that maintains the flexibility of a contractor but removes the complexity and risk. We'll talk a bit later about how we manage that risk. Candidates, meanwhile, can continue to work for their desired companies who might otherwise avoid contractors while maintaining the freedom and flexibility of contract work with compliance guaranteed. Examples of how we're meeting those customer needs include a major European bank that we service across DACH, Netherlands, and Spain.
They procure both independent and employed contractors, depending on the type of role and location of the assignment, to remain compliant while they optimize costs. The majority of placements are ECM, where contractors join teams under internal managers, though we do place independent contractors into more niche roles, such as SAP specialists, where they work more independently on Agile-type programs. Another client is a major food manufacturer, where we place a solid mix of both independent contractors and employed contractors, depending on the types of roles, with global CapEx programs requiring project managers, health and safety engineers, and construction engineers, typically filled by independent contractors, while maintenance, production, and tech roles are mostly filled by employed contractors. Finally, Germany's largest luxury auto manufacturer works in a highly regulated industry, so tight compliance alongside high quality is key to a successful relationship.
We're currently engaged in supplying employed contractors for two of their major programs, including software developers, product owners, and engineers. The evidence can be seen in the growth we've achieved over the past few years. ECM is an increasing driver of our performance, now accounting for 38% of total group's net fees, and is our fastest growing segment, up from 23% of net fees in 2019. In fact, over the past 5 years, since 2018, ECM has delivered CAGR of 22%, and even grew 3% through the more challenging market in 2023. It is the predominant model in the U.S. and has been fast growing across our other major markets in Europe, with Germany, Netherlands, U.K., all important ECM markets.
While past growth rates in ECM do not indicate future growth, we can see that increasing demand is a key component of our anticipated future organic growth. Looking forward, we continue to see a structural direction of travel. Independent contractors are, and will continue to be, an important answer to the growing skills gap for STEM talent, while increasing regulations are driving growth in ECM as an additional tool available to businesses. With a large proportion of our customers operating heavily regulated markets, such as financial services, engineering, and life sciences, they want a flexible, transparent, streamlined, and compliant approach to both their staffing as well as their contractor compliance requirements. Due to early investments, together with our global footprint and local expertise in the best markets, we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on the market trends and service those clients' needs.
We have talked many times about the mega trends towards flexible talent, and you've heard from Rakesh why there are structural growth drivers for the demand for our ECM service. You may be asking yourself why the provision of ECM is so complex and what makes SThree's service offering so unique in the market. Our Chief Legal Officer, Kate Danson, will explain the complexity and how we manage this.
My team works across the business, ensuring that risks in every region and function are fully understood and proactively managed. As you've already heard, our clients are facing increasingly complex rules around employment of flexible talent, which is driving the growing demand for ECM. What makes us an excellent partner is our ability to fully understand those rules, not just helping them with staffing, but supporting them in managing the increasing complexity by ensuring that the services we offer remain fully compliant to mitigate the risk for our customers. Complexity centers around four main themes. Firstly, understanding the regulatory landscape. This varies significantly from country to country and even state to state within the U.S. Expertise is required to fully understand and keep up to date with legal requirements and advise clients on the most suitable and compliant ways to resource their major programs.
Depending on the assignment and local regulations, this may be through independent contractors or employed contractors. This regulatory advisory service enables us to develop deeper relationships as trusted advisors to our clients. The second area of complexity is operating compliant employment models, ensuring we have the necessary licenses and infrastructure to offer outsourced employment services. For example, the AÜG license is required to offer ECM services in Germany, while the Haken model is required in Japan. Some countries may not require licenses, but do need the appropriate infrastructure in place, such as HR professionals, to manage the employed contract workforce. The next area of complexity relates to managing the employment of the contractors, including documented compliance with local employment laws, including those governing health and safety, discrimination, leave, and working time directives. More often than not, we match the candidate's contract with that of the client, limiting bench risk.
However, depending on the local legislation, taking on employees can lead to some contractors on the bench in certain markets, though this is very limited due to both active management of this risk, combined with the types of contractors we place. These are highly skilled and sought-after program contractors who prefer to be working on their next assignment, hopefully through us, rather than sitting on the bench out of the market. That means we typically have, on average, less than 1% of ECM contractors on the bench. Finally, we undertake the complexity of payrolling and tax compliance, ensuring the necessary infrastructure is in place, while also requiring the working capital to fund this model. What makes these complexities even more challenging is the variances in laws and regulations across different jurisdictions, meaning local variations on the ECM models are required to ensure compliance.
Offering compliant contractor engagement models in 11 countries puts us in a unique position in the market. As a result, across each of our regions, a substantial infrastructure of teams, systems, and processes is required to deliver ECM. That includes HR professionals, lawyers, placement support professionals, all working to ensure that not only are the regulations followed, but the correct documentation is collected and recorded to evidence this. As early adopters in this field, we've spent years building up the costly infrastructure and expertise to deliver ECM. We've continuously refined our approach and know how to mitigate the potential risks. We love the complexity involved, because not only does it allow us to truly create value for our customers, but gives us a competitive edge, given the investment required to build and manage these services on an ongoing basis.
I'm now gonna hand over to Andy to talk us through the current financial dynamics and how our investment in the Technology Improvement Programme will enable us to fully capitalize on the opportunities presented by ECM.
So far, you've heard how the structural growth in demand, combined with a high degree of complexity, makes the provision of ECM a key part of our business. The value created for clients is reflected in the higher net fee margins, with ECM generating net fee margins around 30%-40% higher than those generated by independent contractors, as our customers are willing to pay for the risk and complexity that we assume on their behalf. However, to date, the infrastructure and additional costs to deliver ECM have hampered the opportunity to deliver higher profit margins or scale.
To illustrate this, an ECM placement currently requires between 3-5 individuals to be involved in the process, from onboarding through to invoicing, including lawyers to ensure compliance and placement support teams undertaking a number of highly manual processes to ensure contractors are onboarded properly and that their time sheets reflect compliant working practices. Because of the highly manual nature of this work, more credit controllers are required to manage error disputes. Add to that, the HR professionals required to support the employed contractor workforce, who sit on our payroll, again, ensuring that laws and best practices are followed. Growth in contractors means more headcount is required to manage these processes, and that, in turn, raises further fixed costs, such as management layers and property costs. These challenges are the industry norm for the few larger companies who are able to afford to offer employed contractors.
Margins and the ability to scale are impacted by the challenge of increasing the headcount and infrastructure required to support top-line growth. With the Technology Improvement Programme, we're directly tackling this challenge. Alongside the CRM and ERP, we're building proprietary systems to automate processes. Using the latest advances in technology, including artificial intelligence, our new systems are able to review client and candidate contracts more quickly and efficiently. Our new technology has regulatory expertise built in by design, allowing it to identify where each candidate is working, and based on that, ensure all regulations are met with regards to onboarding and documentation of compliant working hours. Through automation, removing the significant levels of manual processes, we're able to materially reduce billing errors.
With our new system, there will be fewer manual touchpoints, breaking the requirement to constantly increase headcount to service our contractors, while freeing up teams to focus on value-added work and providing a high level of service to our clients and candidates. We are already seeing the benefits of this in the first market to implement TIP. In the U.S., it is still early days, but we have already delivered material efficiencies and cost savings following the automation of our ECM processes. In other words, we are building a global, scalable platform that enables us to drive operating leverage and drive higher profit margins to fully capitalize on the global ECM opportunity.
With our investments, we are building a platform that further differentiates us from traditional staffers. Ours is the only global integrated modern technology platform built to manage the various local regulations required to deliver ECM. We are in a unique position, as smaller companies cannot make this scale of investment, while larger companies are grappling with old and fragmented infrastructure that continues to rely on the manual processes needed to provide this service. Our tech-enabled ECM solution will not only power organic growth, but is a key driver of value to be derived from M&A. Plugging into our technology will not only enable synergies through the automation of contractor processes, but also provide smaller companies with the ability to offer ECM to their clients.
The opening of these opportunities makes SThree a highly attractive partner for these businesses while providing high barriers to exit, as we will offer acquired teams a differentiated proposition with the best tools to succeed. To sum up, you have heard how ECM forms a key part of the suite of resourcing solutions that takes us from beyond pure staffing to providing a highly valuable compliance platform. We have covered the structural growth drivers for ECM and how we at SThree have positioned ourselves early on to take advantage of this long-term trend. You have also heard about the complexity involved in providing this service and why we love this complexity, as we're both able to add significant value for our customers, while the investment required to build and operate ECM creates high barriers to entry in the fragmented staffing market.
And lastly, you have heard why the Technology Improvement Programme is a game changer in enabling us to fully capitalize on the trends towards ECM and is key to driving value and reducing risk from M&A. We are confident that our continued discipline and focus with the right people and technology investments to seize the best market opportunities is not only yielding results today, driving sector-leading profit margins, but is positioning us to deliver scale and even higher through-the-cycle margins over the mid to long term. So let me remind you who we are.