Why franchise in Fort Collins, Colorado?

Thrive in one of America’s most livable and business-friendly cities

Fort Collins is more than just a scenic college town—it’s a fast-growing hub for clean energy, tech, advanced manufacturing, and craft industries. With a highly educated population and proximity to both Denver and the Wyoming border, it offers a unique blend of big opportunity and small-city accessibility.

Home to Colorado State University and a host of innovative startups and established companies, Fort Collins fosters a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Businesses here range from bioscience and software firms to breweries, research labs, and specialty manufacturers. The city consistently ranks among the best places to live and work in the U.S., attracting a skilled and motivated workforce.

With steady population growth, a high labor participation rate, and rising demand for both knowledge-based and hands-on roles, Fort Collins presents a compelling opportunity for a staffing franchise focused on quality, flexibility, and local insight.

Top employers in the Fort Collins region:

  • Colorado State University
  • UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital
  • Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Broadcom
  • OtterBox
  • Tolmar Pharmaceuticals
  • City of Fort Collins
  • Woodward, Inc.
  • Intel Corporation (nearby in Loveland)
  • Poudre School District

Benton Harbor–Niles Business Highlights:

$620+ million estimated temp staffing payroll (2023)

$930+ million estimated temp staffing market size (2023)

Over 180,000-person civilian labor force in Larimer County

Ranked a top 10 U.S. city for startups and small business vitality

Strong demand in clean tech, life sciences, skilled trades, and logistics

Home to one of the largest research universities in the Mountain West

Named one of the “Top 100 Best Places to Live” by Livability and Money

About You

Who is an ideal Spherion Staffing franchise owner candidate?

What skills and traits does the ideal Spherion franchise candidate possess? After more than 65 years of franchising, here are the character traits, leadership skills, and business expertise we expect our franchise candidates to demonstrate:

  • Sufficient operating capital or the ability to obtain operating funds from a verifiable source
  • At least 5 years' experience leading and developing a team or teams in areas of:
    • Customer development, service and support
    • Sales and prospect identification and activities
    • Managing a P&L, basic accounting principals, accounts receivables management and delivery of compensation recommendations and guidance
  • Personal experience in sales and market development including new business prospecting, sales calling, consultative selling skills, business negotiation skills and responding to bid opportunities
  • At least 3 years' experience recruiting, hiring and developing team members to manage role-specific responsibilities and demonstrate criteria-based results
  • Personal residence within your desired market
  • A strong desire to contribute to your community; involvement in civic and community business organizations
  • Confident speaking and presentation skills

If this sounds like you, read more about franchising with Spherion Staffing. Then, contact Dan Brunell to get started on your Spherion path to franchise ownership!

Support & Training

Our support is our signature: Our owner community across the country is collaborative, supportive, and helpful. Spherion franchisees include multigenerational groups, husband-wife teams, former Spherion corporate employees, former franchise employees, and entrepreneurs from all walks of life. A clear supermajority (98%) agree that Spherion's training is good or better, while 91% agree that their fellow franchisees are supportive of each other and the Spherion brand.**

You'll receive 380+ hours of comprehensive role-based training before and after opening. Periodic training addresses client development, legal requirements, marketing, and sales. You'll be supported by a dedicated portfolio leader who is available to answer questions and strategize with you, as well as by a national marketing team.

Spherion owners receive complete back office and technology support for all functions related to their temporary employees. We process employee payroll, including taxes, insurance, and benefits required by law. We invoice the clients, manage collections and application of payments as well as the W-2 process at the end of the year. Our corporate office maintains, supports, and troubleshoots all technology, eliminating the need for technical expertise and investment. Spherion's model allows you to focus on the business, not get lost in the business.

Our franchisees enjoy a full range of sales and marketing tools to help promote their business, including digital marketing, SEO & SEM support; sales collateral; print, radio, billboard, and online advertising; social media content; target account programs; direct mail campaigns; salary data; thought leadership research; and community giveback programs.

You'll enroll in our New Franchisee Launch program, a comprehensive training course that covers all aspects of opening a successful Spherion office. Plus, you'll receive ongoing support from a tenured team of professionals—from accounting, payroll, and technology to operations and marketing.

Competition

While Fort Collins has several local and regional staffing agencies, few can match the combination of Spherion’s national resources and personalized, community-focused service. A Spherion franchise in this market would be well-positioned to support growing demand in high-impact sectors like advanced manufacturing, healthcare, bioscience, and administrative services.

With a highly active economy and a collaborative business culture, Fort Collins offers a unique opportunity to establish a trusted staffing brand that scales with the community.

Staffing Industry Analysts predicts the US staffing industry will grow by 1% in 2025 to reach $188.7 billion. This growth will be powered by lower inflation and interest rates that allow businesses to accelerate their growth compared to previous years. Regardless of economic conditions, the need for temporary employees to fill skills gaps and for permanent workers to fulfill longer-term business goals will remain stable.

Growth & Expansion Opportunity

Talent Acquisition Challenges

Despite the area's educated population, many local employers report difficulty finding workers for specialized and mid-skilled positions. Skilled trades, logistics, biotech, and healthcare support roles are particularly challenging to fill. A Spherion franchise can serve as a vital link between talent and opportunity across a broad range of industries.

Flexible Work Models

Fort Collins businesses—especially in tech, creative services, and education—have widely adopted hybrid and remote work models. As flexible hiring becomes the norm, staffing solutions that can quickly adapt to these changing needs are in high demand.

Seasonal and Student Workforce Patterns

Colorado State University influences the local economy with both talent and timing—driving seasonal needs in retail, hospitality, facilities, and admin support. Businesses benefit from flexible staffing to manage these shifts, making a staffing franchise especially valuable.

Small and Mid-Sized Business Expansion

The Fort Collins-Loveland region is experiencing strong growth in SMBs, particularly in tech, green energy, and specialty manufacturing. These businesses often lack in-house HR resources, creating demand for a staffing partner that understands their industry and local hiring market.

Franchising Resources

Become a Spherion Business Owner.

When you're ready to start your franchising journey with Spherion, text, call, or email Dan to ask how you can become part of our franchise community.

Dan Brunell

Dan Brunell

Regional Vice President of Franchise Development

Dan’s background as a senior executive in the staffing industry and founder of a top franchise brokerage equips him with more than 30 years of experience helping prospective franchisees succeed.

This website and the franchise sales information on this website do not constitute an offer to sell a franchise. The offer of a franchise can only be made through the delivery of a franchise disclosure document. Certain states require that we register the franchise disclosure document in those states. The communications on this website are not directed by us to the residents of any of those states. Moreover, we will not offer or sell franchises in those states until we have registered the franchise (or obtained an applicable exemption from registration) and delivered the franchise disclosure document to the prospective franchisee in compliance with applicable law.

*This data is based on 64 franchisees that were open and operating their businesses for at least one full year as of 12/31/24. Of these 64 franchisees, 20 of them (31.3%) surpassed the average annual sales stated above, and 22 of them (34.4%) surpassed the average annual gross profit stated above. Some outlets have earned these amounts. Your individual results may differ. There is no assurance that you’ll earn as much. Please review Item 19 of our April 18, 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for more information. 

**Franchise Business Review survey, December 2024