ASGN (ASGN) Risk Analysis

The IT consulting and staffing services industry is regulated in the United States and other countries in which we operate. We are subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations governing the employer/employee relationship, such as those related to payment of federal, state, and local payroll and unemployment taxes for our corporate employees and billable professional employees, tax withholding, social security or retirement benefits, licensing, wage and hour requirements, paid sick leave, paid family leave and other leaves, employee benefits, pay equity, non-discrimination, sexual harassment, and workers' compensation; and we must further comply with immigration laws and a wide variety of notice and administrative requirements, such as record keeping, written contracts, notification, and reporting. We are also subject to U.S. laws and regulations relating to government contracts with federal agencies. In certain other countries, we may not be considered the legal employer of our temporary personnel, however we are still responsible for collecting taxes and social security deductions and transmitting these amounts to the taxing authorities. In addition, we are subject to data privacy, protection, and security laws and regulations, the most significant of which are the European General Data Protection Act ("GDPR") and the U.K.'s Data Protection Act 2018 (which implements the GDPR into U.K. law). These laws impose stringent data protection requirements on personal information and provide for significant penalties for noncompliance. These laws impact our U.S. operations as well as our European operations as they apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information among the Company and its subsidiaries. Certain U.S. states have also enacted data privacy laws requiring security measures for personal information. Any non-compliance with the data privacy laws applicable to our business could result in governmental enforcement actions, fines, and other penalties that could potentially have an adverse effect on our operations and reputation. Future changes in the laws or governmental regulations affecting our business may result in the prohibition or restriction of certain types of employment services that we are permitted to offer, or the imposition of new or additional compliance requirements that could increase our costs and reduce our revenues and earnings. Due to the substantial number of state and local jurisdictions in which we operate, there also is a risk that we may be unable to adequately monitor actual or proposed changes in, or the interpretation of, the laws or governmental regulations of such states and localities. Any delay in our compliance with changes in such laws or governmental regulations could result in potential fines, penalties, or other sanctions for non-compliance. In addition, although we may elect to bill some or all of any additional costs to our customers, there can be no assurances that we will be able to increase the fees charged to our customers in a timely manner and in a sufficient amount to fully cover any increased costs as a result of future changes in laws or government regulations.

We employ people internally and in the workplaces of other businesses. Our ability to control or influence the workplace environment of our clients is limited. Further, many of the individuals that we place with our clients have access to client information systems and confidential information. As the employer of record of our billable professionals, we incur a risk of liability due to the actions of our billable professionals at client sites or with client information and systems, and to our billable professionals for various workplace events, including claims of physical injury, discrimination, harassment, or failure to protect confidential personal information. Other inherent risks include possible claims of errors and omissions, claims related to acquisitions and their earn-outs, intentional misconduct, release, misuse or misappropriation of client intellectual property, criminal activity, torts, or other claims. We have been and could, in the future, be subject to large collective, class, or Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA") actions alleging violation of wage and hour laws. These types of actions typically involve substantial claims and significant defense costs. We also have been subject to legal actions alleging vicarious liability, negligent hiring, discrimination, sexual harassment, retroactive entitlement to employee benefits or pay, retaliation, and related legal theories. We may be subject to liability in such cases even if the contribution to the alleged injury was minimal. Moreover, in most instances, we are required to indemnify clients against some or all of these risks if they are caused by us or our employees, and we could be required to pay substantial sums to fulfill our indemnification obligations. A failure of any of our employees internally, or billable professionals in clients' workplaces, to observe our policies and guidelines intended to reduce these risks could result in negative publicity, injunctive relief, investigations and/or charges, payment of monetary damages or fines, or other material adverse impacts on our business. Claims raised by clients stemming from the improper actions of our billable professionals, even if without merit, could cause us to incur significant expense associated with the costs or damages related to such claims. Further, such claims by clients could damage our business reputation and result in the discontinuation of client relationships. Any associated negative publicity could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain clients and qualified billable professionals in the future. We proactively address many of these issues with our robust compliance program. Further, to protect ourselves from the costs and damages of significant legal actions and claims, we maintain workers' compensation, errors and omissions, cybersecurity, employment practices, and general liability insurance coverage in amounts and with deductibles that we believe are appropriate for our operations. Our insurance policies include a retention amount and may not cover all claims against us or continue to be available to us at a reasonable cost. In addition, we face various employment-related risks not covered by insurance, such as wage and hour laws and employment tax responsibility. If we do not maintain adequate insurance coverage or are made party to significant uninsured claims, we may be exposed to substantial liabilities that could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

We, as with other companies, are facing increasing scrutiny related to our environmental, social and governance ("ESG") practices and disclosures from certain investors, shareholder advocacy groups, customers, employees, federal, state, and local governments, and other stakeholders. With this increased focus, public reporting regarding ESG practices is becoming more broadly expected. Such increased scrutiny may result in increased costs, enhanced compliance or disclosure obligations, or other adverse impacts on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Further, our brand and reputation are associated with our public commitments to various corporate ESG initiatives, including our goals relating to sustainability. Our disclosures on these matters and any failure or perceived failure to achieve or accurately report on our commitments, could harm our reputation and adversely affect our client relationships or our recruitment and retention efforts, as well as expose us to potential legal liability. Increasing focus on ESG matters has resulted in, and is expected to continue to result in, the adoption of legal and regulatory requirements designed to mitigate the effects of climate change on the environment, as well as legal and regulatory requirements requiring climate-related disclosures. If new laws or regulations are more stringent than current legal or regulatory requirements, we may experience increased compliance burdens and costs to meet such obligations. Our selection or application of disclosure frameworks and standards, and the interpretation or application of those frameworks and standards, may change from time to time or may not meet the expectations of investors or other stakeholders. Our processes and controls for reporting ESG matters across our operations and supply chain are evolving along with multiple disparate standards for identifying, measuring, and reporting ESG metrics, including ESG-related disclosures that may be required by the SEC, European, and other regulators. Such standards may change over time, which could result in significant revisions to our current goals, reported progress in achieving such goals, or ability to achieve such goals in the future.

Our Federal Government Segment generates revenues under various types of contracts: firm-fixed-price, cost reimbursable, and time and materials. Our earnings and profitability may vary materially depending on changes in the proportionate amount of revenues derived from each type of contract. Under firm-fixed-price contracts, we perform specific tasks and services for a fixed price. Compared with cost reimbursable, firm-fixed-price contracts generally offer higher margin opportunities, but involve greater financial risk because we bear the impact of cost overruns. Failure to accurately estimate costs, resources, and technology needed to perform our contracts or to effectively manage and control our costs during the performance of work could result in reduced profits or in losses. Under cost reimbursable contracts, we are reimbursed for allowable costs plus a profit margin or fee. These contracts generally have lower profitability and less financial risk. Under time and materials contracts, we are reimbursed for labor at negotiated hourly billing rates and for certain expenses. We assume financial risk on time and materials contracts because we assume the risk of performing those contracts at negotiated hourly rates.

Demand for the IT services and solutions that we provide is significantly affected by global market and economic conditions, including recessions, inflation, interest rates, tax rates, and economic uncertainty. Our business is particularly susceptible to economic conditions in the United States where our clients or operations are concentrated. As economic activity slows, many clients or potential clients reduce their use of and reliance upon billable professionals, which reduces the demand for the Company's services and could significantly decrease the Company's revenues and profits. During periods of reduced economic activity, we may also be subject to increased competition for market share and pricing pressure. As a result, any significant economic downturn in the United States or other countries in which we operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our success depends on our ability to keep pace with rapid technological changes in the development and implementation of our services. We rely on a variety of technologies to support important functions in our business, including the recruitment, placement and monitoring of our billable professionals, our billings, and candidate and client data analytics. If we do not sufficiently invest in new technology and industry developments (such as emerging job and resume posting services), appropriately implement new technologies, or evolve our business at sufficient speed and scale in response to such developments, or if we do not make the right strategic investments to respond to these developments, our services, results of operations, and ability to develop and maintain our business could be adversely affected. AI, including GenAI, is a growing component of our business in both the commercial market and government space. We work both internally and with our enterprise customer base to develop strategic use cases for GenAI technologies. For example, we recently announced a collaboration with Microsoft to invest in and pilot NextGen AI technologies, including Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Azure OpenAI Service. AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving, and we face significant competition, including from our own clients, who may develop their own internal AI-related capabilities, which in each case, can lead to reduced demand for our services or solutions. As these technologies evolve, some services and tasks currently performed by our people will likely be replaced by automation.

We believe that the successful execution of our business strategy and our ability to build upon our business and acquisitions of new businesses depends on the continued employment of key members of our senior management team and good succession plans for their retirement or other departure. As the Company continues to expect to have key personnel retire, we need to implement appropriate succession plans, and if we cannot attract and retain qualified personnel or effectively implement appropriate succession plans, it could have a material adverse impact to our business, financial condition, and/or results of operations. We have provided short-term and long-term incentive compensation to our key management in an effort to retain them, and have prepared succession plans at such time as their employment ends. However, if members of our senior management team become unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, or our succession plans are not adequate, we could incur significant costs and experience business disruption related to time spent on efforts to replace them, and our financial results and our business could be adversely affected.