<PAGE>
 
   As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 16, 1998

                                                     File No. 333-______________
================================================================================

                      SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                            Washington, D.C. 20549

                             --------------------

                                   FORM S-8
                            REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                     Under
                          THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                             --------------------

                          RENAISSANCE WORLDWIDE, INC.
            (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

          Massachusetts                                    04-2920563
   (State or other jurisdiction                         (I.R.S. Employer
of incorporation or organization)                      Identification No.)


                               189 Wells Avenue
                          Newton, Massachusetts 02159
         (Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

                  AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYEE NON-QUALIFIED
                  STOCK OPTION PLAN OF THE HUNTER GROUP, INC.

                             --------------------
                           (Full title of the plan)

                            Richard L. Bugley, Esq.
                                General Counsel
                          Renaissance Worldwide, Inc.
                               189 Wells Avenue
                         Newton, Massachusetts  02159
                                (617) 527-6886

                             --------------------
(Name, Address and Telephone Number, including Area Code, of Agent for Service)

                        CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
================================================================================
    Title of Securities       Amount to    Proposed     Proposed     Amount of
     to be registered            be        maximum      maximum     registration
                             registered    offering    aggregate        fee
                                            price       offering
                                          per share    price (1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>                          <C>          <C>         <C>           <C>
Common Stock,
no par value                 588,591      (1)         $3,410,731    $1,007
================================================================================
</TABLE>

/(1)/ Determined pursuant to Rule 457(h) solely for the purpose of determining
      the registration fee. All of the shares being registered are subject to
      outstanding options under the Amended and Restated Employee Non-Qualified
      Stock Option Plan on the date hereof and have an average exercise price of
      $5.79 per share and an aggregate exercise price of $3,410,731.

                          Exhibit Index on page II-5;
                              Page 1 of 12 pages.
================================================================================
<PAGE>
 
                                    PART II

              INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
        --------------------------------------- 

        Renaissance Worldwide, Inc. (formerly known as The Registry, Inc.) (the
"Registrant" or the "Company") hereby incorporates the following documents
herein by reference:

        (a) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 28, 1997
            including portions of the Company's definitive Proxy Statement dated
            October 17, 1997 filed in connection with the Company's 1997 Annual
            Meeting of Stockholders. The consolidated financial statements
            included therein have not been restated to reflect the business
            combinations consummated since June 28, 1997 that were treated as
            poolings of interests.


        (b) (i)    Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   December 11, 1997, and the amendment thereto on Form 8-K/A
                   filed with the Commission on December 12, 1997.

            (ii)   Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   December 5, 1997.

            (iii)  Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September
                   27, 1997 filed with the Commission on November 12, 1997.

            (iv)   Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   September 10, 1997.

            (v)    Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   August 12, 1997.

            (vi)   Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on July
                   21, 1997.

        (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in its
            registration statement on Form 8-A, File No. 0-28192.

All documents subsequently filed by the Registrant or the Plan pursuant to
Section 13(a), Section 13(c), Section 14 and Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act
prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this registration statement
that indicates that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters
all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated herein
by reference from the date of filing of such documents.

Item 4. Description of Securities.
        ------------------------- 

        Not applicable.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.
        -------------------------------------- 
 
        Not applicable.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
        ----------------------------------------- 

        Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 156B, Section 67, empowers a
Massachusetts corporation to indemnify any person in connection with any action,
suit or proceeding brought or threatened by reason of the fact that such person
is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation or was
serving as such with respect to another corporation or other entity at the
request of such corporation, unless such person shall have been adjudicated in
any proceeding not to have acted in good faith in the reasonable belief that
such action was in the best interests of the Company.  The Company's Restated
Articles of Organization, as amended and restated, contains provisions that
require the Company to indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest
extent permitted by Massachusetts law.

                                      II-1
<PAGE>
 
Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed.
        ----------------------------------- 

        Not applicable.

Item 8. Exhibits.
        -------- 

        Exhibit
   
        4.1.   Restated Articles of Organization of Registrant (incorporated by
               reference to Exhibit 3.1. of the Registrant's Registration
               Statement on Form S-1, File No. 333-19991).

        4.2.   Second Amended and Restated By-laws of Registrant (incorporated
               by reference to Exhibit 3.1. of the Registrant's Current Report
               on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on December 5, 1997).

        5.     Opinion of Ropes & Gray.

        23.1.  Consent of Price Waterhouse LLP.

        23.2.  Consent of Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.

        23.3.  Consent of Ernst & Young LLP.

        23.4.  Consent of Graves, McKenna, Lundeen & Almquist, P.L.L.P.

        23.5.  Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

        23.6.  Consent of Ropes & Gray (contained in the opinion filed as
               Exhibit 5 to this registration statement).

        24.    Power of Attorney (included on signature page).

Item 9. Undertakings.
        ------------ 

        (a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

            (1) to file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
        made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement, (i) to
        include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities
        Act of 1933, (ii) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
        arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the
        most recent post-effective amendment thereof), which, individually or in
        the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set
        forth in the registration statement, and (iii) to include any material
        information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously
        disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such
        information in the registration statement; provided, however, that
                                                   --------  -------
        paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) shall not apply if the information
        required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those
        paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed by the registrant
        pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act
        of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the registration
        statement.

            (2) that, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
        Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be
        deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities
        offered herein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall
        be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof;

            (3) to remove from registration by means of a post-effective
        amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at
        the termination of the offering.

                                      II-2
<PAGE>
 
        (b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that is incorporated by reference in the
registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement
relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities
at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

        (c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will
be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

                                      II-3
<PAGE>
 
                                  SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the
Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement on Form S-8 to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of Newton, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on
this 15th day of January, 1998.

                                    RENAISSANCE WORLDWIDE, INC.
 



                                    By: /s/ G. Drew Conway
                                       ---------------------------------------
                                       Name:  G. Drew Conway
                                       Title: President and Chief 
                                              Executive Officer



                               POWER OF ATTORNEY
                               -----------------

     Pursuant to the requirement of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.  Each person whose signature appears
below hereby authorizes and constitutes G. Drew Conway, Richard L. Bugley and
Keith F. Higgins, and each of them singly, his true and lawful attorneys with
full power to them, and each of them singly, to sign for him and in his name in
the capacities indicated below any and all amendments (including post-effective
amendments) to this Registration Statement and to file the same, with exhibits
thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, and he hereby ratifies and
confirms his signature as it may be signed by said attorneys, or any of them, to
any and all such amendments.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>

Signature                Capacity in Which Signed              Date
---------                ------------------------              ----
<S>                      <C>                                   <C>

/s/ G. Drew Conway       President, Chief Executive            January 15, 1998
---------------------    Officer and Director of the
G. Drew Conway           Company (principal executive
                         officer)
 
 
/s/ Robert E. Foley      Chief Financial Officer and           January 15, 1998
---------------------    Treasurer (principal financial
Robert E. Foley          and accounting officer)
 

/s/ Paul C. O'Brien      Director                              January 15, 1998
--------------------- 
Paul C. O'Brien       

/s/ Robert P. Badavas    Director                              January 15, 1998
--------------------- 
Robert P. Badavas     

</TABLE> 
<PAGE>
 
                                 EXHIBIT INDEX
 
<TABLE> 
<CAPTION> 
 
  Number                Title of Exhibit                    Page
  ------                ----------------                    ----
  <C>                <S>                                    <C> 
   4.1               Restated Articles of
                     Organization of Registrant
                     (incorporated by reference to 
                     Exhibit 3.1. of the Registrant's
                     Registration Statement on Form
                     S-1, File No. 333-19991).

   4.2               Amended and Restated By-laws
                     of Registrant (incorporated by
                     reference to Exhibit 3.1. of the
                     Registrant's Current Report on
                     Form 8-K filed with the
                     Commission on December 5,
                     1997).

   5                 Opinion of Ropes & Gray.                7 

   23.1              Consent of Price Waterhouse
                     LLP.                                    8

   23.2              Consent of Coopers & Lybrand
                     L.L.P.                                  9

   23.3              Consent of Ernst & Young
                     LLP.                                   10

   23.4              Consent of Graves, McKenna,
                     Lundeen & Almquist, P.L.L.P.           11

   23.5              Consent of Deloitte & Touche
                     LLP.                                   12

   23.6              Consent of Ropes & Gray
                     (contained in the opinion filed
                     as Exhibit 5 to this registration
                     statement).

   24                Power of Attorney (included on
                     signature page).
</TABLE>
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "description": "FORM S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 16152}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "RENAISSANCE WORLDWIDE INC", "cik": "0001012123", "assigned-sic": "7370", "irs-number": "042920563", "state-of-incorporation": "MA", "fiscal-year-end": "1231"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-44371", "film-number": "98508071"}, "business-address": {"street1": "189 WELLS AVE", "city": "NEWTON", "state": "MA", "zip": "02159", "phone": "6175276886"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "189 WELLS AVE", "city": "NEWTON", "state": "MA", "zip": "02159"}, "former-company": {"former-conformed-name": "REGISTRY INC", "date-changed": "19960415"}}
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 16, 1998

                                                     File No. 333-______________
================================================================================

                      SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                            Washington, D.C. 20549

                             --------------------

                                   FORM S-8
                            REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                     Under
                          THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                             --------------------

                          RENAISSANCE WORLDWIDE, INC.
            (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

          Massachusetts                                    04-2920563
   (State or other jurisdiction                         (I.R.S. Employer
of incorporation or organization)                      Identification No.)

                               189 Wells Avenue
                          Newton, Massachusetts 02159
         (Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

                  AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYEE NON-QUALIFIED
                  STOCK OPTION PLAN OF THE HUNTER GROUP, INC.

                             --------------------
                           (Full title of the plan)

                            Richard L. Bugley, Esq.
                                General Counsel
                          Renaissance Worldwide, Inc.
                               189 Wells Avenue
                         Newton, Massachusetts  02159
                                (617) 527-6886

                             --------------------
(Name, Address and Telephone Number, including Area Code, of Agent for Service)

                        CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
================================================================================
    Title of Securities       Amount to    Proposed     Proposed     Amount of
     to be registered            be        maximum      maximum     registration
                             registered    offering    aggregate        fee
                                            price       offering
                                          per share    price (1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock,
no par value                 588,591      (1)         $3,410,731    $1,007
================================================================================
/(1)/ Determined pursuant to Rule 457(h) solely for the purpose of determining
      the registration fee. All of the shares being registered are subject to
      outstanding options under the Amended and Restated Employee Non-Qualified
      Stock Option Plan on the date hereof and have an average exercise price of
      $5.79 per share and an aggregate exercise price of $3,410,731.

                          Exhibit Index on page II-5;
                              Page 1 of 12 pages.
================================================================================
PART II

              INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
        --------------------------------------- 

        Renaissance Worldwide, Inc. (formerly known as The Registry, Inc.) (the
"Registrant" or the "Company") hereby incorporates the following documents
herein by reference:

        (a) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 28, 1997
            including portions of the Company's definitive Proxy Statement dated
            October 17, 1997 filed in connection with the Company's 1997 Annual
            Meeting of Stockholders. The consolidated financial statements
            included therein have not been restated to reflect the business
            combinations consummated since June 28, 1997 that were treated as
            poolings of interests.

        (b) (i)    Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   December 11, 1997, and the amendment thereto on Form 8-K/A
                   filed with the Commission on December 12, 1997.

            (ii)   Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   December 5, 1997.

            (iii)  Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September
                   27, 1997 filed with the Commission on November 12, 1997.

            (iv)   Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   September 10, 1997.

            (v)    Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on
                   August 12, 1997.

            (vi)   Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on July
                   21, 1997.

        (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in its
            registration statement on Form 8-A, File No. 0-28192.

All documents subsequently filed by the Registrant or the Plan pursuant to
Section 13(a), Section 13(c), Section 14 and Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act
prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this registration statement
that indicates that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters
all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated herein
by reference from the date of filing of such documents.

Item 4. Description of Securities.
        ------------------------- 

        Not applicable.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.
        -------------------------------------- 
 
        Not applicable.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
        ----------------------------------------- 

        Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 156B, Section 67, empowers a
Massachusetts corporation to indemnify any person in connection with any action,
suit or proceeding brought or threatened by reason of the fact that such person
is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation or was
serving as such with respect to another corporation or other entity at the
request of such corporation, unless such person shall have been adjudicated in
any proceeding not to have acted in good faith in the reasonable belief that
such action was in the best interests of the Company.  The Company's Restated
Articles of Organization, as amended and restated, contains provisions that
require the Company to indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest
extent permitted by Massachusetts law.

                                      II-1
Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed.
        ----------------------------------- 

        Not applicable.

Item 8. Exhibits.
        -------- 

        Exhibit
   
        4.1.   Restated Articles of Organization of Registrant (incorporated by
               reference to Exhibit 3.1. of the Registrant's Registration
               Statement on Form S-1, File No. 333-19991).

        4.2.   Second Amended and Restated By-laws of Registrant (incorporated
               by reference to Exhibit 3.1. of the Registrant's Current Report
               on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on December 5, 1997).

        5.     Opinion of Ropes & Gray.

        23.1.  Consent of Price Waterhouse LLP.

        23.2.  Consent of Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.

        23.3.  Consent of Ernst & Young LLP.

        23.4.  Consent of Graves, McKenna, Lundeen & Almquist, P.L.L.P.

        23.5.  Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

        23.6.  Consent of Ropes & Gray (contained in the opinion filed as
               Exhibit 5 to this registration statement).

        24.    Power of Attorney (included on signature page).

Item 9. Undertakings.
        ------------ 

        (a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

            (1) to file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
        made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement, (i) to
        include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities
        Act of 1933, (ii) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
        arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the
        most recent post-effective amendment thereof), which, individually or in
        the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set
        forth in the registration statement, and (iii) to include any material
        information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously
        disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such
        information in the registration statement; provided, however, that
                                                   --------  -------
        paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) shall not apply if the information
        required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those
        paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed by the registrant
        pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act
        of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the registration
        statement.

            (2) that, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
        Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be
        deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities
        offered herein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall
        be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof;

            (3) to remove from registration by means of a post-effective
        amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at
        the termination of the offering.

                                      II-2
(b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that is incorporated by reference in the
registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement
relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities
at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

        (c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will
be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

                                      II-3
SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the
Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement on Form S-8 to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of Newton, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on
this 15th day of January, 1998.

                                    RENAISSANCE WORLDWIDE, INC.
 

                                    By: /s/ G. Drew Conway
                                       ---------------------------------------
                                       Name:  G. Drew Conway
                                       Title: President and Chief 
                                              Executive Officer

                               POWER OF ATTORNEY
                               -----------------

     Pursuant to the requirement of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.  Each person whose signature appears
below hereby authorizes and constitutes G. Drew Conway, Richard L. Bugley and
Keith F. Higgins, and each of them singly, his true and lawful attorneys with
full power to them, and each of them singly, to sign for him and in his name in
the capacities indicated below any and all amendments (including post-effective
amendments) to this Registration Statement and to file the same, with exhibits
thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, and he hereby ratifies and
confirms his signature as it may be signed by said attorneys, or any of them, to
any and all such amendments.
Signature                Capacity in Which Signed              Date
---------                ------------------------              ----
/s/ G. Drew Conway       President, Chief Executive            January 15, 1998
---------------------    Officer and Director of the
G. Drew Conway           Company (principal executive
                         officer)
 
 
/s/ Robert E. Foley      Chief Financial Officer and           January 15, 1998
---------------------    Treasurer (principal financial
Robert E. Foley          and accounting officer)
 

/s/ Paul C. O'Brien      Director                              January 15, 1998
--------------------- 
Paul C. O'Brien       

/s/ Robert P. Badavas    Director                              January 15, 1998
--------------------- 
Robert P. Badavas
EXHIBIT INDEX
Number                Title of Exhibit                    Page
  ------                ----------------                    ----
4.1               Restated Articles of
                     Organization of Registrant
                     (incorporated by reference to 
                     Exhibit 3.1. of the Registrant's
                     Registration Statement on Form
                     S-1, File No. 333-19991).

   4.2               Amended and Restated By-laws
                     of Registrant (incorporated by
                     reference to Exhibit 3.1. of the
                     Registrant's Current Report on
                     Form 8-K filed with the
                     Commission on December 5,
                     1997).

   5                 Opinion of Ropes & Gray.                7 

   23.1              Consent of Price Waterhouse
                     LLP.                                    8

   23.2              Consent of Coopers & Lybrand
                     L.L.P.                                  9

   23.3              Consent of Ernst & Young
                     LLP.                                   10

   23.4              Consent of Graves, McKenna,
                     Lundeen & Almquist, P.L.L.P.           11

   23.5              Consent of Deloitte & Touche
                     LLP.                                   12

   23.6              Consent of Ropes & Gray
                     (contained in the opinion filed
                     as Exhibit 5 to this registration
                     statement).

   24                Power of Attorney (included on
                     signature page).