| Strategic
Staffing- Why Care? |
Are you interested in cutting costs, managing risk, and increasing
productivity-all while improving employee morale? If this sounds like
a wish list for your next strategic plan, you're not completely off
base. These are achievable and realistic benefits for companies taking
a strategic approach to staffing.
Strategic staffing enables you to use temporary help as a permanent
solution for meeting workforce challenges-while at the same time providing
you a means to gain a true competitive advantage.
Why make staffing strategic? Read on…
All
businesses must keep their eyes on the bottom-line. And staffing firms
offer a number of effective solutions to keep costs under control.
Consider the following:
Eliminate
excess overhead-
Most businesses are overstaffed. To ensure sufficient capacity to
meet peak demand, they employ more people than they need. Why carry
the excess personnel expense? A strategic staffing program gives you
the flexibility to bring in labor (or expertise) as needed. While
the temporary employees may cost more per hour than their full-time
counterparts, you only pay for them when they're needed. Plus, there
are no benefits to pay. In effect, a strategic staffing approach allows
you to convert fixed expense to variable.
Decrease
employment costs-
Hiring and termination
costs are very significant. A staffing firm can virtually eliminate
many of the costs and time investment associated with hiring. Savings
can include:
Recruiting- Recruiting is non-productive
(you don't hire most of the people you see). A staffing service can
more efficiently manage resume screening, interviewing, testing, and
reference checking.
Turnover- The cost of replacing a person
is 3 to 5 times the annual salary. Temporary staffing is an ideal
way to reduce expense in high turnover positions.
Overtime- Reduce the overtime worked by permanent employees
by using temporary employees to cover high demand periods.
Training- Temporary employees can be
productive quickly because they arrive ready to work, with the skills
and training you need.
Administration- Relieve burden on your HR department by using
temporary staffing and payrolling services. A staffing service has
legal responsibility for processing the paperwork for the employees
on its payroll.
Termination- There is no cost to letting
a temporary employee go. They know their assignment is going to be
short-term.
Cut your staffing expense-and headaches-
The management
and administration of temporary staff can be a significant challenge.
Many staffing services offer special programs to help firms proactively,
and cost-effectively, manage their staffing function, such as:
Vendor-on-Premise-
A staffing supplier provides you with an on-site coordinator to manage
your temporary staff. The on-site manager ensures the productivity
of temporary workers; handles scheduling and recruiting issues; and
deals with payroll and other administrative issues.
Single Source- Have one staffing firm
assume total responsibility for your staffing. You only need to manage
one vendor, which then either fills requests internally, or coordinates
with other staffing vendors to ensure your needs are fulfilled.
Are you forced
to do more with less? Planned staffing gives you the flexibility to
effectively manage the ups and downs in your workload. Whether you
have special projects requiring expertise beyond your core competencies
or are trying to manage cyclical trends, staffing firms can give you
the flexibility to proactively meet changing requirements. Some ways
staffing can help you meet demand include:
Seasonal demand
/ cyclical trends-
Many companies experience fluctuations in work requirements. Rather
than hiring employees when the workload increases, and laying them
off when its back to normal levels, why not use temporary employees?
Temporary employees can give you the support you need during busy
periods and they understand that the assignment ends when the work
is back to normal.
Projects / special expertise-
Sometimes businesses take on projects that require expertise permanent
employees don't have. It's becoming more common for firms to bring
in experts in fields, like information systems and engineering, to
handle special assignments. Staffing firms can provide you with professionals
that have the skills and experience you need on a short-term basis.
All businesses face a certain amount of risk. As an executive, your
challenge is limiting your company's exposure so you can focus on
meeting key business objectives. Many business and employment risks
can be effectively managed with a strategic approach to staffing.
Staffing can limit the following risks:
Bad
hires- An employee who isn't meeting expectations can be
a management, and sometimes legal, nightmare. Staffing services provide
flexibility to limit the risk of a bad hire. Temporary workers not
meeting expectations can be easily replaced. Not only does this limit
wrongful termination risk, but it's a great way to try out a worker
before considering a direct hire.
Legal and financial issues- Staffing firms ensure compliance
with tax laws when payrolling or leasing employees. They also make
sure hiring practices adhere to all legal guidelines. Finally, as
the employer of the temporary personnel, the staffing company assumes
financial obligations, including payroll, statutory taxes, and all
government reporting.
Human capital
is a key driver to meeting corporate objectives. Why wait for a crisis
situation to change? Progressive companies regard staffing decisions
as key to their success. By making staffing strategic, you gain a
tool to help accomplish your objectives and an edge on the competition.
| Am
I Boosting My Bottom Line? |
Does your staffing
service help you save time and money, increase productivity, or give
you peace of mind? If not, you may not be using staffing to your advantage.
After reading the attached article, we thought you might be curious
to determine if your company is proactive or reactive in its staffing
decisions. Once you've answered the questions, score your answers
using the guide at the bottom to determine if you could be getting
"more bang for your buck!"
1. We primarily use temps as fill-ins for unplanned or planned absences
or for vacations.
2. We use technical, managerial, and financial level temps for project
assignments as well as using temps for clerical and/or light industrial
requirements.
3. Preparing for the use of temporary and contract staffing is part
of our annual planning process.
4. From time to time we evaluate our core competencies with the idea
of outsourcing non-critical functions.
5. We generally place orders for temps just before we need them.
6. We conduct an orientation for every new temporary.
7. We provide training to temporaries when they begin a new assignment.
8. We have measurable performance standards for our permanent employees,
but not for our temporaries.
9. We periodically review our cost per hire.
10. We have compared the cost of a temporary to the cost of a permanent
employee in the same position.
11. We use temporaries as one of our recruiting methodologies to find
permanent employees.
12. We always call two or more temporary services simultaneously to
see who can most quickly fill the order.
|
Answer
Key- Give yourself one point for each correct answer.
|
| 1. False |
2. True |
3. True |
4. True |
5. False |
6. True |
| 7. True |
8. False |
9. True |
10. True |
11. True |
12. False |
If you scored:
0 to 3 - It may be time to call your staffing service-you could be
doing more
4 to 7 - You're doing okay-you're with the majority of companies today
8 to 10- Congratulations. You're strategically staffing your company
to success.
| Why
Make Staffing Strategic? |
1. The planned use of temporary help can be extremely cost and time
effective.
2. If it saves you money to use clerical and light industrial staffing,
it stands to reason that using professional staffing will save you
money as well. Ask us, we'd be happy to elaborate.
3. Strategic use of staffing allows you to operate without extensive
peaks and valleys. It helps you stay "right-sized" but flexible enough
to handle increases in business or unforeseen opportunities and challenges.
4. Strategic staffing will allow you to focus your strengths on activities
that get you the greatest return on your assets. Leverage the expertise
of others.
5. Your likelihood of getting the "cream of the crop" is greatly diminished
under extreme time pressure. If you give a staffing service more lead
time, you may be able to get back temporary employees you've used
in the past-saving you time and money on training and orientation.
6. A temporary employee's level of comfort on the job affects their
ability to perform-the more they know about the job and requirements,
the better they'll do.
7. A well trained temporary employee is not going to do work incorrectly-saving
you time, money, and potential aggravation. Trained temporary employees
are more productive in every way.
8. If they know your expectations, temporary employees will try their
best to meet them. Give them the opportunity to perform to the best
of their ability while fulfilling your needs.
9. It can be less expensive to use a staffing firm as your recruiting
source than doing it yourself. If you'd like more information on the
costs of hiring, please call us and we'll send you a great article
that details how to calculate your cost per hire.
10. The real costs of permanent employees are much higher than their
wages. Don't forget about statutories, benefits, 401K plans, vacation
time, and paid days off. These are all costs you don't incur when
using a staffing firm, because you only pay for hours worked.
11. Try before you buy! Reduce your risk of a bad hire and increase
your likelihood of hiring success by using the trial hire option staffing
services offer.
12. It may get you a faster response, but not necessarily a better
person if you call two or more staffing services at the same time.
Form a partnership with your staffing service-call them first and
give them the chance to meet your needs. Give that service a reasonable
time to fill your order and call a back-up service only if they fail
to meet your schedule.
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