Strategic Staffing: Your Competitive Edge
By Jennifer Evans, President of Davidson Staffing
It's no surprise that recent research by the American Staffing Association shows that the benefits companies like most about working with staffing firms are workforce flexibility and access to talent. Our clients call us to solve the headaches of needing staff quickly to cover vacations or illnesses, or to save time in filling critical positions with the best individuals. Yet very few businesses think of their staffing firms as consultative partners that can add a competitive edge to their business through strategic staffing.
The Temp Strategy
Flexible staffing arrangements undeniably enhance business competitiveness, and thousands of businesses nationwide have come to understand this new reality. The U.S. Department of Labor has found that employers that have flexibility in adjusting labor requirements to meet product and service demands have a competitive edge over those less flexible human resource policies.
Traditionally, businesses have used temporary workers primarily to fill gaps left by vacations or for sick coverage. By utilizing our services strategically, you can quickly fill any gaps in your staff and move on to the multitude of other issues you have on your plate:
- High Turnover Positions
Positions with turnover rates of 14 months or less, such as receptionists or file clerks, translate into lost dollars when you consider the costs of advertising, recruiting, and training replacement workers. Employers have found that outsourcing these positions has added to their bottom line. - Eliminate Burn Out
Today's business climate demands organizations to run leaner than ever before. By providing temporary support for interim projects, employers can avoid burn out of core staff and reduce costly turnover. - Projects
Outsourcing projects of a defined length can help your business determine costs up front. Project contractors can focus on the project at hand and move on at its completion, helping you control long term staffing costs. - Cyclical Workload Highs
Many businesses, in particular our clients in the legal industry, experience cyclical highs in work load. Temporary contractors allow you the flexibility to ramp up when a workload influx occurs rather than hire permanent employees who will be looking for something to do (such as surfing the Internet on your dime) when the influx dies down. - Streamlining Internal Processes
Consider bringing in support intermittently for filing, data entry, etc. This allows your key personnel to be more productive, in turn contributing to a stronger bottom line.
The Talent Strategy
The access to talent provided by contingent staffing is becoming more important to successful businesses today because of the significant changes that have been occurring in our U.S. work force. As you know, the work force model has shifted dramatically in recent decades as we've moved away from employees starting with a company after finishing school and then retiring with the same company. Think about your family, friends, and colleagues in the work force - do you know anybody who is still with his or her first employer?
Generations X and Y, which are going to virtually take over the work force within a few years, make up what some labor economists call the emergent work force. These workers have taken control of their careers in ways previous generations did not. They control their own destinies, so to speak, and they seek two things from their employers: personal fulfillment in the work, and performance-based recognition.
That fits perfectly with one of the key factors that describe a worker's attraction to the staffing industry: choice. Temporary and contract work provides talented and techno-savvy professionals with the choices they want in work schedules, work places, and work assignments.
That's just one reason why we offer a temp-to-hire option as a strategy for employers and to assess a candidate's fit in a position before committing to a direct hire. Temp-to-hire allows better choice for both the employer and the candidate - you can try each other out, to ensure both parties are happy with the job fit before making a direct hire decision.
Your Staffing Problems Solved
Sure, most hiring managers would prefer to locate candidates on their own. The problem you face is the time to do so along with the difficulty of gaining access to the best individuals. We can fill critical positions within in a week to two weeks, whereas it may take you one to three months to fill on your own. We can quickly fill temporary gaps in your staff so you can move on to the other priorities of running your business.
ASA research conducted in 2004 shows that three out of four businesses say the quality of the employees they get from staffing firms is the same or better than the quality of their regular employees. What's more, eight in 10 customers tell us they see staffing companies as a good way to find people who can become their own permanent employees. So, utilize our services strategically and improve your competitive edge!
Davidson Staffing invites you to check us out. We take great pride in supporting the continuing education of our staff members, many of whom are certified staffing professionals (CSP's) in order to provide our clients with a quality, professional service. Click here to Meet Our Staff.
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