Here are some common “aches and pains” you may face at work, and ABR’s prescriptions for using on-time staffing to cure them:

1. High fixed expenses. Bring in expertise on an as-needed basis.  On-time employees with specialized abilities can deliver the experience and skills you need without impacting fixed expenses.  If your business faces an unknown future, consider using on-time staff to keep your workforce lean and flexible.
2. Wasting time on non-critical activities.  Free up your employees’ time to focus on core competencies.
3. Paying benefits.  Limit your benefits expense by using on-time workers.
4. Meeting tight deadlines.  Bring in on-time employees – even at the last minute – to help you complete projects within tight time and budgetary constraints.
5. Bad hires. Let a staffing service assume this risk for you.  If you need a direct employee, use try-before-hire staffing and evaluate the candidate on the job before making a final hiring decision.
6. Training. Reduce training costs and shorten learning curves by bringing in on-time employees who are trained and have experience using the skills you need.
7. Turnover. When you use on-time employees in high turnover positions, the burden for replacing those workers (e.g., recruiting, training, etc.) is on the staffing service’s shoulders.
8. Seasonal crunch-time. If your business has predictable surges in demand, planned staffing may be right for your business.  With a staffing specialist’s help, you can analyze your business cycles and plan your staffing needs.  Then, during your busy periods, you can staff-up with on-time employees to supply the extra help needed to get work done.  As an added benefit, planned staffing can reduce layoffs.  When things slow down, you can let on-time staff go and hold onto your core employees.
9. Overtime. Use on-time help to avoid paying higher overtime rates and eliminate the employee burnout overwork causes.
10. Lack of expertise.  Bring in on-time or contract executives, professionals or technical gurus to teach new skills to employees in your organization.  Use their expertise on a short-term basis to complete a special project, or until your core employees have learned the new skills needed.

No panacea exists for every challenge you face on the job.  But for headaches like the ones listed above, ABR Employment Services’ complete staffing and HR solutions for Wisconsin employers are just what the doctor ordered.

But if you’re in the customer service, administrative/clerical, hospitality, shipping/delivery, inventory or technology/finance industries, you’re probably headed for a busy – if not your busiest – time of year.  If you’re going to require extra help this holiday season, it’s definitely not too early to plan for your staffing needs.

Here are just a few reasons why:

• Prevent rash hiring decisions.  If you wait until the last minute to recruit and hire, you may find yourself “up against a wall” when business suddenly surges.  Waiting until your needs are urgent may force you to make hasty hiring decisions.
• Get a jump on your competitors.  Many companies will wait until next month to gear-up.  Why not start your efforts now and reach the most qualified candidates before other seasonal employers get them?
• Avoid being overwhelmed.  This year’s seasonal job market will be flooded with applicants.  With so many job seekers competing for positions, the sheer volume of résumés and applications may bog you down.  Give yourself as much time as possible to find the best candidates by starting the search process early.

If just reading about seasonal hiring makes your stomach churn, relax – you don’t have to do it alone.  Staffing firms specialize in helping companies like yours effectively manage the highs and lows of business cycles.  Plan your workforce needs now with your staffing partner to:

• Get the flexibility you need.  Seasonal on-time staff (temporaries) can handle surges in demand without impacting fixed expenses.
• Say “goodbye” to post-holiday layoffs.  Since the staffing service is the seasonal employees’ employer of record, you can avoid the hassle and expense of letting workers go once things slow down.
• Access the talent you need, right when you need it.  Planning your workforce needs now gives your staffing firm time to locate the most qualified staff for you, especially when you require a large number of workers – so they’re available right when you need them.
• Shorten learning curves.  Your staffing provider will recruit seasonal workers with the specific skills and experience you require.  The provider can also, at your request, develop customized orientation materials to help reduce training costs and get workers up-to-speed more quickly.
• Eliminate additional administrative and legal burdens.  By using on-time (temporary) employees, you avoid the social security, payroll and other tax and legal burdens associated with seasonal employees.  Freedom from these hassles will give you more time to focus on other important priorities.
• Cut back on overtime.  On-time (temporary) employees help you minimize the additional cost and burnout overtime causes.

Plan Your Workforce Needs with ABR Employment Services

If your business has frequent or predictable surges in demand, a planned staffing option may be right for you.  Planned staffing is the strategic use of on-time employees (temporaries) to accommodate workloads known to vary in seasons or other cycles.

First, an ABR Employment staffing expert will work with you to examine year-round fluctuations in workload and identify peak demand periods.  Next, we will create a customized staffing plan for your business that: provides on-time (temporary) employees to handle your busiest times; reduces or eliminates your need to lay off employees during slow periods; frees you to focus on the most critical parts of your job.

Remember, the early bird gets the worm – it’s never too early to discuss your staffing needs with ABR Employment Services.

With the barrage of data pouring in from newspapers, TV, the internet, social media, RSS feeds, e-mails, voicemails and good-old-fashioned face-to-face meetings, finding the critical information you need amidst all the “white noise” can be exhausting.

Take the BLS Monthly Employment Situation, for example.  It contains monthly employment estimates for over 1,000 industries from its Current Employment Statistics program.  However, the changes in these overall employment levels tend to be delayed in the monthly labor reports – making it a lagging indicator of economic trends.

Sound like a lot of white noise?

Not entirely.  Temporary help employment numbers, which are part of the monthly BLS report, are generally considered to be a coincident indicator for overall employment.  This means that changes in temporary help employment tend to forecast subsequent changes in overall employment and coincide with changes in economic activity.  Why?  Many companies use temporary staffing as a means to quickly adjust their operations to meet fluctuating demands for their products and services.

Here’s how to get current data for temporary help services in the BLS report:

1. Go to the BLS Current Employment Statistics home page.
2. Then select either the HTML or PDF version of the “Employment Situation Summary.”
3. Data for temporary help services can be found in Table B-1 (page 30 of the report’s PDF version).

 Effectively manage the economy’s highs and lows with ABR Employment Services.

Our full spectrum of staffing services for Wisconsin employers can help you run lean – while providing on-demand access to the talent you need to meet surges in demand.

The 101

So, what exactly is “planned staffing”?

Simply put, planned staffing is the strategic use of temporaries to accommodate workloads known to vary in seasons or other cycles.  Traditional planned staffing strategies typically allocate between 10 and 20 percent of the total workforce as supplemental (temporary) employees.

To implement a planned staffing solution, a company’s decision makers meet with a highly trained staffing professional to discuss how the organization’s workload changes throughout the year.  The staffing professional then analyzes the company’s workforce needs, and designs a comprehensive plan for managing the peaks and valleys with supplemental staff.

When business surges, temporaries are brought in to handle the additional business volume.  Once the peak cycle is completed, the staffing firm reassigns its employees to other companies.

Planned Staffing Benefits

For businesses with (at least somewhat) predictable surges in demand, a planned staffing option offers a number of benefits:

• Flexibility.  Bringing in supplemental staff allows you to handle surges in demand without impacting fixed expenses.  Your workforce stays lean and flexible.
• Less risk and expense.  Using temporaries during short-term peak periods is less burdensome, risky and expensive than hiring – and then laying off – direct employees.
• Instant access to the help you need.  Your staffing provider will recruit in advance of your needs, to ensure you have qualified candidates ready to work – right when you need them.  At your request, the staffing firm can even develop customized orientation materials to get temporaries up-to-speed more quickly.
• Fewer layoffs.  When business slows, it’s the temporaries who go first.  As a result, core employees enjoy increased job security.
• Less burnout and overtime.  Using supplemental staff reduces overtime and eliminates the burn-out overwork can cause.
• Hiring benefits.  When you implement a planned staffing solution, you have the luxury of hiring employees from a pool of temporaries who are already trained, and have proven their dependability and cultural fit.  Discuss your temporary-to-hire options with your staffing provider.

Is a Planned Staffing Option Right for Your Business?

If your business experiences frequent and/or predictable changes in workload, contact ABR Employment Services.  We’ll discuss your needs, help you weigh your options and determine if planned staffing is right for your organization.