Achieving Staffing Flexibility
Businesses have learned many valuable, albeit difficult, lessons from the recession. One of the most important is that they need to be more strategic and flexible in their approach to staffing.
As companies begin to see a gradual increase in customer demand, reinforcing employee teams with interim professionals as needs dictate can be accomplished far more quickly and less expensively than hiring only full-time employees. By using a fluid mix of core staff and temporary professionals, your company can adjust nimbly to all types of economic cycles.
Know Your Needs
The first step in bringing more flexibility to your staffing strategy is to make a solid distinction between immediate and longer-term requirements—as well as those you are unsure about. For some positions, hiring full-time employees is the best solution. For others, there may be alternative approaches.
At the first sign of a need for additional staff, decide whether this situation will clearly be ongoing, temporary or if you are uncertain. To help you, consider upcoming new projects and also how past trends in workload peaks and valleys might look now—and in the future. This will allow you to better determine the mix of full-time and temporary staff that will address all of your needs yet allow you staffing flexibility were these needs to change.
Clarify Your Requirements
Next determine the skills and experience prospective candidates must have and how long you’ll you need the assistance. For example, if you’re looking to hire someone on a temporary basis to cover for an employee on disability leave, it’s important to have a specific time frame in mind so you can select a candidate who not only has the required skills but who also can commit for the duration of the assignment.
You can also engage interim employees as a first step toward making a full-time commitment. This approach allows you to evaluate an individual’s job performance first-hand. You can then transition the most promising candidate to full-time status. This arrangement is a good way to assess the employee’s fit with the specific position and the firm’s culture before extending a job offer.
Working with a Staffing Firm
A reputable staffing firm can help you achieve staffing flexibility by providing a selection of talent at various price points and skill levels to meet your requirements. A firm specializing in the fields for which you have staffing needs will increase your odds of finding the best people for the job. Specialized staffing professionals can better understand what is motivating the need to bring in personnel resources and provide a spectrum of talent to address new demands on your business.
A flexible staffing plan requires not only highly skilled interim employees but also a strong full-time team. In any economic cycle, don’t overlook opportunities to continue strengthening your core staff. There are many highly skilled, experienced professionals in the job market right now, and you may be able to hire talent you were unable to attract previously. A staffing firm can also help you in recruiting full-time staff, often shaving weeks off your search for a top professional. Their staff can make sure you lose no time to reviewing stacks of resumes you’re likely to receive. They can also handle the details of reference checks and interviews. And remember, there are many excellent candidates still working who are not happy in their positions but are reluctant to job search in this economy. Recruiters with the deepest networks can access this “hidden job market” of skilled individuals who are not actively looking for new employment.
A “staffing cushion” is essential if companies want to avoid repeating the mistakes that left so many businesses unprepared for the downturn. Designating a percentage of your workforce as contingent prepares your firm for whatever economic developments come next.
Robert Half International has more than 360 staffing locations worldwide and offers online job search services on its divisional websites, all of which can be accessed at www.rhi.com. This article is provided courtesy of Robert Half Management Resources, North America’s largest consulting services firm providing senior-level accounting and finance professionals on a project basis. For further information, visit www.roberthalfmr.com or follow Robert Half Management Resources on Twitter at twitter.com/roberthalfmr
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