Is it Time to Bring Temporary Talent into Your Workforce Strategy?

Every day, more businesses are realizing the benefits of incorporating temporary talent into their workforce strategy. In fact, a recent survey conducted by the American Staffing Association found that staffing companies employed a record-breaking 3.23 million employees per week in 2018! The reasoning is clear – no organization is immune to the twists and turns that can make any infallible strategy sink like the Titanic. Whether they’re faced with the ebb and flow of consumer demand, unforeseeable changes to their staff, or a new initiative that is draining their teams, temporary workers are the safeguard many organizations need to not only stay afloat but to reach new shores.

So, is it time to bring temporary talent into your workforce strategy? Take a moment to consider whether these statements apply to your organization:

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You’re Missing Your Targets

This time of the year presents a great opportunity to revisit your organization’s 2019 goals. Are you hitting your targets for the year? If the answer is no, where are you falling short? Whatever the challenge is, at the core, we bet you can find one common denominator: your workforce strategy.

Think of it this way. Your operations consist of dozens of interconnected cogs moving simultaneously in an intricately designed system – these cogs represent your services, your processes, your customers, your values, your company morale, etc. In the center of this system is the largest cog of them all – it represents your workforce. When this master cog stalls, the others begin to grind against one another as tensions mount. One of the main reasons that this master cog stalls is because it becomes rigid and unresponsive when faced with a wildcard like spikes in demand, resignations, a project that requires specialized skills, etc. By incorporating temporary talent into your workforce strategy, you give your operations the oil it needs to be agile in an ever-changing environment. All of this brings us to the next point…

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Your Current Staff Is Overworked

Even if your organization is on track to reach all targets for the year, there’s still one very important question to ask yourself and the rest of your leadership team – are you reaching these goals at the expense of your current staff? Are the cogs of your organization running at hyper-speed and at risk of going haywire? The fact is, a quarter or two of successful numbers is short-lived unless your model for success is sustainable. You must be able to discern when stellar profit margins could really just mean that you’re short staffed. If you don’t, you risk star performers googling “signs of employee burnout” during lunch and running for the hills shortly thereafter.

When you enlist the help of a temporary workforce to support your teams through peak seasons and project-based work, you increase your organization’s productivity while simultaneously improving your retention rates. This is especially important when, according to Gallup, the cost of replacing one employee due to voluntarily turnover can range from one-half to more than double their annual compensation.

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Your Wish List Has Been Piling Up for Years

Now, here’s a fun question to ask yourself: What could your organization accomplish if bandwidth and skills gaps were a non-issue? Your mind is likely racing through your wish list of game-changing ideas that have been put on the backburner for years. When your teams are already running at full capacity just to complete their core tasks, adding a new initiative to the list feels impossible – no matter how much untapped value it could have. That is, unless, you identify the areas where temporary workers could strategically fit within your organization to turn your wishful thinking into reality.

For example, let’s say you’ve had your eyes on rolling out a new software system across your entire company. You know that your current IT team (or Bill the one-man band) can’t conquer this alone and adding to your employee roster isn’t an option. The solution? Hiring a contingent IT professional with a hyper-specialized skill set for the duration of the roll-out. When you open your organization to temporary workers, you open the doors to all of the initiatives you simply can’t take on with your current teams.

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You Need a Strategic Partner

One of the key benefits of incorporating temporary workers into your organization is simultaneously gaining the expertise and strategic insight of a staffing provider along the way. Staffing professionals live and breathe recruiting and hiring, enabling them to be hyper-attuned to their client’s unique pain points and talent needs. That said, not all services are created equal. When selecting which staffing partner you’d like to work with, it’s important you find one that acts as a true consultant to your business and tailors a workforce solution that perfectly addresses your current pain points along with your future goals.

When you partner with Placers, we’ll work closely with you to understand where you are at, where you want to be, and how temporary talent can help you get there.

Whether your organization needs one consultant for project work, a few temporary workers for the season, an entire workforce of contingent talent, or simply needs support recruiting for your direct-hire positions – we can help. Give us a call or send us a message to get the ball rolling today!