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Staffing agencies work with a variety of clients looking to fill a range of temporary staffing roles within their company. These companies typically employ permanent full-time employees (FTE) but sometimes may need extra hands for specific projects or roles. For varied reasons, these temporary employees may later become permanent employees. Many businesses have a Human Resources department in charge of hiring and staffing so why should they consider using a staffing firm to help them fill temporary vacancies?
Here are 7 specific benefits a staffing firm offers to a Human Resources department.
Risk Mitigation: A great way to mitigate risk in an organization is through employing staff on the staffing organization’s payroll. Staffing firms usually offer a probationary period during which the worker is technically an employee of the staffing firm, not the client company. This allows the client to evaluate the worker’s performance before making a long-term commitment, reducing the risk of a bad hire. This option has the added benefit of limiting the appearance of elevated turnover during those times when an employee you thought would work out, simply doesn’t.
Flexibility & Bench Strength: Staffing firms cultivate candidates from the broadest possible pool and often use specialized screening and selection processes to evaluate their qualifications. Access to staffing firm can reduce the risk of hiring employees who are not a good fit for the company, which can lead to lowered productivity, higher turnover, and other issues.
If a company calls in requesting a certain number of employees for a contract position, the staffing firm can be at their immediate disposal and utilize their own resources to quickly source the most qualified candidates for a client. Staffing firms allow businesses to scale their workforce up or down based upon their needs. This helps mitigate the risk of overstaffing or understaffing, which can have measurable financial and operational consequences.
Reduced Financial and Administrative Burden: Staffing firms handle payroll, benefits, and other HR functions for the workers they place, reducing the administrative burden on the company. This also reduces the risk of mistakes or issues with these functions, which can lead to financial penalties and other consequences.
Staffing services are designed to save organizations money.
Since staffing firms are providing the client with temporary workforce solutions, companies are not bogged down with having to pay costly insurance and payroll taxes, nor do they have to deal with unemployment costs.
A staffing firm takes care of those things for the company and clients. And in the cases where a position may transition from temporary to permanent, clients get to hire the now “proven” candidate, backed with 720 hours of evaluation to validate the hire.
This sort of “try before you buy” mentality allows companies to make sure they have found the right person for the role, and that the candidate is a strong match with the company’s culture. Based on direct evaluation, the company can accurately negotiate compensation, aligned more precisely with what the person brings to the table. The result creates better synergy between the company and employee while optimizing “People ROI” per dollar spent.
Faster Hiring Process: Time is a valuable commodity and there never seems to be enough of it. Finding the best candidate for a job takes a lot of time. Staffing firms speed up the hiring process because of their access to qualified candidates and their expertise in recruitment. But the main thing they accomplish is moving candidates crisply through the hiring process. A faster hiring process reduces the risk of losing a candidate to another offer, as well as the productivity loss associated with unfilled positions.
So exactly how does a staffing firm expedite the hiring process?
The simple answer is the staffing firm does all the heavy lifting. A more nuanced answer is that they are experts in navigating and managing the various aspects of the hiring process. A staffing firm creates efficiency in overall coordination by efficiently managing communication across a range of potential candidates. Staffing firms take the time to sift through all the resumes received from the candidate pool to find the right person for the client. They often develop the job description, create a sourcing strategy, recruit qualified candidates, complete all telephone pre-screens, and conduct in-person interviews. Additionally, they administer any necessary assessment tests, complete any required background screening, conduct reference checks, and finally, prepare, present and negotiate the job offer.