In the current economic landscape, temporary workers play a vital and growing role in the workforce. Explore the five key reasons why integrating staffing agencies into your business strategy is important, and find out how to efficiently manage them with a vendor management system (VMS) to reduce risks and boost your overall performance.
According to a US Government Accountability report, 40 percent of the US workforce is made up of contingent workers, with the average organization having 18 percent of their workforce hired on a contingent basis. While the utilization of temporary labor has undeniably surged in the past decade, not all companies have fully embraced this workforce trend. Many organizations have been deterred by the intricate challenges involved in managing staffing vendors and non-employee workers.
But there is a solution. With the right management processes in place your organization can effectively manage staffing vendors and contingent workers.
In this article, we will share the top five reasons why your business should be using staffing agencies, and how you can manage them effectively with a vendor management system (VMS) to minimize risk and improve your bottom line.
What is a staffing agency?
A staffing agency, also known as a staffing vendor or staffing firm, is an organization that matches temporary job candidates to the relevant positions that your business needs at any given moment in time. A staffing agency will work on behalf of both your company, as well as job seekers, to match the talent of temporary workers with the skills and experience required for a particular position. Staffing agencies often have specialization in job categories, geography, and deep relationships with candidates. They source, onboard, contract with and pay contingent workers.
In most cases, temporary workers will be an employee of the staffing agency that they work for, meaning they are paid directly by the agency and not the organization where they are completing a specific assignment. They work at one company for a temporary and specific duration of time.
How your business can benefit from using staffing agencies
If you are looking for temporary workers to fill positions within your organization, working with a staffing agency can help you to find the best candidates for your specific needs. Here are five reasons your business will benefit from working with a staffing agency:
#1 - You can scale your workforce up or down depending on demand
If your business experiences seasonal and fluctuating demands throughout the year, you’ll understand that it’s impossible for your current workforce to fulfill those requirements. A staffing agency is a great solution that allows you to access temporary workers who can be sourced as-and-when they are needed, enabling your business to scale its workforce up and down depending on current demand.
#2 - Faster time-to-fill metrics
Need someone to fill a position immediately so you can fulfill a client’s demands? Staffing agencies have a substantial list of highly-skilled workers waiting to take temporary roles, meaning they can hit the ground running as soon as they are placed in a role with your organization. Cutting down your time-to-fill metrics means you will be in a far better position to fill your client’s needs and start working on new projects as they come through.
#3 - You will save money
Recruiting and training is costly, and your business is unlikely to need every position to be filled with full-time workers. Using temporary workers to fill positions for the exact time period you need them will save your business money on recruitment, training, payroll, tax handling, worker compensation and many other costs.
#4 - Access to specialized expertise and high volume workforces (such as warehousing and logistics)
Skilled workers are becoming increasingly difficult to find, and the growing skills shortage is only making that an ever-growing challenge for a large number of organizations. Staffing agencies have a wide network of highly-skilled and experienced workers, which means they’ll be able to place the right person in the right role no matter your requirements.
#5 - Flexibility
No matter what industry you are in, today’s markets are constantly shifting. Your business needs to be agile enough to adapt to those changes if it is to continue succeeding long into the future. The use of temporary workers will provide you with the flexibility you need to hire skilled workers for specific projects, allowing you to shift your focus to new tasks when required.
How to successfully manage staffing vendors and temporary workers
After making the decision to work with a staffing agency and optimize your use of temporary workers, it’s likely that you will be working with multiple staffing agencies and tens, hundreds or even thousands of temporary workers.
- Recording, consolidating and evaluating this data can be complex. It requires proper management to reduce risk, improve visibility, save money and create a centralized management process across your organization.
- Performing these processes manually will only result in inefficiencies and human error, which in turn will lead to a lack of visibility into your non-employee workforce, poor staffing agency decisions and wasted spend. Thankfully, there are technologies that you can use to automate the entire staffing agency and temporary worker process.
A vendor management system will automate and consolidate the management of your staffing agencies, and your entire non-employee workforce, in one easy-to-use centralized location. Automating every stage of the staffing agency process, from req to cheque, will improve hiring decisions, save your company money and bring your business many other benefits.
Learn More about Managing Staffing Agencies with a VMS:
➡️ How to Manage Staffing Agencies: Your Complete Guide➡️ VMS: The Simplest Way to Manage Your Staffing Agencies➡️ Managing Staffing Agencies: To Tender or Not to Tender➡️ Managing Staffing Agencies: Your Guide to Performance Management & KPIs➡️ Staffing Agency Bill Rate: What is it?➡️ Best Practices: Managing Staffing Agencies for your Contingent Workforce➡️ Managing Staffing Agencies: What Bells & Whistles do you Really Need?➡️ Using VMS Software to Track Staffing Agency Performance➡️ 5 Dangers of using Manual Spreadsheets to Manage Staffing Vendors➡️ How to Choose a Staffing Agency for You Company's Contingent Workforce Needs➡️ VMS Technology: Why Manual Spreadsheets are Not Effective
Interested in learning more about Vendor Management Systems?
Whether you are looking to change your VMS solution, or just getting started, we are here to help. Contact Us for a Free No-Obligation Consultation to discuss your workforce challenges (and get immediate actionable insights). See how easy Conexis is to use by taking a quick 2 minute Self-Guided Tour, or Book a Personal Demo Today!
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