Staffing Benefits the Economy

           Whether you are new to the job market, returning to work after an absence or want to target a different career path, staffing agencies will partner with you in your job search. Most of our applicants are successfully placed in jobs matching their skills, interests and abilities. Jobs range from hotel hospitality to manufacturing to the health care industry and just about everything in between.

          After losing 1.14 million jobs—37% of its work force—during the 2007–09 recession, the U.S. staffing industry began to grow again in July 2009, and it marked a turning point for the economy. Job losses in other industries would continue for months, but at least the economic contraction  with staffing agencies has been a major turning point for the economic times.

Temporary staff can provide the help when it is needed. For example, additional staff and doctors can be added to help with the end of the year rush as patients use up their insurance benefits and spending accounts.

Because temporary employees work for the staffing company, the practice is not responsible for paying their benefits or handling their unemployment claims.

       Most staffing companies offer a temp-to-hire option so that practices may try out candidates before the commitment is made to add them to the team. Before making the final decision, candidates can work in the office for an extended period of time without making a commitment to hire until you are certain the fit is right. Using temporary help during busy times relieves stress and prevents burnout among regular staff, which can reduce absenteeism and worker's compensation claims in the long run. During the crunch of the summer back to school rush or the end of the year, selectively adding staff for just those select times keeps the core staff fresh.

       Adding extra staff as needed to smooth fluctuations in workload helps avoid being overstaffed during slow times or understaffed during key busy times. Staff levels can be managed to be at productive levels all year.

Letting temporary employees handle routine business functions allows regular staff to concentrate on critical issues. For example, temporary staff can handle answering the phone and making appointments while the manger works on insurance claims and billing.

        The staffing company performs all the advertising, screening, interviewing and reference checking needed to attract and qualify potential employees. No need for the doctor or manager to sift through piles of unqualified candidates and hold unproductive interviews. The practice benefits by making one call and having staff sent that is ready to work.

Today's struggling economy continues to force medical practices to make tough choices concerning one of their biggest operating expenses and one of their greatest assets - their staff.

Resources:

http://hrstaff.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/JPEG_AHEAD_Staffing_Logo_-_Color_1.5_inch.271185751_std.jpg

http://www.laurenstaffing.com/news/increase-in-staffing-indicates-rebounding-economy/

Staffing is Trending

As the staffing industry enters 2011, the overall economic report is positive. According to Staffing Industry Analyst, overall unemployment claims have gone down in the month of December. The U.S. total unemployment rate was down in December to 9.42%. Manufacturing and temporary help were among job sectors to gain jobs in December. In fact, the overall best performing U.S. industry market was temporary help services, with a job growth score of 94.

Trends in hours worked, which correlates to the reliance on temporary versus full-time workers, were steady from September to December but showed an upward trend on the whole for 2010 from 2009. Overtime hours worked per week in December 2010 were on par with trends from 2008 with nearly 4 hours of overtime worked.  

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that temporary jobs increased in December by 15,900. However, there was a weak overall employment report with just 103,000 new jobs in total and unemployment is likely to remain high for the foreseeable future. Most staffing firms are reporting sequential improvement, with the selling/recruiting difficulty ratio improving over the last nine months. This indicates that companies are more willing to explore contingent staffing solutions, and that staffing companies are seeing that candidates are harder to reach.

First and foremost staffing agencies should take advantage of the next few “good years”.  Several speakers and analysts stated that staffing firms need to:

•   Invest in technology.
Now is the time to upgrade systems, automate where possible, and become more strategic.  Firms that have the proper internal systems and technology in place will be able to react faster, secure a bigger piece of the pie, and prepare their business for more challenging economic times coming in a few years.

•   Invest in marketing.
As an industry, we spend only .4% of gross sales on marketing.  Robert Half on the other hand spent 1.2% during the recession.  They’re stronger, more respected, and secured a bigger share of the market.

•   Invest in business efficiencies.
There are a lot of in-efficiencies in the traditional staffing and recruiting business model right now.  We need to determine where those issues are, and eliminate them.  Becoming more efficient will put less pressure on declining margins and also make your firm much more competitive.

Resources: American Staffing Association http://www.americanstaffing.net/statistics/bls.cfm