With more ups and downs than a roller coaster, today's business environment is ever changing. Economic fluctuations, new technologies, supply chain problems and decreasing margins are just a few current issues facing business leaders.
Workforce flexibility is essential to compete in this dynamic setting, placing a great deal of responsibility on the HR department and its manager if the organisation is to survive. With new challenges arising daily, you may feel stretched beyond your ability, and that's where a partner can help. A staffing company that specialises in workforce optimisation can help you design an agile workforce, which should be a priority if you intend to succeed in today's complex business environment.
identifying workforce challenges
Employees are the core of a company, and issues that affect the organisation as a whole are often magnified within the HR department. For instance, fluctuating product demand can result in too few or too many workers; new technologies can leave you with a skills shortage; inflation may require higher payrolls; and hints of a recession may cause leaders to tighten budgets.
A stock solution can't solve these and other workforce management issues. Instead, you must customise strategies, fine-tuning them as necessary. Dynamic environments require agility on the part of business leaders and HR managers. Survival in the short term is critical; however, long-term success is equally important, which is why you can't afford to lose core and valuable employees.
Therefore, you must learn to anticipate rather than react through strategic workforce management. By planning for possibilities, you can develop an adaptive workforce that changes to meet market demands.
understanding workforce needs
A thorough assessment of your current staffing situation is essential before workforce transformation can begin. Gather the following information to help guide you in decision-making:
- total number of employees in various positions throughout the company
- full- and part-time employee groups
- job level classifications
- job descriptions, complete with assigned tasks and requirements
- skills inventory
- HR data, such as absenteeism and turnover rates
- employees with promotion or cross-training potential
Next, look at your organisation's short- and long-term goals. Do any of these objectives require help from human resources? For example, an increase in production may call for more floor personnel, while the purchase of new technology or a company acquisition may require additional skills.
Once you've completed the above two exercises, you should have a good idea of what your workforce lacks, but fixing those holes may take more time and expertise than your department has to give.
Furthermore, all workforces are unique in the quality and type of individuals employed. Understanding why employees do what they do can be challenging, even for the experts. To fully transform your workforce, you need to know why things are happening, when to intervene and when to simply monitor the situation.
Gaining an objective expert's insight can significantly improve your ability to guide your workforce to greater efficiency and adaptability.
partnering with randstad
Working with a staffing agency can remove much of the pressure from your HR team and its leaders as you strive for workforce optimisation. Using experts in the HR field provides you with the most up-to-date knowledge and software tools. You're still in control, but you can choose what kind and how much help you would like from your staffing partner. Explore some benefits of working with Randstad.
- engage an in-house advisor to help with scalability of total HR management.
- find professionals, experts and middle and senior management through specialised recruitment services.
- fill seasonal and temporary staffing openings locally and across the globe.
- learn to optimise every aspect of your workforce management, from talent acquisition to development.
- take advantage of Randstad's tech suite to simplify talent searches and workforce scheduling.
- gain access to digital solutions.
managing fluctuating workloads
A sudden demand for more workers brings extra work and a considerable time commitment, from recruitment activities to conducting interviews and background checks. Then, there's training and scheduling. Working with a staffing partner helps you handle this additional responsibility while keeping up with your regular workload.
Randstad offers several advantages to employers looking for seasonal or project-based recruitment. Our pool of pre-vetted workers decreases your search time, giving you quick access to available workers and freeing your time for other work.
While the need for seasonal workers can be anticipated, today's uncertain economy can create situations where you need to scale your workforce up or down at short notice. Randstad can help you gain the flexibility to meet the needs of unexpected situations. Our streamlined hiring process helps ensure you're paying what you should for employees and not over-deploying.
Having the right number of employees to handle market demand can help give your business the agility it needs to face the challenges affecting organisations today.
enhancing team flexibility and agility
However, having the right number of employees isn't the only step in workforce optimisation. You need your employees to be productive and efficient with the necessary skills to support operations. Randstad's training and onboarding programmes can help integrate temporary staff, so they’ll soon be engaged and thriving.
We can monitor work time and payroll pounds through data analytics to ensure you're achieving metrics. And if we see areas that can be optimised, we'll offer suggestions and help guide you to a more efficient solution.
A flexible workforce relies on the latest technology. Randstad's tech Suite offers efficient tools for complete workforce management. Use recruitment software to help find and match talent for job openings and handle reference checks. For your current workforce needs, consider an online scheduling app so you can manage and communicate with temporary staff 24/7. Finally, free your team from repetitive data entry tasks by utilising an HR portal; you'll experience less administrative work and gain access to valuable data.
randstad: your pathway to workforce optimisation
To meet your organisational objectives and stay competitive in today's market, you need a well-functioning HR team capable of workforce transformation, bringing in new talent and skills without hesitation. When working in a volatile, challenging field, such as human resources, it helps to bring in an expert.
Staffing companies have market knowledge and practical experience. They can enhance the recruitment process from start to finish, offering prospective candidates from one to hundreds.
By partnering with Randstad, you gain an expert with over 60 years in HR services. Randstad offers tech tools to make your work faster, easier and more efficient, and you can choose how much or how little you want to outsource.
jonathon alonzo
director - industrial & inhouse services