Berks & Beyond Blog

Admittedly, it may be a little early to light a Yule log. 

But if you’re in the customer service, administrative/clerical, hospitality, shipping/delivery, inventory or technology/finance industries, you’re probably headed for a busy – if not your busiest – time of year.  If you’re going to require extra help this holiday season, it’s definitely not too early to plan for your staffing needs.

Here are just a few reasons why:

• Prevent rash hiring decisions.  If you wait until the last minute to recruit and hire, you may find yourself “up against a wall” when business suddenly surges.  Waiting until your needs are urgent may force you to make hasty hiring decisions.
• Get a jump on your competitors.  Many companies will wait until next month to gear-up.  Why not start your efforts now and reach the most qualified candidates before other seasonal employers get them?
• Avoid being overwhelmed.  This year’s seasonal job market will be flooded with applicants.  With so many job seekers competing for positions, the sheer volume of résumés and applications may bog you down.  Give yourself as much time as possible to find the best candidates by starting the search process early.

If just reading about seasonal hiring makes your stomach churn, relax – you don’t have to do it alone.  Staffing firms specialize in helping companies like yours effectively manage the highs and lows of business cycles.  Plan your workforce needs now with your staffing partner to:

• Get the flexibility you need.  Seasonal temporaries can handle surges in demand without impacting fixed expenses.
• Say “goodbye” to post-holiday layoffs.  Since the staffing service is the seasonal employees’ employer of record, you can avoid the hassle and expense of letting workers go once things slow down.
• Access the talent you need, right when you need it.  Planning your workforce needs now gives your staffing firm time to locate the most qualified staff for you, especially when you require a large number of workers – so they’re available right when you need them.
• Shorten learning curves.  Your staffing provider will recruit seasonal workers with the specific skills and experience you require.  The provider can also, at your request, develop customized orientation materials to help reduce training costs and get workers up-to-speed more quickly.
• Eliminate additional administrative and legal burdens.  By using temporary employees, you avoid the social security, payroll and other tax and legal burdens associated with seasonal employees.  Freedom from these hassles will give you more time to focus on other important priorities.
• Cut back on overtime.  Temporary employees help you minimize the additional cost and burnout overtime causes.

Plan Your Workforce Needs with Berks & Beyond Employment Services

If your business has frequent or predictable surges in demand, a planned staffing option may be right for you.  Planned staffing is the strategic use of temporaries to accommodate workloads known to vary in seasons or other cycles.

First, a Berks & Beyond staffing expert will work with you to examine year-round fluctuations in workload and identify peak demand periods.  Next, we will create a customized staffing plan for your business that: provides temporary employees to handle your busiest times; reduces or eliminates your need to lay off employees during slow periods; frees you to focus on the most critical parts of your job.

Remember, the early bird gets the worm – it’s never too early to discuss your staffing needs with Berks & Beyond.

The Problem:

After undergoing a major lay-off several months ago, a Reading battery manufacturer received a large order from a client.  With a greatly reduced workforce, the manufacturer knew their core staff would struggle to get the job done. 

The battery manufacturer needed qualified workers to manage peak production, without incurring the costs (e.g. unemployment, workers’ compensation, taxes) of bringing back the employees they had recently laid off.  After careful consideration, they knew they required additional temporary labor – right away.

The Solution:

Berks & Beyond worked with the Plant Manager to identify the types of positions, required skills and number of workers needed.  We then implemented a just-in-time staffing solution, recruiting and delivering talented candidates to handle their temporary upsurge in production.

To ensure the right fit, the Plant Manager retained control of the interviewing process.

The Results:

Just-in-time temporary staffing now complements this manufacturer’s core staff to effectively manage workload surges.  We currently have 13 temporary employees working at their location, with an additional 7 more needed in the coming weeks.  This client is able to quickly ramp-up staff to meet high-volume orders, without the additional expense and administrative burden of hiring and then laying-off permanent staff.

“Recently (we) needed to ramp-up an additional assembly line and positions in our back shop departments.  We decided to use Berks and Beyond Employment Services to fill these positions.  This was no small task, since we were requiring up to 20 workers ASAP.  However, the staff at Berks and Beyond had met our challenge quickly and with what appears to be satisfactory workers.  Thank you.”

–Plant Supervisor

Write Your Own Staffing Success Story

Contact Berks & Beyond today to find out how we can deliver real Results at Work for your organization.

When it comes to effectively staffing your business, the options are endless – and can be, frankly, a little overwhelming.  Today’s post is dedicated to straight talk about a strategic staffing service that may be of real value to your organization:  planned staffing.

The 101

So, what exactly is “planned staffing”?

Simply put, planned staffing is the strategic use of temporaries to accommodate workloads known to vary in seasons or other cycles.  Traditional planned staffing strategies typically allocate between 10 and 20 percent of the total workforce as supplemental (temporary) employees.

To implement a planned staffing solution, a company’s decision makers meet with a highly trained staffing professional to discuss how the organization’s workload changes throughout the year.  The staffing professional then analyzes the company’s workforce needs, and designs a comprehensive plan for managing the peaks and valleys with supplemental staff.

When business surges, temporaries are brought in to handle the additional business volume.  Once the peak cycle is completed, the staffing firm reassigns its employees to other companies.

Planned Staffing Benefits

For businesses with (at least somewhat) predictable surges in demand, a planned staffing option offers a number of benefits:

• Flexibility.  Bringing in supplemental staff allows you to handle surges in demand without impacting fixed expenses.  Your workforce stays lean and flexible.
• Less risk and expense.  Using temporaries during short-term peak periods is less burdensome, risky and expensive than hiring – and then laying off – direct employees.
• Instant access to the help you need.  Your staffing provider will recruit in advance of your needs, to ensure you have qualified candidates ready to work – right when you need them.  At your request, the staffing firm can even develop customized orientation materials to get temporaries up-to-speed more quickly.
• Fewer layoffs.  When business slows, it’s the temporaries who go first.  As a result, core employees enjoy increased job security.
• Less burnout and overtime.  Using supplemental staff reduces overtime and eliminates the burn-out overwork can cause.
• Hiring benefits.  When you implement a planned staffing solution, you have the luxury of hiring employees from a pool of temporaries who are already trained, and have proven their dependability and cultural fit.  Discuss your temporary-to-hire options with your staffing provider.

Is a Planned Staffing Option Right for Your Business?

If your business experiences frequent and/or predictable changes in workload, contact Berks and Beyond.  We’ll discuss your needs, help you weigh your options and determine if planned staffing is right for your organization.