Many light industrial companies work with agencies offering industrial staffing services as a part of their overall labor strategy, but using this approach has become even more essential in today’s tight labor market.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies offered early retirement packages to older employees as a way of reducing labor costs and some people decided they were better off leaving the workforce altogether. As a result, good employees are a precious commodity in every industry.
While they can help to fill an immediate need with light industrial temp services, these agencies can be so much more than a source of labor. When your company partners with an agency, it gains a partner that is motivated to help your organization thrive. The light industrial staffing agency can help develop a long-term labor strategy. An agency can also help your company navigate sudden increases or decreases in business.
Finding success through the use of light industrial temp services starts with finding a good partner agency. If you are a local company, start by reviewing websites for light industrial temp agencies in St. Louis. Learn about the industrial staffing services they provide and the types of jobs they tend to fill.
Develop a short list of potential partners and then reach out to discuss the specifics of what they offer. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about rates and key performance indicators, such as time to fill and offer acceptance rate. Also, be prepared to talk about the types of jobs you’d like to fill and the type of candidates you’re seeking. A staffing agency will better be able to address your questions if they have a sense of the ideal candidates your company is seeking. Once you enter into an agreement with a light industrial staffing agency, its recruiters will be able to hit the ground running with accurate job descriptions that appeal to your ideal candidates.
When looking at different industrial staffing services, try to take a long-term approach. Your partnership with a staffing agency should include regular feedback so that recruiters can refine their processes in order to help your company hire best-fit candidates.
7 Reasons to Hire Light Industrial Workers with a Temp Agency in St. Louis
A long-term partnership with a light industrial staffing agency will also allow your organization to receive a number of different benefits. Below are seven reasons why your company should use a light industrial temp agency in St. Louis as part of its labor strategy.
#1 Light Industrial Temp Agencies Reduce Hiring Risks
In addition to dealing with a labor shortage, light industrial companies also have to deal with employees who suddenly find themselves in the driver’s seat. The past couple years have seen large numbers of
employee resignations as people leave their jobs behind to seize career opportunities. For employers, this greater willingness to quit a current job makes every hiring decision riskier.
Light industrial staffing agencies are better positioned to address this new dynamic than internal hiring teams. While HR staff need to be focused on benefits administration and other employee issues, staffing agencies can focus purely on searching for best-fit candidates that are more likely to stick with an employer long-term.
Staffing agencies also maintain relationships with pools of candidates. This makes them better positioned than internal hiring teams to quickly locate the most promising candidates. These relationships also give them deeper insight on individual candidates. Staffing agency recruiters get to know the short term and long-term goals of individual candidates. So when they connect a candidate to a potential employer, they do so with the idea with that the candidate will appreciate the long term prospects of the job opportunity. This significantly reduces the risk of hiring a candidate.
#2 Fill Open Jobs Faster with Light Industrial Staffing Services
In 2021, LinkedIn reported that the average time to hire through the social media platform was 41 days. This isn’t just a long wait for candidates. It’s also on the long wait for employers who are looking to fill essential positions as quickly as possible.
When a light industrial company reaches out to its staffing partner, the agency compiles a list of the most qualified candidates for hiring managers at the company to review. These candidates have already been recruited and assessed — which eliminates two time-consuming steps from the typical internal hiring process.
In addition to providing top candidates to an employer, light industrial temp services also typically include client-focused solutions like payroll and other administrative duties. This means client companies spend less time dealing with paperwork, and more time getting new hires up to speed. Companies that use temp services are able to maintain a high level of productivity while minimizing costs associated with both hiring and onboarding.
#3 Access Qualified Workers Through a Light Industrial Temp Agency
Labor quality is the biggest problem facing small businesses, according to a recent labor report from NFIB. But if you’re a small business, you probably don’t need a fancy report to tell you that good help is hard to find. The challenge of finding good workers has only been exacerbated by the pandemic and Great Resignation.
Because it is their specialty, light industrial staffing agencies are perfectly positioned to help your company access qualified workers. Recruiters at these agencies know the industry they serve. If your company needs employees with specialized knowledge, you can feel confident light industrial staffing recruiters will understand your need and be able to address it.
Of course, there’s more to being qualified for a job than having technical ability. Recruiters also have personal connections to candidates and can use their personal knowledge of individual candidates to determine if they have the soft skills needed to succeed in a client’s open position.
#4 Increase Productivity with On-Demand Industrial Staffing Services
You know the quality of your workers will impact your company’s growth rate. If your staff lacks qualified candidates, it will be difficult to grow your business and keep up with the competition in your industry.
But staffing agencies can help your business maintain its productivity throughout its growth cycles. When your company’s growth temporarily tapers off and you need to let go of some employees, staffing agencies can protect both your company’s and your temporary employees’ interests by helping those employees find other positions during the downtime. They can also help temp employees return to your company when business picks up again. Thus you can maintain long-term productivity by retaining workers who are already qualified, instead of restarting your hiring process from scratch.
#5 Light Industrial Temp Agencies Offer Temp-to-Hire Options
Bad hiring decisions can be frustrating and costly. Depending on the position, one single bad hiring decision can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The direct costs associated with a bad hire can include wasted costs associated with hiring, wasted training resources, lost production, lower product quality, and lost business due to customer complaints. There are also indirect costs, including damage to a company’s brand and workplace culture.
What are the best ways to avoid making bad hiring decisions is to use temp-to-hire arrangements through a light industrial staff agency. With temp-to-hire arrangements, you can track how new employees perform at their job and adapt to their working environment. You can also see how they handle unexpected situations and progress toward individual goals. You can also ask established team members what they think about the new hire’s performance. Using feedback and your own observations, you can decide whether or not to offer a permanent position to a temporary worker.
#6 Spend Less Time Training with a Light Industrial Temp Agency
Small and medium-sized companies with limited training resources should be hiring candidates who can hit the ground running, or at least get up to speed as quickly as possible. These companies should seriously consider using a staffing agency because agencies are positioned to find candidates that require less training time. New employees that hit the ground running are typically able to do so because they have prior experience. This has the added bonus of diversifying the experiences of your employee teams.
Light industrial staffing companies also handle a significant amount of the paperwork involved in hiring new employees. This means HR employees spend less time filling out paperwork on things like payroll taxes and insurance.
#7 Hiring Light Industrial Workers Through a Temp Agency is Cost Effective
There are costs associated with retaining light industrial temp services, but recruiting in-house can also be a costly affair. Posting ads, screening applications, interviewing candidates, conducting background checks and onboarding new hires all cost money. When your company uses a light and staffing agency, many of those costs are shifted to the agency. An agency can also deliver a massive return on investment that outweighs the costs of outsourcing.
Need to Hire Light Industrial Workers? Work with the Top Temp Agency in St. Louis!
Westside Personnel Services is a light industrial staffing agency in St. Louis, Pacific, and Fenton, Missouri that is dedicated to helping companies meet their labor needs. Whether your company is looking to fill temporary, temp-to-hire, or full-time positions, we always have a wide range of solutions available. Contact Westside Personnel Services today and we can discuss a custom solution with you!