Recruitment is one of the most time-consuming and resource-draining aspects of running a business. Every business owner knows this. Finding the right people is no easy feat. And yet, given how critical talent is to business success, it is something which cannot be carried out haphazardly.
The challenge is even worse for small business owners. Unlike large corporations, small businesses often don’t have large human resources departments. As such, they may not have large teams of recruiters whose only task is finding, vetting and hiring talented individuals.
So, what should a business owner do? Well, there are three major options. First, you can carry out the recruitment by yourself. This is of course lengthy, time-consuming and stressful. Secondly, you can expand the size of your human resources team. This is also time-consuming and expensive. Finally, you can hire a recruitment consultant. This is also expensive.
Basically, it seems like there is no cost-effective way of finding great talent, right? Well, not quite. There is an option which can save both time and money. This option is by recruiting temporary workers through a staffing agency.
A Staffing Agency Saves You Money
Staffing is actually the cheapest way of acquiring and managing top talent. This is because almost all the major costs are handled by the staffing agency.
For starters, you don’t incur the costs of placing job adverts. This is because the adverts are put out and paid for by the staffing agency.
Secondly, you don’t incur the costs of screening. This includes conducting interviews, carrying out background checks, and other vetting-related costs. These are also paid for by the staffing agency.
Basically, you don’t incur any recruitment costs at all. You simply acquire a talented individual without spending a single dime. However, the fun doesn’t stop there. Staffing can also save you from other employee-related costs.
For instance, some staffing agencies handle payments and benefits. Such agencies save you from the costs of health insurance and perks. Such agencies also save you from the costs of payroll processing and benefits administration.
Also, under recent changes to the “joint employer” arrangement, staffing agencies are supposed to take a more active role in employee safety. Specifically, they should provide safety training for temps. This has the potential for reducing the overall costs you incur in providing such training.
In a nutshell, a staffing agency can save you money by taking care of most expenses associated with hiring and managing staff. This ensures that you obtain top talent without having to spend a fortune.
A Staffing Agency Saves Time
Recruitment can be an extremely lengthy process. A report released by Glassdoor in August 2017 revealed that on average, the interview process in the US takes 23.8 days. In some industries, the process takes as long as 33.2 days.
Those figures, by the way, are for the “interview process”. That means they don’t factor in the time it takes to put out a job advert, and wait for candidates to submit their applications. When you factor in this time, then the overall time it takes to hire becomes even longer.
Under normal circumstances, such recruitment times can be acceptable. However, there are scenarios where you need to acquire talent quickly. An example is when a key employee quits or passes on at a critical stage of a project. In such times, you can’t afford the luxury of lengthy recruitment times. This is where a staffing agency comes in handy.
Staffing agencies usually have lots of talented individuals already vetted and ready to deploy. This is because most of them use the same individuals time and time again. As such, a staffing agency can enable you to acquire talent relatively quickly.
In most cases, the person brought by the staffing agency has worked in similar roles before. This means that they are ready to hit the ground running. This saves you the time you would have spent in training them.
Even where a staffing agency doesn’t have someone ready for deployment, they can find one much faster than the normal recruitment process. This is because most staffing agencies have databases of potential hires for different industries. As such, if you need a recruit, they don’t have to post a new job ad. They can look through their database, select potential candidates and interview them.
Ultimately, a staffing agency can save you from the time you would have spent in recruitment and training. This comes in handy especially in moments when you need to acquire talent on short notice.
A Staffing Agency Limits Liability
The entire employment process is full of legal tripwires. For instance, while conducting interviews, asking the wrong questions can get you an anti-discrimination lawsuit. When carrying out background checks, you can get sued for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
When an employee gets injured at work, feels discriminated against, works overtime and feels that the compensation is inadequate, or even gets fired, they can sue. Basically, there are lots of grounds for potential lawsuits, and the deck is almost always stacked against the employer.
To make matters even worse, government agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) are always looking for the tiniest violations. Add to these the vigilance of employee trade unions, civil society organisations and opportunistic politicians; and the likelihood of making a mistake and suffering severe consequences multiplies exponentially.
A staffing agency can save you from all these potential risks. The reason for this is simple: temporary workers are considered employees of the staffing agency. As such, primary liability for labor violations lies with the staffing agency.
Under the “joint employer” arrangement, you may have some liability. However, it is minute compared to when you are the primary employer. In the end, this limited liability can save you from incurring hefty financial consequences should any lawsuit arise.
In a nutshell, a staffing agency can save your business both time and money. Therefore, if you are looking to acquire top talent within a short time, without having to spend a fortune or undertake a lot of liability, staffing is your perfect choice. Simply find a staffing agency which has experience working within your industry. They will help you to find great talent for your business without any hustle on your part.
