Category: Blog

If you are an employer, in order to compete in today’s cut-throat marketplace, you have two choices. You can improve your internal processes or you can look externally to find lower cost sources. Gregg Gordon, author of Lean Labor: A Survival Guide for Companies Facing Global Competition, wouldn’t advise you to chase lower wages from country to country; what he would suggest is using Lean strategies to transform your workplace.

“Companies that practice Lean rely on their employees who know the process best to identify unproductive activities and replace them with productive ones. This additional productive time results in higher output with the same pace of production using the same capital investment,” Gordon explains.

The efficiency of your workforce is challenging to measure. Machine speed and output, and material inputs are easily quantifiable. The variability in your labour force makes accountability in this area more difficult. Though difficult to do, those companies that look to reduce the variability of their workforce will see more cost benefit than those companies that do not.

By extending lean concepts into your organization’s workforce, you can quickly begin to understand where savings can be found.

Here are some examples of how applying lean principles can make you think differently about your workforce.

• Transport: Unnecessary movement of people such as call-ins.
• Inventory: More people than required for current order.
• Motion: Manual paper processes than can be automated, such as timekeeping.
• Waiting: Unplanned absenteeism.
• Knowledge: Too few skills or experience to efficiently perform a process.
• Resource Allocation: Using a person too highly skilled for a specific role.
• Discretion: Providing too much information to individuals, causing them to search through this detail for the information they require.
• Over Processing: Entering data multiple times into different systems
• Clarification: Decisions that are made, questioned, and then reviewed against because of ambiguous supporting information.
• Defects: Payment to employees that is not intended
• Experience Deficit: Expired or missing employee skills and certification that causes quality and performance issues, safety hazards or regulatory infractions.

Overproduction is one of labour inefficiency that is being addressed by smart plant managers. Organizations looking to save on their labour costs are creating a separate labour pool to deal with unskilled tasks that are not efficiently performed by highly skilled employees. It makes absolutely no sense to have a trained equipment operator that comes with a $35/hour price tag engaged in unloading materials or cleaning up the grounds of debris. If these unskilled tasks cannot justify a full-time position, costs can be controlled by outsourcing daily needs to a temporary agency.

By outsourcing unskilled work to temporary agencies, a plant manager can reduce costs and create a variable labour component to account for bulges in productivity or seasonal fluctuations.

All organizations experience fluctuations in production and activity throughout the annual cycle, which cause staffing challenges. Too many workers in an area create waste, and too few can lead to delayed fulfillment or costly overtime. Having a variable strategy in place to deal with these constants can have a positive effect on your labour costs.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Patricia Schaefer for the website ‘Business Know-How’—give it a read!

It enables your business to adjust more easily and quickly to workload fluctuations
Temporary help agencies can quickly provide your business with qualified staff.  Some common reasons companies hire temps:

• Employee absences:  illness, vacation, maternity or disability leave, sudden departure
• Unexpected or temporary demands:  special projects, seasonal or peak periods, employee shortages

Maintains staffing flexibility
With the popularity and staying power of flexible work arrangements, employers need to stay current with the needs of today’s work force.  Temporary work is just one of the ways that businesses can offer flexibility and at the same time better meet their own needs.

Representative Denise Ridenour of renowned Kelly Services foresees that “the employment pool will increasingly include a mix of temporary and full-time employees.  The result is a more efficient workplace, a more flexible job market, and greater opportunities for both employers and employees.  Additionally, improving productivity enhances a company’s bottom line and employee job security.”

Can evaluate worker without commitment
Based on your evaluation or preferences, you can employ a temp for a designated short term or, if desired, offer a full-time position to a worker who suits your business.  Some businesses employ temporary workers as an excellent and cost-efficient way to recruit and test the abilities of new workers before signing them on full-time.   Other companies will repeatedly use the services of a temp worker who has proven to be a company asset.  Hiring a temp can also be a good way to continue getting work done while you search for the perfect candidate for a particular job.    If unsatisfied with a temp’s work performance, all you need do is contact the temp agency and they will take care of the rest.

Can save time and money
The cost of hiring temp workers is often cheaper than the cost of hiring permanent employees with benefits.  In the short term, it is generally more cost-efficient to hire a temp.   For jobs that are expected to last six months or longer, it may pay to hire a full-time employee.

When you employ an agency, it – not you – becomes the temp worker’s employer.   The agency is responsible for and bears the financial burden of recruiting, screening, testing and hiring workers; payroll expenses and paperwork; payroll and withholding taxes; unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance; and any employee benefits they may wish to provide.  Some agencies even provide training such as software application tutorials.

Temporary employees can provide specialized skills to all types of industries
Temporary help agency workers are now employed in virtually every industry.  Traditionally, companies sought temporary workers for lower-skilled positions.  Today temporary workers increasingly include highly skilled individuals with a wide range of educational backgrounds and work experience.  These individuals can tackle critical one-time projects that are limited in time and scope.   In the field of Law alone, recent years have seen a dramatic growth and acceptance of hiring lawyers on a temporary basis.

Can lead to a long-term positive relationship with staffing agency
When you find a temp agency that provides timely and quality service and referrals, and is experienced and accommodating, you may want to work with them exclusively.  A good relationship with your temp staffing provider will go a long way toward meeting your company needs.

Article Link: http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/hire-temp.htm