Scaling your workforce to meet both current and future needs is a balancing act for every business. If your company experiences rapid growth or seasonal peaks in demand, you may be challenged to meet customer expectations. This can lead to unhappy customers, employee burnout and a decline in revenue.
On the other hand, overstaffing during periods of reduced demand creates an environment of inefficiency and reduced profitability.
Here are six practical tips to help you scale your workforce quickly to reduce costs, increase productivity and keep overhead costs aligned with market conditions.
1. Adopt a Flexible Staffing Strategy
One of the best ways to scale one’s workforce quickly is through flexible staffing strategies. This allows you to augment your full-time staff by hiring employees on a temporary or contract basis for an immediate response to increased demand.
- Temporary hires can be retained on a short-term basis to meet seasonal peaks or a sudden increase in demand.
- Contract employees can be hired for a few weeks to several months, with the opportunity to extend their contract or hire them permanently as needed.
- Freelancers and consultants allow you to bring in high-level talent to complete special projects or fill gaps in your team’s expertise on an as-needed basis.
These options allow you to quickly scale your workforce up or down depending on market changes, while reducing the overhead and risk associated with full time staff.
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2. Ensure a Robust Onboarding Process
If you want to scale your workforce using one or more of the flexible staffing options above, you’ll need a comprehensive onboarding process to quickly bring contract or temporary staff up to speed regarding their role and the company’s culture. An effective onboarding program is crucial for maintaining the productivity and retention of temporary staff working alongside full-time coworkers. Here are some techniques to help create a successful onboarding process:
- Create an onboarding checklist that includes everything from paperwork to role-specific training.
- Adopt technology to facilitate smooth onboarding – either a virtual reality training module or an interactive e-learning platform.
- Offer scalable training that can be offered to any number of new hires on demand.
- Provide new employees with mentors or buddies who can help them become a productive team member during their first few weeks.
3. Emphasize Internal Mobility and Upskilling
As you pursue a strategy of hiring temporary, contract or freelance employees, it’s important to continue to invest in your internal talent pool through continued training and mentoring.
This approach gives you the opportunity to quickly fill an open role with someone who is already trained and a trusted member of your organization.
- Post open roles internally and allow your staff to apply without fear of risking their current position.
- Design upskilling programs to help current employees advance into senior roles or cover new areas of responsibility.
- Encourage cross-training to increase versatility in the workforce that can meet changing needs.
- To avoid a loss of productivity, use contractors to fill positions previously held by promoted employees (and convert them to full-time if they demonstrate they are a good fit).
By continuing to train and promote internal staff, you can control costs by reducing placement fees and relocation expenses.
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4. Simplify Your Hiring Process
Every day counts when scaling up fast. Streamlining your recruiting workflow will help you pinpoint and retain top performers that never stay on the market for very long.
- Use AI-powered tools for first-level filtering of resumes shortlisting the best options.
- Screen candidates through video interviews in order to save time for preliminary rounds of selection.
- Develop a structured interview process with standardized questions and evaluation criteria to ensure fairness and consistency.
- Set clear timelines for each stage of the hiring process and enable hiring managers to make decisions without letting it drag on.
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5. Build a Strong Employer Brand
A strong employer brand reduces the time taken to attract quality applicants, allowing you to staff up quickly and retain employees longer.
- Clearly communicate your company’s mission, values and unique culture in recruitment ads.
- Highlight employee testimonials and success stories on your career site and across social channels.
- Engage potential candidates through content marketing, webinars and virtual events.
- Encourage referrals through the adoption of an attractive referral program.
- Continue to have a positive presence on Glassdoor and other employer review websites, responding professionally to reviews.
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6. Partner with a Staffing Agency
When a business needs to scale up quickly, working with a staffing agency can make the difference. Here are some of the advantages of working with a staffing firm:
- Immediate access to qualified, pre-screened candidates ready to begin work. A staffing agency can provide you with a pool of pre-screened, background-checked candidates who are ready to hit the ground running.
- Specialized expertise in finding top talent. Staffing firms have experience and resources dedicated to finding the best candidates for your specific industry and job requirements.
- Partnering with a staffing agency can save your company money in the long run by reducing hiring costs such as advertising, background checks and onboarding expenses.
- Working with a staffing agency allows you to bring on temporary or contract employees to meet short-term needs with the flexibility to hire them full-time at a future date. This mitigates financial and liability risks while you evaluate the employee’s fit for your organization.
Partner With BravoTECH to Scale Your Team
The goal of a flexible workforce strategy is to enable the right mix of full-time, contract and temporary employees to keep your company competitive regardless of market conditions. For more information about staffing solutions that allow you to scale your workforce more effectively, contact us at 800.762.7286 or visit us at bravotech.com.
