Adecco’s Risk Management team is transforming workplace safety and earning industry recognition.

What can a belt tell you about workplace safety? Smart belts, a small piece of tech that attaches and tracks a worker’s full range of movement, notes every bend, twist, and turn. For the Risk Management team at Adecco, it’s a tool to better understand a worksite and each employee’s role.

For lifting and repetitive motions, the most common causes of workplace injuries, these smart belts are used to address a problem before an injury happens – usually with just a simple fix. At one customer site, a belt tracked a worker with a light work responsibility as constantly bending more than 60 degrees, a physical stressor that can lead to an injury. After a closer look, the Adecco team realized that as part of her duty of attaching labels to packages, the worker needed to reach over a large table to get to the printer. The repeated bending throughout the day was fixed by just moving the printer closer to her.

“With the smart technology, we could see there was an issue with body mechanics before she had an injury – and made the change,” said Susan Shemanski, VP of Risk Management.

At Adecco, rethinking workplace safety means using cutting-edge tech and tools along with a deep knowledge of safety. Adecco was one of three winners of the 2021 Works’ Comp Risk Management Award for Excellence. Named by NU Property & Casualty magazine, the annual award honors innovators in the risk management and workers’ comp insurance industries.

Adecco was spotlighted for its partnership with hundreds of clients, providing guidance and a high-quality program to promote safety and implement training at sites across the country.

“We take safety as seriously as our clients do,” Shemanski explained. “We feel that’s part of our responsibility to make sure that associates are doing jobs correctly and safely.”

The team’s award signifies their dedication to keeping costs and injuries to a minimum as well as their commitment to the smart approach to workplace safety. For customers, this can help keep injuries off their OSHA logs and avoid compliance audits from the OSHA agency, which Shemanski notes have become much stricter under Biden.

“Compliance auditors come out to make sure everything is perfect, but they’re always looking to find something wrong,” Shemanski said. “Companies want to keep their workers safe and their workplace running efficiently – and protect their reputation.”

Prioritizing behavior-based safety

Using mobile apps, the Risk Management team is able to conduct 6,000 safety visits a year to shine a light on potential workplace issues.

Our experts guide both the employer and workers through how their job can be best performed and how they can avoid any dangerous behavior. The team also conducts job safety analysis, looking at the jobs responsible for most onsite injuries and examining every step of those employees’ work process. Recommendations can be as basic as replacing old standing mats, others are a little more surprising. Shemanski recalls one instance where they realized that employee workstations were built to accommodate men’s heights and ergonomic needs. However, this specific customer happened to employ a workforce with a high percentage of much shorter women. An adjustment needed to be made in the packaging area to accommodate their workers’ actual average height.

In addition to onsite training and videos, the Adecco Risk Management team conducts ergonomic site visits (something which can run $10,000 for customers on their own). The ergonomic evaluations provide key recommendations for safety improvements at a site.

“Now is at a really good time to have a partner like Adecco who is willing to invest in safety – the shortage of workers has made temporary workers a great option for staffing a workplace. It is important to have a partner that can help you improve your safety through a focus on proper ergonomics and behavior-based safety.”

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Workplace safety regulations are getting stricter. Effective January 1, 2022, California Senate Bill 606 will dramatically expand OSHA’s enforcement powers, meaning stringent fines for employers who fall foul of their OSHA compliance responsibilities. And although the new law is state-level, California tends to set the bar when it comes to workplace safety. So, employers coast to coast had better take note.

Below, learn what changes are ahead, why the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration laws are coming, and how to turn workplace safety into a profitability driver at your company.

What types of violations will be subject to the new OSHA fines?

There are two new categories of violations – “Enterprise-wide” and “Egregious.” Senate Bill 606 creates a presumption that an “enterprise-wide” violation has been committed if an employer has a written policy or procedure that violates current OSHA workers’ rights, or, if there’s a pattern or practice of the same on-site health and safety violation involving more than one location. (Things like known hazards that employers haven’t taken action to fix, persistently high worker injury or illness rates, or a record of consistently working people over 60 hours a week.)

Why is this change a big deal for companies operating in California?

Because the fines are massively more expensive! Traditionally, when Cal/OSHA found an on-site health and safety violation, it would fine an employer for that instance only. But now, it can slap fines on multiple sites based on one violation – and for every time an employee is exposed – without investigating other sites or observing other violations. And considering that each violation can incur fines up to $124,709, that’s a huge multiplier effect.

Why should employers outside of California pay attention?

California is known as a leader in worker rights. As such, labor laws often start in California and move on out to the East Coast. Senate Bill 606 is one of a whole host of new Californian labor laws that come into play next month. Employers across America should take note and make adjustments to comply with California safety standards.

What’s the reasoning behind this new law?

Today’s labor crunch means unprecedented safety challenges for American employers. And an alarming uptick in workplace-related injuries, accidents, and illnesses. In the scramble to fill millions of jobs, we’re seeing multiple staffing companies operating on the same shop floors. This makes it difficult for employers to ensure that all workers are pre-screened, skill-tested, and drug and background checked. Unfortunately, this has meant that workplace accidents and illnesses are on the rise. And that’s why we’re seeing more stringent on-site health and safety measures to uphold OSHA workers’ rights.

What can employers do to get ahead of the changes?

Employers with strong on-site health and safety cultures will already be one step ahead in complying with the California safety standards. Ensuring staffing solutions are streamlined and well-managed is paramount. Adecco is the ideal partner for employers navigating this minefield because we’re just as invested in worker safety as they are. We keep abreast of every piece of Cal/OSHA news and send our safety team out and offer on-site training to ensure ongoing OSHA compliance.

“At Adecco, we’re experts in helping employers with large contingent workforces and multiple staffing vendors in complying with California safety standards and OSHA workers’ rights,” says Susan Shemanski, Vice President of Risk Management at Adecco USA. “We have a great safety team who can help identify areas of concern, and train on-site teams and managers.”

Visit Adecco USA for more advice on all aspects of building a safe, healthy, and inclusive workplace. From helping you get your workers safely back to a physical workplace, to promoting mental health at work, to sourcing temperature takers, we can help you build the resilient, flexible, and engaged workforce you need.

Visit our employer resources pages for articles, white papers, case studies and more. And talk to us about making your workforce the best it can be.

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Employers across the country are in a fierce fight to attract temporary workers. To make sure your job offers entice the candidates you need, you must appeal to their unique, individual needs. We take a look at the top-three drivers for today’s candidates – based on a recent staffing industry survey – and explain how you can build a winning package that resonates with your target temps.

#1. Pay rate

Across the board, pay remains the most important criteria for temporary workers, with a definitive 90% putting it among their top-three decision criteria. Of course, few employers can afford to raise pay rates continuously, but there are many creative ways to boost the financial appeal of job offers. Have you thought about offering employees instant access to wages? Or paying out an attendance bonus weekly (or even daily)? When it comes to base pay, our free, real-time 2021 payrate calculator can help you get your offer right the first time.

#2. Location

Nearly two-thirds of all respondents (63%) cited this, but there were big differences in the opinions of certain types of workers. Generally, the higher up a worker was on the pay scale, the less they tended to care about the location. (A trend that’s likely to continue as white-collar workers work remotely, post-Covid.) On the other hand, workers in occupations like production and healthcare were the most likely to care about location, perhaps because they don’t want to travel far for late-night or early morning shifts. This means employers must carefully target outreach for those jobs on a geographic basis. At Adecco, we go to great lengths to make sure the right workers see the right job ads – with the right messaging – from hosting localized in-person and online job events, to sophisticated geo-demographic targeting on social media. The result? More applies and faster fills for our clients.

#3. Working conditions/culture

Across the spectrum, 54% of workers – from knowledge workers to healthcare practitioners – put this in their top-three. Perhaps unsurprisingly in the current pandemic environment, production workers (59%) were the group who found this factor particularly important

We advise clients on tools and strategies to improve workplace safety, particularly during Covid. If you’re an employer, you should regularly ask yourself: Can we make this job cleaner, safer, and easier? Can we relieve our workers of tedious and strenuous tasks with increased automation and ergonomics controls? If you are committed to worker safety and a great workplace culture, the word will soon get out. You’ll find it easier to attract much-needed temp staffers and enhance employee retention along the way.

According to the SIA survey, the other most important criteria for temp workers included: ‘work/life balance’ (43%); ‘close skills match’ (34%); and training offered (9%), but – again – with big variations between worker groups.

So, in a nutshell, how can employers better appeal to temporary job candidates?

Employers can dramatically increase success rates when hiring in-demand temporary workers: Segment your target candidates into different demographic and occupational groups, and then tailor offers to align with their unique drivers.

For more Adecco insights on attracting temporary workers, read our article on holiday hiring, our two-part series on winning the battle for candidates, and our white paper on seasonal hiring. Visit our Employer Resources section for more helpful insights, and contact us if you have any staffing needs.

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These days, retailers aren’t just in battle for consumer dollars. They’re going to war for seasonal workers. Job seekers have enormous choice and that puts employers under pressure to hire the best temporary staff as early as possible. Just consider that last year, Amazon went on a hiring spree to recruit 100,000 seasonal workers for processing holiday orders.

Many industry players pull in the bulk of their annual profit in the last quarter, so adequate staffing during this time can make the difference between a successful year and a disastrous one. While the war for good workers has never been tougher, pent-up demand and projections of a new ‘roaring twenties’ economy means rich pickings are in store for retailers who get it right.

Read on for our five tips for seasonal hiring success:

Tip 1: Above all, start early!

It’s not enough just to put a few ads out for seasonal labor a month or so before you need your workers to start. You’ll need to be systematic about which types of workers you’re targeting. And don’t forget – COVID-19 has changed the very nature of peak period planning, from ‘back-to-school’ to potentially another virtual Christmas. At Adecco, we are experts in quickly mobilizing huge numbers of temporary staff and our recruiters will act decisively to secure the holiday talent you need.

Tip 2: Understand the complex dynamics of today’s market

According to McKinsey, COVID-19 catapulted the retail industry through 10 years’ worth of change in 90 days. Many retailers were forced to lay off sizable chunks of their workforces. At the same time, stimulus checks, an oversupply of jobs and a hesitant U.S. workforce has sent wages and benefits soaring. But there are opportunities for employers, too. Hundreds of thousands of people were left out of work in other sectors, and they can potentially be re-deployed and inject some diversity of thinking into your workforce. Working with a top staffing partner can help you stay creative in attracting the right workers with the right offer thanks to resources like our free payrate calculator.

Tip 3: Don’t underestimate the administrative burden

Seasonal hiring helps you scale your teams without overburdening your permanent staff. But vetting applicants, scheduling interviews and processing hiring paperwork takes considerable time and resources. This means diverting your core team – from HR and recruitment, to finance to corporate counsel – away from your regular business for weeks at a time. What’s more, uncertainties around stimulus support, lockdowns and ever-shifting regulations make operational planning difficult. Learn more from this case study about how we rapidly deployed workers when our retail client needed an urgent ramp-up.

Tip 4: Allay COVID-19 fears through meticulous safety protocols

Recent research suggests that candidates are still facing tough decisions when it comes to returning to work, with millions citing COVID-19 fears. To create a workplace where everyone feels safe, we have produced a range of resources to help you keep your people infection-free during the ongoing pandemic. You can also access our specialized staffing offerings like temperature takers, or visit our business continuity page, designed to reassure our clients and associates of our ongoing commitment throughout the pandemic.

Tip 5: Take the load off permanent staff

Now, more than ever, employers need to protect their current staff. Work-related mental health issues and physical health problems are on the rise. Do employers really want to keep pressing permanent associates to deal with exponential increases in throughput, with all the stress and physical strain that entails? Do they want to burden their finance and HR teams with the relentless uptick in volumes that comes with holiday time? At Adecco, we can help you lighten the load on your staff, while building a healthy workplace culture and – as a bonus – help you boost your retention stats, too.

To learn more about how we can help your business meet even the most challenging peak period staffing demands, download our Seasonal Hiring white paper. 

Visit our Employer Resources section for more helpful insights, and contact us if you have any staffing needs.

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