Talent Archives - Paragon Strategic Staffing https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/tag/talent/ Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:22:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cropped-paragon-logo-32x32.png Talent Archives - Paragon Strategic Staffing https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/tag/talent/ 32 32 ‘Quiet Quitters’: Are They Really the Problem? https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/quiet-quitters-are-they-really-the-problem/ Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:22:26 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10063 There has been a lot of chatter around the trend “quiet quitting,” and I hesitated to contribute to the noise until I realized that everything being written had negative connotations. They areRead More...

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There has been a lot of chatter around the trend “quiet quitting,” and I hesitated to contribute to the noise until I realized that everything being written had negative connotations. They are saying “quiet quitters” are unmotivated slackers who do the bare minimum; they only want to do what they are paid to do and won’t go “above and beyond.”

But if you ask the employees, their response, according to a Monster survey, is that 61% are just burned out. And 72% of those burned out say the reason is their company is short-staffed. Surprisingly, although the buzz is everywhere, it seems that human resources haven’t caught up yet. SHRM recently reported that only 36% of HR professionals are aware of the term “quiet quitters,” and only half of those are concerned about the trend. So where is the disconnect?

Through this so-called “quiet quitting,” employees are actually screaming that enough is enough. In speaking with professionals across the industry, I’ve found the general consensus is that working 50-plus hours a week was affecting their mental health. Most had been trying to do their primary job for the first 40 hours and then trying to pick up any additional work for those who had been termed but not replaced during the next 10-20 hours. Weekends blended into the workweek because they needed time to catch up and prepare for the week ahead in order to combat the constant feeling of being behind on deadlines. Now, having scaled back for self-preservation — and being called out for doing so — those employees are wondering how “going above and beyond” became an expectation rather than an occasional service.

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But what are the solutions? Some experts say to pay employees more and they will be OK with working more. Some say provide recognition and employees will be happy to work more. Some say just communicate with employees, tell them why they have to work more and hope they will agree to do it. Meanwhile, the workers are begging employers to realize that it goes deeper than that. They need a workload balance, job sharing opportunities or updated processes that will enable them to be more efficient in performing their job. In order to accomplish this, they also need support from management and realistic deadlines.

From an employer perspective, I believe it’s an internal challenge. Maybe budgets are being cut, people are actually quitting, and talent is hard to find. It is true, according to SIA research, that there are more jobs posted than people available to work, even if every person in the US were employed. This means hiring more help isn’t always an option. So what else can companies do to lighten the load? If your culture is company-centric, then your challenge is going to be to understand the “quiet quitters” and find ways to improve processes so that the work still gets done without extra hours being expected.

If your company is employee-centric, then your challenge is going to be to listen to the “quiet quitters” and create an employee resource group think tank to help solve the root issues causing burnout. Employees will tell you which activities could be centralized and/or off-loaded. They know how to divide and conquer work among their teams. They know when to say no to customer requests. And they know which work efforts have already been tried and failed.

So, before you judge some of those employees who are starting to limit their work hours as “slackers” or call them “unmotivated,” look in the mirror and ask yourself what your organization can do to help get work done efficiently while retaining your valuable workforce.

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Giving Workers Control Over Their Data Can Protect Their Future and Your Reputation https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/giving-workers-control-over-their-data-can-protect-their-future-and-your-reputation/ Wed, 19 Oct 2022 12:00:59 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10061 For companies that connect the right workers with the right employers, background checks are crucial. But with rapid developments in data sharing, the brokers that sell data to background check firms nowRead More...

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For companies that connect the right workers with the right employers, background checks are crucial. But with rapid developments in data sharing, the brokers that sell data to background check firms now update more than one billion pieces of data every month. That’s one billion opportunities for typos, technical glitches and other errors that can deprive workers of job opportunities and create legal liability for background check firms, other verifiers and employers.

In turn, the past decade has seen an explosion of litigation under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which empowers people to resolve errors in credit reports and background checks, among other provisions. The number of FCRA lawsuits has nearly tripled since 2011, reaching 5,400 suits in 2021. Meanwhile, background check-related lawsuits have forced companies like Aerotek, Kelly Services, AT&T, Home Depot, and Whole Foods to pay more than $325 million in settlements. As just one example, Starbucks recently settled lawsuits alleging the company used flawed data from background checks to deny work to thousands of jobseekers.

Yet there is little reason to think employers have become less concerned for their workers. Rather, the broker-centered verification system has simply dominated the US workforce for decades, and it has become normal for employers to hire background check firms that buy their verification data from brokers like Equifax or Experian, which collect and sell billions of records on workers’ income, education, employment and more. Some verification firms are even subsidiaries of the brokers themselves. For instance, Equifax’s The Work Number service collects payroll data on more than half of the entire US workforce.

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Unfortunately, this system creates enormous risks for both workers and employers. Beyond the threat of data breaches — like the infamous 2017 hack at Equifax — or the fact that brokers re-sell worker data to countless buyers, it is incredibly easy for data errors to go undetected when workers are not included in their own verification process. Where data brokers assume there will always be errors across the billions of records they process, mistakes like inaccurate criminal histories, missing jobs and even small misspellings will be obvious and urgently important to the workers involved. And where 78% of employers aim to offer identity theft prevention as a worker benefit, employers can avoid all the added costs of this benefit if their workers can simply review their data and flag any anomalies.

This verification system is outdated and inefficient, and it treats workers like products rather than clients or consumers. Meanwhile, Equifax raised the price of its employment verification by 31% in the past year, passing these costs to job seekers, home buyers and staffing firm customers.

However, new technologies are emerging that allow workers to take control of their own payroll data, offering personal, encrypted vaults to store their data, review it for accuracy and share it with specific third parties with the knowledge that the authenticity of their data is guaranteed.

Regardless of the specific technology, it is critical that employers explore these new platforms. Beyond legal liability, mistakes in payroll data can devastate workers, ruin job opportunities and damage relationships with employers. For instance, the world recently learned Apple labeled former employees as “associates,” regardless of their title. Since these workers did not verify their own records, some were shocked to learn this error had derailed other job offers. Moreover, taking a bold step to protect your workers’ data can signal to your clients that they can entrust their own sensitive data to your company and your contractors.

To avoid litigation, PR crises, worker turmoil and corporate distrust, experts urge employers to arm themselves with policies, documentation and redundant compliance measures. And while these are good precautions, they can never fully shield a company that relies on data from massive brokers to vet their workers.

There was certainly a reason employers relied on data brokers in the past, but things have changed. Laws and technologies are shifting, leaving employers with a choice: Stick with the old system and do your best to defend against liability, breaches and distraught workers, or cut out brokers as middlemen and give workers a voice in their own employment story.

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Managing Remote Workers in a Variety of Industries https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/managing-remote-workers-in-a-variety-of-industries/ Mon, 17 Oct 2022 12:00:52 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10057 With the pandemic slowly becoming a memory of the past and people adjusting to the new “business as usual,” it’s important to note that it hasn’t been that long since remote workingRead More...

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A sketch of a man and a woman in a video conferenceWith the pandemic slowly becoming a memory of the past and people adjusting to the new “business as usual,” it’s important to note that it hasn’t been that long since remote working was introduced into our lives. What once was a necessity when lockdowns hit has now turned out to be a global trend which is pretty much here to stay. If you are someone who manages a remote team, you’d probably like to stay up to date on the latest employment trends and see how other industries are managing the challenges of remote working.

Technology

The Covid-19 pandemic has sped up digital transformation and technologies by years, leaving businesses in a tight spot with managing their digital infrastructure and adapting to these changes. However, the technology sector has been leading the way in providing remote working opportunities and has been the fastest in adjusting to them. But with many remote tech workers preferring to stay at home, how can the technology industry thrive in the remote era?

Create a productive work environment. With daily commutes being a thing of the past, workers can now focus on core projects, which boosts overall productivity levels. However, it’s important to note that with IT and digital projects catapulting to the top of the meeting agenda and many businesses seeking to adjust their business models to the latest technological developments, including outsourced services, your team is still getting their well-deserved rest. Creating a work environment with a balanced workload and fair deadlines helps them feel at ease and appreciated even when working from home.

Customer Service

When high street chains closed their doors in 2020 and moved to the online sphere, the retail sector received a huge boost. Customers filling their digital carts resulted in rapid growth for e-commerce businesses. But with online stores suddenly having to manage the increased demand of customers, many companies responded to that by expanding their customer service departments. A huge benefit of hiring customer service representatives is that support can easily be provided via phone calls, emails or chats – all from the comfort of their own home. But has that taken a toll on customer service representatives?

Staying connected. Customer service jobs can be challenging, despite the perks of working from home. A customer service agent deals with various situations daily; some are more demanding than others, and it can easily take a toll on a person mental health. As such, prioritizing employee well-being has never been more critical. Getting involved in your team’s daily activities, sharing the daily struggles, and finding common ground can help your team face the challenges ahead. As a celebration of all your achievements, a daily virtual huddle, a day out or a networking event once every quarter can go a long way.

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Marketing and Content Creation

Hiring marketing or social media representatives is an investment in future sales, as it contributes to building a company’s brand and selling it to a broad audience. Along the way, the team creates a range of content from blog posts to ads. As a manager, the day is never the same as you jump from project to project, which certainly requires good time management and organizational skills. But how can you ensure your team is driven even when the times are challenging?

Take feedback. As the digital world is changing rapidly, it’s only natural you expect your team to be up to date with the latest releases and ready to implement them in your strategy. But remember that building an empire with a solid base takes time and your employees need to feel supported while taking on more responsibilities. Make sure to implement regular meetings, take their suggestions on board when working out your strategy, and ask what other forms of support they would need to develop in their roles.

Final Thoughts

There are no right or wrong answers regarding best practices for managing your remote team, as each individual requires a different method. Remote working at this scale is a new and fresh method; best practices and technologies will inevitably emerge to help us. As always, it’s essential to be open-minded and focus on how you, as a manager, can empower your team and foster greater collaboration.

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Effective Ways to Handle Employee Attendance https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/effective-ways-to-handle-employee-attendance/ Thu, 13 Oct 2022 12:00:27 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10051 Attendance management is all about finding the perfect balance between attendance, effectiveness and discipline. Between planning leave schedules, managing unscheduled absences and tackling absenteeism, there are also responsibilities like encouraging employees toRead More...

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Attendance management is all about finding the perfect balance between attendance, effectiveness and discipline. Between planning leave schedules, managing unscheduled absences and tackling absenteeism, there are also responsibilities like encouraging employees to use their paid vacation time and avoiding workplace presenteeism. This is why attendance management is challenging now more than ever before. In this article, we’ll show you how to motivate your employees to be more present at work, both mentally and physically.

Develop a clear attendance policy. A formal attendance policy allows you to establish consistent and precise standards throughout your organization while outlining the disciplinary procedure for policy violations. Once you’ve established workplace attendance policies, make sure to share them with all employees.

More importantly, you must be consistent with applying these rules. This is the only way to show employees how serious your attendance policy is.

Use time-tracking software. Another approach to handling employee attendance is using time and attendance management software. It can boost employee responsibility and decrease absenteeism, and it can assist you in monitoring hours, tardiness and absences, managing schedules and tracking vacation and sick time. By using tracking software, you can discover patterns and take measures to enhance attendance.

There are many tracking software programs available, so choose one that enables you to tailor the system to your company’s requirements and receive updates when errors occur, such as an employee working overtime.

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Measure the employees’ performance. Employee performance should be directly related to attendance in your evaluation system. Furthermore, we suggest that you consider rewarding employees who perform exceptionally well. Of course, these do not have to be costly programs! You can create fun ways to entice and attract your team members (e.g., movie tickets or gift cards) or acknowledge them publicly during staff meetings.

For example, if you’re relocating the office and looking for ways to minimize downtime for your employees, you can reward them if they show extra motivation during this time. Staying productive during an office move can be challenging, but with some enhancement, you can turn your workspace into a well-oiled machine.

Address the attendance issues on time. Do not put off discussing performance and attendance until a planned one-on-one meeting or the annual evaluation. Supervisors should take the responsibility to address these issues with staff as soon as possible. Every manager is responsible for their team’s attendance and overall performance, and dealing with concerns immediately will probably lead to a change in behavior.

What can supervisors and team leaders do to address these issues and overcome potential obstacles? Setting aside time for team training or a development workshop containing sections on handling employee attendance and performance will keep supervisors updated.

Offer fair time off. Companies that provide generous paid time off (PTO) benefits may increase employee attendance and efficiency. Employees will establish the routine of scheduling their days off if you provide adequate time away from the workplace. For example, suppose one of your employees is using their PTO for the process of moving houses. Professional moving crews like those from mod-movers.com can help the employee estimate how many days the move will take so they can forward accurate information to you ahead of time, allowing you to find substitute coverage, reschedule project deadlines and balance workloads across teams.

You need to choose the type of PTO you want to provide to your employees. Is there a set amount of time each year? Is their time off granted all at once or accumulated? Do you provide unlimited PTO?

Offering fair time off is one of the most effective ways to handle employee attendance. Not only will the employees avoid absenteeism, but they will also try and be more productive to earn their PTO.

Final thoughts. While absenteeism makes for a challenging workplace, it is avoidable. Your company can save money and decrease absenteeism by handling employee attendance and establishing a fair attendance policy that deals with issues adequately. Furthermore, providing a reliable PTO policy that covers vacation and sick time can reduce the number of times employees fail to show up for work.

We’ve given you the most effective ways to handle employee attendance. All you have to do now is implement them according to your company’s and employees’ needs.

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When Contingents Get Offboarded at the Wrong Time https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/when-contingents-get-offboarded-at-the-wrong-time/ Wed, 12 Oct 2022 15:48:03 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10048 Do you have someone on your team designated to ensure steps don’t get missed in simple onboarding or extension processes around contingent workers? The results when a key person in the processRead More...

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Do you have someone on your team designated to ensure steps don’t get missed in simple onboarding or extension processes around contingent workers? The results when a key person in the process is out for a few days unexpectedly can endanger projects — not to mention the reputation of your contingent workforce program. Whose responsibility is it?

A couple weeks ago, an acquaintance of mine — a long-term consultant for a global technology firm — launched his laptop to discover he had been cut off from all systems access at his client company. “Joe,” who supports a large business unit for the organization, knew immediately what happened. A couple weeks prior, the staffing firm that manages his contract and the team he supports alerted the contingent workforce program office that his contract was set to expire and needed to be extended.

Whether the person that alert went to was on vacation, had moved on to another role or left the company altogether, the end result was that no one completed the tasks necessary to keep Joe active in the system. For three full business days, Joe was unable to provide any support his internal team needed. Over the course of the following three days, his access was restored incrementally. So, for six business days, Joe was not able to do his job.

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Fortunately for Joe and his team, this came at a relatively slow time for the group. But it made me wonder if this was an isolated issue or there were other contingent workers across this global corporation who were similarly affected. Depending on the project at hand, several days’ downtime for contractors can seriously jeopardize deliverables and, ultimately, the company’s bottom line. Not to mention that in order to ensure the contractors not be assigned out to other clients, this organization would likely find itself having to pay Joe’s — and any similarly affected worker’s — regular hourly rate for ALL the hours affected, whether he worked at all or not, notes Dawn McCartney, SIA’s VP, CWS Council. A costly lesson indeed, depending on how many workers fell through these cracks.

While managers of this program can rest assured in a way — Joe’s access was completely shut down as the system was designed to do — they should be distressed that their processes failed this contractor and their internal stakeholders.

“Avoidable mistakes like this one can have an impact on not only the contingent worker and staffing provider but on the internal stakeholders as well,” McCartney explains. “Remember, your program needs to have buy-in and adoption from all parties to be successful. Avoid giving a reason for them to avoid supporting the program and create a workaround.”

It is critical for program managers to have a clearly defined process in place. Alerts should be set up within the system to let key people know — along with assigned backups — of impending contract expirations with plenty of time to spare for an extension to be approved, if needed. “We have seen success when program offices send 90-, 60- and 30-day reminders of an expiration date approaching,” McCartney adds. And if a response is still not received after the 30-day reminder, a phone call may be required.

Because the contingent worker and the staffing provider want them to be working — and billing — both will usually start to look for the next opportunity if an extension request is not processed or received.

In this case, Joe and his staffing firm knew the extension was imminent, so Joe remained available for the client. But not all errors have happy endings. “You do not want to put through a late extension only to find out the contingent worker is not available,” McCartney warns.

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The Rise of Skills-Based Hiring: Why Ditch the Classic Job Description https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/the-rise-of-skills-based-hiring-why-ditch-the-classic-job-description/ Thu, 06 Oct 2022 12:00:30 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10042 Employers are in a tough spot. More than four million people in the US have quit their jobs each month this year as the Great Resignation rages on. Nearly one-third of employersRead More...

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Employers are in a tough spot. More than four million people in the US have quit their jobs each month this year as the Great Resignation rages on. Nearly one-third of employers say the skills gap has increased from a year ago, and 87% of employers report they have trouble finding qualified talent as a result.

A driving factor of the Great Resignation is that workers are re-thinking where careers fit into their lives. Many are choosing to join the contingent workforce for greater flexibility and work/life balance. Tapping into this growing worker class is becoming one of the best ways to secure in-demand skills. But the competition for these workers is also growing. Employers that take a skills-based approach to hiring will be best positioned to find, attract and retain the qualified workers they need in today’s tight market.

The Shift to Skills-Based Success Profiles

Organizations typically source talent using classic job descriptions. If an employer is looking for a project manager, for example, the job description outlines the project manager’s specific responsibilities. While this overview of the role sets expectations on the needs of the position, it doesn’t always convey the exact skills required to do the job nor what success really looks like.

Instead of including a line item in a job description about managing contracts with vendors and communicating expected deliverables, think about the negotiation skills it takes to be a great project manager. You’ll likely need someone who can be persuasive, who instinctively knows which negotiation styles work in each scenario, and who can collaboratively work with partners to reach common goals. Focusing your search on candidates with those precise skillsets in mind increases the likelihood that you’ll find the right person for the job.

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The Value of Skills-Based Hiring

Employers should use a skills-based strategy to expand access to qualified talent. By focusing on skills instead of looking first at previous job titles, you capture qualified external candidates you might not have otherwise considered. There could also be people within your organization that don’t carry the project manager title but possess the necessary skills and are interested in a new challenge.

Skills-based hiring strategies also boost worker engagement and retention. Putting people in roles based on their skillsets naturally keeps them energized and gives them new experiences. New Flextrack research uncovered 45% of contingent workers have terminated an assignment early due to dissatisfaction. Another 47% say they’d consider quitting an assignment early for a role with greater professional development. Companies that proactively give their workers growth opportunities and prioritize their satisfaction will stand to increase worker commitment.

Flip the Script on Skills Shortages

Finding skills is one thing. Figuring out how much to pay to secure those in-demand skillsets is another. Machine learning capabilities are adding value to employers’ skills-based hiring strategies by predicting the availability and market rates for specific collections of skills in a given geography.

Let’s say you are looking for a project manager with strong negotiation skills and other specific attributes, and you need them to be based on the East Coast. Machine learning technology can tell you the availability and going rate for these specific skillsets in Boston and compare with the market for these skillsets in Providence. You might uncover that you can get the same caliber of skills in the less-competitive Providence market for a better rate — and you know what you need to pay to attract the top talent in this market.

As workers re-evaluate what matters most to them in their jobs, it’s time for employers to rethink the strategies and technologies they’re relying on to build out their workforces. Think about the skills you need to move your priority projects forward and put those first when sourcing new roles. This mindset shift is essential for successfully navigating today’s tight labor market.

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Mental Health in Management: How to Recognize Overworking https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/mental-health-in-management-how-to-recognize-overworking/ Tue, 04 Oct 2022 12:00:44 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10034 When you’re a manager, it can feel as if the workday never really ends. After all, it’s your job to keep the work humming along. You’re required to plan and orchestrate theRead More...

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When you’re a manager, it can feel as if the workday never really ends. After all, it’s your job to keep the work humming along. You’re required to plan and orchestrate the seamless collaboration of people and processes to achieve both short-term and long-range goals.

That means, in short, that you’re tasked with being an analyst, strategist, problem-solver, coach and mentor all at once. That’s a tall mountain to climb for anyone, no matter how well-trained or experienced you may be.

It’s little wonder, then, that so many managers find themselves becoming overworked and overwhelmed. This article describes strategies business leaders can use to protect their mental health by recognizing the signs of overwork and taking proactive steps to prevent it.

Recognizing the Signs of Overwork

When you are in leadership, it can be difficult to ever truly break away from work. After all, the success of your company and your team rests largely on your shoulders. You may realize that even during off hours, you constantly check your work email or text messages or your thoughts drift back to work-related issues.

Even if you are not consciously aware of a preoccupation with work, you may nevertheless experience symptoms that indicate underlying anxiety or sleep deprivation likely caused by overwork. You may also experience physical impacts of work-related exhaustion such as headaches or increased blood pressure.

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Taking Action

Whether you are already experiencing the signs and symptoms of overwork, or you want to take proactive steps to prevent them, there are ways to find a healthier work/life balance as a manager.

Set boundaries. It can be easy for salaried managers to be “always on,” attending to work matters any time of day. That’s why the first and most important step is to set firm boundaries (and adhere to them). Ensure that your work actually ends at the close of each work day. Teach your clients and colleagues to respect your off hours, and make sure you do the same by resisting the temptation to “check in” or “get a few things done” while you’re at home or on vacation.

Delegate tasks. Avoiding burnout and overwork is about more than your life after hours. At work, take a step back from your hands-on approach and analyze which tasks you could delegate to your employees. Not only is task delegation essential for managing your workload, it’s also a managerial skill that empowers employees and helps them learn new things.

Prepare them for your absence. In this vein, set your team up for success by training them to excel while you’re on vacation. Coach them on how to resolve conflicts and solve problems. Doing so won’t render you obsolete as a manager — it will ensure there are no fires to put out when you get back and enable you to focus on new improvements now that your team can handle problem-solving and new tasks.

Consider automation. In some cases, you might not want to delegate tasks to employees. Instead, automating certain tasks will enable everyone to focus on higher-level work. For example, you could use AI software to approve employee workflows, create schedules, update information and more. Automation is a great way to displace some of your workloads and make room for the tasks, such as coaching, that only a human manager can do.

Make the most of your time off. It’s also critical to make time for socializing and recreation. You won’t reap the rewards of your off hours if you’re worrying about work and waiting for the new business day to begin. Instead, use your personal time to gather with family and friends, engage in a physical activity you enjoy or participate in a favorite hobby.

Use evenings and weekends to enjoy mini-staycations and ensure you’re taking at least one or two full vacations a year. These little adventures will help you replenish and rejuvenate not only your body but also your mind and spirit.

The Takeaway

Sometimes it seems as if a manager’s work is never done. However, if you don’t make the commitment to setting boundaries and striking a healthier work/life balance, you may well find yourself paying a physical and emotional price for your overwork.

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Five Reasons to Consider Direct Sourcing to Drive Business https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/five-reasons-to-consider-direct-sourcing-to-drive-business/ Thu, 29 Sep 2022 12:00:35 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10029 Today, nearly one in three workers in an enterprise is contingent, and more than 61% of organizations say they expect to hire more contracting freelance or consulting workers in the next three years.Read More...

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Today, nearly one in three workers in an enterprise is contingent, and more than 61% of organizations say they expect to hire more contracting freelance or consulting workers in the next three years.

On the outset, this trend is positive. But many of today’s enterprises still haven’t fully wrapped their heads around how to source and strategically engage our nation’s 51 million-plus independent workers.

Strategic is the operative word. Enterprises can neither holistically rely on third parties, like staffing agencies, nor can they expect managers to do double duty and find their own talent. HR is tapped with the primary focus in most organizations of leveraging FTEs.

Today’s best enterprises view access to contingent labor as a specialized sub-department and consider direct sourcing of this talent, particularly their most-in demand skill sets, to be a business imperative. Per MBO’s latest research, 88% of organizations are either actively direct sourcing or experimenting with this use, and those who aren’t doing so understand the need — they by and large just haven’t figured out the logistics.

Here are five ways direct sourcing can solve issues currently experienced by contingent labor professionals as a business case for starting or expanding use in your organization.

Greater Access to Specialized Talent

Today’s skills gaps in enterprises are greater than ever before. By building a pool of pre-vetted talent that has already been engaged with your organization, it becomes easy to find and deploy highly skilled workers when you need them. Fifty-seven percent of enterprise leaders say direct sourcing enables greater access to specialized skills. In today’s competitive market, talent have the distinct advantage of choosing the clients with whom they work. A direct sourcing program is a key way brands can firmly establish their foothold not just as an employer of choice but as a client of choice as well.

Improve Time to Onboard, Manage Turnovers and Transitions

Time to work has been a big obstacle when it comes to engaging independent workers. By creating a pool of talent that can be accessed at any time for upcoming projects, time to onboard is significantly decreased and talent is productive faster.

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Manage Work Quality

It’s difficult to vet any type of talent — even FTE roles — prior to project start. But by creating a pool of directly accessible talent known, and perhaps previously engaged by your organization, the risk of trial in the unknown is greatly decreased. In fact, 56% of enterprise leaders say that direct sourcing leads to increased work quality, and 52% says it increases hiring manager satisfaction.

By shifting functions in-house — managed with your own team or a PMO led by your external  partner — managers curate, cultivate and engage networks, pools and even deployable benches of available talent, matching skill sets to current and future project opportunities. They, in turn, feel more in control of the hiring process, which leads to increased job satisfaction.

Reduce Misclassification Risk

By engaging talent via a codified program, organizations prevent rogue sourcing that both manages cost and risk. Misclassification penalties can run in the millions, and brand damage can take years to repair. This is not an insignificant reason to bring a program under thorough vetting.

Reduce Costs

Labor cost is, in today’s challenging economic climate, of course a primary concern. While 53% of enterprise leaders do say direct sourcing reduces costs, this is considered a supplemental, not primary, benefit to program creation and expansion.

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How Your Staffing Agency Can Stand Out in the Great Resignation https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/how-your-staffing-agency-can-stand-out-in-the-great-resignation/ Wed, 28 Sep 2022 12:00:23 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10027 We have gone through an unprecedented time which has changed how we view our lives. The current situation in workplaces, therefore, could almost have been predicted. After all, if we are re-assessingRead More...

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We have gone through an unprecedented time which has changed how we view our lives. The current situation in workplaces, therefore, could almost have been predicted. After all, if we are re-assessing everything that makes us happy, why wouldn’t we look at the place where we spend a third of our lives?

Why People Are Resigning

The Great Resignation is the result. Two-fifths of people are unhappy with their current work and are considering leaving their job in the near future, which poses an exciting opportunity for staffing agencies that can fulfill the changing needs of today’s workers.

The main reasons cited by employees who are leaving their employer in the near future are:

  • Lack of career development
  • Inadequate pay
  • Uncaring bosses and managers
  • Their work doesn’t feel meaningful
  • Their work isn’t flexible enough
  • Support for well-being

Moreover, 75% of employees state that they want to work for organizations that are making positive contributions to society.

Connecting With Candidates

This provides a valuable framework for staffing agencies that are seeking to connect more deeply with candidates during the Great Resignation.

Offer clarity around career development. Firstly, make sure you and your client organizations have clear career pathways for candidates — and communicate this early on, ideally during the interview process. If vertical promotions (to managerial roles, for example) aren’t possible, look at lateral moves into other departments that will continue to stretch and challenge candidates. Nobody wants to feel like their career is going stale, so provide experiences that enable them to continuously learn and develop.

Meet Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid model that describes the motivation behind our actions. At the bottom are our basic physiological needs like food and water, financial security, wellness and safety. Then we move up the pyramid to social needs and esteem needs. At the peak of the pyramid is self-actualization, where individuals are focused on fulfilling their potential. If you cannot meet the basic needs, people will not reach the upper levels — and that’s why many people are switching jobs to more financially secure ones. In other words, cut corners at the bottom of the pyramid, and your workforce will never reach its full potential.

PREMIUM CONTENT: US Staffing Industry Pulse Survey Report: September 2022 Selected Highlights

Check in with candidates. Setting up regular, informal meetings with candidates will help you build a personal connection with them, getting to know their individual needs and passions. It will result in more successful placements and greater retention of candidates. It will also help to address the third point of why people are leaving their employers — if they feel like nobody really cares about their work, why would they stay? At the very least, if they find their current line manager isn’t meeting this need, they will turn to you, their staffing consultant, to help them navigate their next step.

Build meaningful work together. If you’re connecting with candidates regularly, you’ll begin to understand what drives them and provides meaning in their careers. This will give you a better idea of what placements will suit them, and together you’ll be able to shape a career path that doesn’t just pay the bills but also gives greater satisfaction at the end of the work day.

Focus on autonomy and flexibility. Candidates are now seeking work that can fit around other needs, like family commitments, studying or simply living with greater work/life balance. Staffing consultants need to be aware of this so they can provide opportunities that align with someone’s availability. Providing a range of opportunities for a candidate to look through can also give them the power to choose the employers and roles that best suit them.

Well-being. This ties closely with building a close relationship with your candidates — allowing you to check in on their overall well-being as well as their availability and aspirations. Ideally, your relationship will be trusted enough that if they are in a role that doesn’t suit them and is impacting their well-being, they should be able to communicate this to you for your support.

Delivering a Personal Experience

Enveloping all of this is a deeply personal working relationship with candidates that allow staffing managers to anticipate their needs and goals before sharing opportunities.

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Candidate Reusability – A New Approach to Direct Sourcing: Part Two https://phoenixstaffingagency.net/candidate-reusability-a-new-approach-to-direct-sourcing-part-two/ Mon, 19 Sep 2022 12:00:22 +0000 http://www.thestaffingstream.com/?p=10006 Part one of this series explored redeployment and the benefits it can provide when used effectively. In order to best take advantage of redeployment for your business, perhaps it makes sense to haveRead More...

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Part one of this series explored redeployment and the benefits it can provide when used effectively. In order to best take advantage of redeployment for your business, perhaps it makes sense to have additional discussions around how to retain and reuse proven contingent workers. How does your VMS and MSP help drive reuse? How do you partner with your suppliers to mutually benefit from redeploying known contractors and consultants?

“The redeployment trend (defined as contractors reassigned to a new engagement within one week of ending a prior one) two years ago was less than 6% and more recently has increased to between 6% and 10% amongst most enterprises,” says Colleen Tiner, SVP, product strategy at Beeline. “In talking with customers, we’ve learned the driver for the increase is largely attributed to the ability to make redeployed resources productive more quickly than new resources.”

Tiner recommends companies track their redeployment rates and take advantage of VMS features that help to increase the reuse of those workers that have demonstrated positive outcomes. There are some simple steps to improving redeployment you can try today if you are using Beeline’s VMS. Take advantage of engagement feedback and extension workflows to determine “eligibility to reengage” a month before an assignment ends so you can start discussions. When your managers open a new job, make sure you are reviewing candidates that have recently completed an assignment first (or will complete soon) — these are often presented as “Did You Know” embedded analytics.

You could also make some simple process changes. If a resource is eligible for reengagement but isn’t going to be extended, the internal team or MSP can begin to remarket that candidate within the organization as similar roles come out or automatically match that candidate with any requirements that list similar skill sets.

Magnit thinks of redeployment as the primary driver of talent mobility, which is a key to developing a more agile workforce and adapting to rapidly changing times. AI-powered technology can determine what it takes to be successful in a role and identify candidates within the client’s redeployment network who are a fit based on a comprehensive view of their skill set, past experiences and ability to learn new skills. In surfacing and ranking the best candidates within the client’s redeployment network, AI helps employers retain and broaden the skills of their talent, develop diverse talent and promote a growth mindset so critical to agility.

PREMIUM CONTENT: The US Gig Economy — 2022 Edition

Understandably, a lot of technologies have this capability in place, and the response is that it’s difficult to get hiring managers to be proactive.

Also, there would need to be considerations for an organization’s tenure policy, if they have one. But these are meaningful discussions when significant cost savings are on the line. Not only is there likely soft dollar savings from recruitment, training and on/offboarding, there is room to negotiate terms with staffing suppliers that if their candidate is redeployed, they agree to onboard those contingent workers at a payroll-plus-cost model. Since they are not marketing or recruiting the resource and likely already made a decent margin on the first project, it stands to reason they would be agreeable. It may also make sense to broker a contractual discussion with staffing firms in terms of how soon their candidates are able to be remarketed outside the organization.

Let’s think about it holistically. If you save, say, 10% per contractor on an existing direct sourcing program that captures 10% of your spend, and you save 6% on candidate reusability spend which captures 65% of your total spend, then you effectively have a 6x cost savings in your program via candidate reusability. It’s a win-win for all parties — the customer, the MSP, the VMS, the staffing vendor and the contingent worker.

While there are many ways to achieve cost savings in an organization, there is a strong business case for considering redeployment of resources as a core strategy because you benefit by retaining your highly sought-after contingent workforce while gaining efficiency and significant cost savings and increased diversity and inclusion in your contingent workforce program.

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