Any business owner or senior executive will tell you what’s keeping them up at night: hiring and everything that goes along with it, like staffing shortages, recruitment, and attrition. That’s why working with a staffing agency comes with many benefits — it takes the process off anxious hiring managers’ minds to free them up for other priorities and streamlines the process completely.
Organizations turn to staffing agencies to outsource the hiring process from start to finish — and to leave it up to the professionals. Staffing agencies maintain deep relationships with the most qualified talent — relationships that most organizations simply don’t have the time or resources to foster. Staffing agencies can help employers fill just about any type of role, like full-time, part-time, temporary, or contract-to-hire, to name a few. And staffing agencies can specialize in all kinds of industries. (At Star, for example, we’re absolute leaders in the California wine and hospitality industries.)
There are tons of benefits to partnering with a staffing agency — and some of them will probably surprise you.
1. You can reduce overtime pay by working with a staffing agency.
When an organization is run through with open positions, that work has to fall to someone, and we’re typically talking about existing staff members. Picking up that extra load leads to some very real issues in the workplace: burn out, lack of engagement, and plummeting morale. (And if the work is physical, there could be serious health issues that come with overwork.) So, speed is of the essence. As an employer, you’re also on the hook for overtime pay when staff members have to fill in the gaps — and the time spent by an in-house team means dwindling funds.
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Hiring can drag out for months, but staffing agencies are known for their speed. When you’re in a pinch and need an immediate hire, there’s simply no time to make a listing, work your network, collect resumes, set up interviews, screen candidates, prepare questions — the list goes on. A staffing agency has already done the leg work, and they have pre-screened candidates in mind who can fit your needs. It’s simply a matter of timing: When you’re pressed against a deadline, partnering with a staffing agency will get the job done much faster — and much more efficiently. That’s a double savings: Time and money, too.
2. You can weather busy periods and slow periods with the help of a staffing agency.
Staffing agencies are well accustomed to managing employee flow for seasonal work like agriculture. But if your business simply experiences busy periods and sudden slowdowns — maybe you run an accounting firm that goes quiet after April 15 — the work of managing labor to accommodate those ebbs and flows can be absolutely all encompassing. But unlike in-house teams, a staffing agency is more than prepared to hire employees on short term contracts that expand or contract according to the flow of business.
3. You can stop wasting time on tedious onboarding and payroll.
Nobody has enough time these days, least of all busy employers who are wearing an entire closet’s worth of hats. But a major benefit of working with a staffing agency instead of an in-house team is the ability to hand over the responsibility of some of our biggest time sucks: onboarding, payroll, taxes, and benefits administration. Staffing agencies specialize in this tedious work — and are experts who can ensure that all of your paperwork is in compliance. This one is especially important for organizations with seasonality — if new employees are coming in and leaving every few months, you’re going to want a pro to handle the endless paperwork.
4. You can reduce your level of risk when it comes to hiring.
Anyone who regularly deals with hiring knows that the process is a risky game. Hiring comes with costs — and not just a financial toll. Hiring managers can put months into a candidate, but even the most rigorous hiring process can flop. An unexpected benefit of working with a staffing firm is all about reducing that risk by reducing the amount of up-front work required from your staff. And, if the worst happens and the employee isn’t a fit, you’re not on the hook for severance.
What’s more: A staffing agency can provide you with a contract-to-hire employee, meaning you get to try them out at no risk on a temporary basis. Win-win!