The economic climate has been glum for a while and it has forced most employers to cut costs in any way they can, however, employers frequently over look opportunities to reduce costs, yet keep the number of employees they need to continue doing business.
Using a contingency workforce is not a new idea; the mortgage and banking industries handle substantial increases and decreases in volumes by hiring temporary employees. The cost of worker’s compensation, local and federal taxes, health insurance, vacations, sick time, and any other benefits were covered by the staffing agency, thus providing a tremendous cost saving to companies. When the volume decreased they reduced their temporary workforce before having to layoff any valued regular employees.
Reducing your workers to part time can sometimes help, especially if your employees are able to accommodate your needs. If not, working with a staffing agency to provide part time work for your worker while continuing with you can benefit everyone.
Payrolling your employees through an outside service can drastically reduce bookkeeping costs, especially if you are currently using a CPA to handle your payroll. This service includes providing monthly reports and filing appropriate taxes in addition to writing and delivering paychecks to your employees.
Rather than hire someone at a higher salary who has all the skills, check with the staffing agency to determine if your employee can be trained on the software necessary to handle your work needs. A perfect example of this would be having your receptionist trained on word processing or spreadsheet software.
If you find you need to lay off a valued employee, contact your staffing agency to determine if they can place them on a temporary assignment until your business increases again. If you are ubnable to rehire your employee, you have garnered good will by assisting them with finding new employment.
Mary K. Thomas
COO – Fasttrack Staffing, Inc.