If only more staffing agencies in the staffing industry were as efficient as a prius!

1. Get the job done with less resources, especially expensive ones.�
   Everyone knows that the price of oil has increased dramatically in the last ten years.  I have found a tool (a hybrid car) that allows me to get the same job done in a high quality way while saving a bundle of money every month.  As the economy levels out, and you look into the future, you need to grab every tool, process, and practice that will enable you to get the job done with fewer resources. The ideal RE Factor (Return on Employee) will make the greatest contribution to wealth creation as it relates to revenue for your staffing business.  Those operators that embrace process engineering to achieve an optimum RE Factor will produce the best returns on their businesses. This is all about “trade ins” – processes that are being done by staff that can be automated in your staffing software, integrated timeclocks and other technologies; and tasks done by staff that can be done more efficiently through process redesign and better operational discipline.
2. Lighter is better.
   Michael Jordan, the famous basketball player, was known as a light eater.  That is why he was called Air Jordan – he literally flew – over the heads of his competition.  Toyota made the Prius a light car so it could travel further with less cost.  Many staffing companies are traveling lighter.  Bad times are good times to jettison bad or marginal employees.  In many instances, those companies are running better now than before. That’s because they kept their highest producing and therefore more efficient employees -now it’s time to keep it that way.  Proactively design your staffing firm so you do not have to add many employees as business improves.  Think of all the things that you could do with the extra money.  Here is the challenge – figure out how to keep your staffing firm light.
3. Think alternative sources of energy.
   Here are a few alternative energy sources for your company.
   • New channels of services – self service portals for clients and candidates
   • On-line applications or kiosks for candidates that come in the door (On average, it take a coordinator 10 to 15 minutes to enter an applicant in a front office application)
   • Electronic billing (Think of the stamps and labor saved from all those envelopes and especially colating and attaching timeslips.)
   • Resume import and parsing
   • Document management

Comment on this blog to let us know one thing that you are going to do or doing now this year that is going to make your staffing agency as efficient as a prius!