10 Ways to Use a Contingent Workforce to Drive Performance
and Increase Productivity

THE CHALLENGE:
Do more and spend less!
Every employer in North America has heard this message over the past two years, and as the economy continues to recover, we are all being challenged to complete more projects without hiring. But how?

THE 60 SECOND SOLUTION:
Flexible staffing.
Here are 10 ways you can add more flexibility to your workforce without increasing your overhead:

1. Match your work force to your workload
   In an uncertain economy, using contingent workers can help to keep your workforce flexible. Using contingent staff to supplement your direct staff gives you the flexibility to increase production when demand is high…and keep your fixed overhead low.
2. Offload low priority tasks
   Boost the productivity of your core staff by allowing contingent employees to handle administrative duties. A good contingent employee may be more efficient at administrative tasks and will free your staff to focus on the more skilled aspects of their job.
3. Get on-demand access to specialized expertise
   The contingent workforce has grown to include engineers, IT specialists and other professionals. Highly skilled temporary professionals can be used to teach new skills to your organization and drastically reduce learning curves.
4. Test new ideas before you hire
   Before increasing your permanent workforce to implement a new concept, try testing the idea with contingent staff. The contingent employees can be directly involved in the testing or they can fill in for your direct staff who are working on the new concept.
5. Ease the pain of rapid growth
   Employment services can reduce the many burdens created by rapid growth. Contingent workers can be used to fill in for staff who are developing plans for further growth. Contingent employees can also be used to alleviate the additional administrative work that comes along with growth.
6. Eliminate overtime and prevent burnout
   Overtime can often be very stressful on employees, which can lead to burnout and decreased productivity. Using contingent workers can reduce or eliminate the need for overtime, which helps your staff stay fresh and productive.
7. Increase capacity
   Using contingent employees gives you the flexibility to increase your capacity without increasing your fixed costs. It also gives you the time to evaluate the rise in demand and make educated hiring decisions for the long-term.
8. Eliminate bottlenecks
   Peak production periods often leave businesses understaffed. Using contingent employees can eliminate bottlenecks and allow companies to increase production levels and ensure no sales are lost.
9. Keep your business staffed while you are hiring
   Using contingent workers to fill in during job candidate searches can help ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. Contingent employees
   can provide the needed support so that hiring decisions don’t have to be rushed and productivity doesn’t fall while you’re searching for the perfect candidate.
10. Bring in new business
    Contingent employees can be used to develop campaigns to bring in new business. Telemarketing and direct mail campaigns can be implemented by contingent help without distracting your current staff from their core job duties.

The Workforce Maximizer™, developed by SRG, is a unique system of customized  service options specifically tuned to provide comprehensive strategies at each stage of the workforce lifecycle. This flexible system allows us to effectively maximize the performance of your contingent workforce every step of the way, beginning with the recruitment phase through to the end when the Team Member transitions to a permanent career. The stages of The Workforce Maximizer™ focus on recruitment, training and development, onboarding, performance and client partnership and support.

For more information on SRG’s workforce training and development services, contact your local SRG office.

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