The Labor Challenge in Warehousing and Events
Staffing in industries such as warehousing, events, and catering can be difficutl. Many of these businesses have busy seasons where demand peaks and slow seasons where demand diminishes. This staffing volatility often can create high turnover in workers because there isn’t a steady demand.
Warehouses and events businesses often have seasonal fluctuations, with busy seasons being around holidays or certain times of the year. But sometimes there are demand spikes that leave limited planning time.
Businesses in warehousing and events need labor that can be deployed quickly and cost effectively. Temp labor is a solution to businesses needing flexible labor.
The Benefits of Working with Temp Agencies
The benefits of working with temp agencies near you include, fast access to labor, lower long-term commitment, and industry specific experience.
Fast Access to Labor
Temp agencies have pre-existing pools of workers. When a business signs a contract with a temp agency they gain access to the existing labor pool.
With fast access to labor businesses can skip the long recruitment cycles they would do if they were hiring workers themselves. This faster access helps businesses find staffing for the busy seasons without slowing down to use traditional hiring methods.
Lower Long-Term Commitment
With temp agencies workers know they are coming on as temporary workers. The contract from the temp agency outlines how long the workers will work for your business. All parties are aware and so there is not long-term commitment like there is with hiring full time workers.
Lower long-term commitment also allows for businesses to scale their workforce up or down more easily. Warehouses looking to find pickers and packers for the next few weeks can use a temp agency to source the workers for the time they need them.
Industry Specific Experience
Many temp agencies specialize in a specific industry, this results in workers already having industry specific experience. Temp agencies in the events and catering industry could have a pool of workers who have verified food handlers permits or alcohol handlers permits. Agencies that specialize in warehouse and logistics could have warehouse temp staffing that has experience in picking and packing or forklift driving.
Drawbacks of Traditional Temp Agencies
Temp agencies have their drawbacks as well. Oftentimes there is a lack of transparency, slower processes, cost concerns, and low reliability.
Lack of transparency
With traditional temp agencies businesses rarely see a workers’ track record or performance history. Temp agencies can often be more worried about having numbers than workers reliability. If a worker does a poor job and is rejected by one business the temp agency will send them to a new business.
Slow Processes
Temp agencies use manual processes to find and background check workers. These manual processes are slow and take time. This results in businesses receiving workers slower which is not ideal for a business needing to scale up quickly.
Temp agencies also assign each business a rep. This can be helpful but also sometimes unhelpful as the rep acts as a middleman between the business and the workers. When a business wants to talk to a worker they must first go back and forth with the agency rep.
Cost Concerns
How much does a temp agency charge per hour? The answer varies from agency to agency. Traditional temp agencies also may include hidden fees or buyout costs that could cost more than a business would like.
Low Reliability
Temp agencies prioritize filling roles over finding the right fit. You may never know if a worker is going to be reliable and show up for the shifts. Temp agencies don’t give businesses a way to select or choose which workers they would like for their shifts. With temp agencies it is the luck of the draw.
Staffing Apps: The Evolution of Temp Labor
Staffing apps are the modern solution to traditional temp agencies. With staffing apps businesses can find flexible workers quickly and reliably.
On staffing apps or warehouse job apps businesses post the shifts they need filled and workers applying in real time.
Staffing apps, like Bacon, have worker performances with ratings, skill tags and the Bacon Score. Which is a calculated number score to show a workers reliability and performance history. When finding warehouse workers on Bacon businesses know which workers they are getting on their shifts.
Staffing apps give businesses direct communication to their temporary warehouse workers. Managers can communicate with the workers who pick up warehouse shifts at their warehouse.
Flexibility without Sacrificing Quality
With staffing apps businesses have the flexibility they need to staff according to real demand without sacrificing quality in their workers.
Managers can post shifts and adjust workers numbers shift by shift to ensure they have the right amount of workers. Warehouses can find warehouse staff to meet seasonal demands. Event businesses can find bartenders and servers to work big holiday events.
Bacon sends Backup Workers to each shift to ensure that businesses have the right amount of workers. If the workers aren’t needed businesses simply turn them away and Bacon compensates the workers for their time.
The Bacon Score allows businesses to evaluate workers before bringing them on to a shift. This helps managers staff warehouse shifts with workers they know will be reliable.
Conclusion
Temp labor is critical but the method matters. The smart move is digital staffing with on-demand staffing apps.
Warehouse managers and event managers should move away from traditional methods and emobrace flexible, tech forward staffing models.
Explore platforms like Bacon to hire picking and packing staff faster, more affordably, and with greater visibility.
