Control Costs with Strategic Staffing

What business isn’t looking to control expenses? Staffing firms offer many effective solutions for reducing overhead, managing operating costs and improving organizational performance. Used effectively, staffing services can save you more than they cost.

Here are some key ways you can use staffing to reduce costs in your organization:

Convert fixed expenses to variable.
Develop a plan to staff your business strategically. Minimize the number of full-time employees on your staff to the level needed to sustain your core volume of work. Proactively plan to bring in extra help when it’s needed.

Bring in expertise on an as-needed basis.
Temporaries can deliver the experience and skills you need without impacting fixed expenses. As an added benefit, temporary “experts” are often less expensive than consultants.

Lower benefits costs.
Limit benefits expense by using temporary employees. Most temporary employees receive only limited benefits which are paid by the temporary staffing service. Companies with extensive benefits programs may not want to offer full benefits to all employees. Using a temporary staffing, payrolling or employee leasing service may make it possible to offer more limited and cost effective benefits programs to these employees.

Eliminate overtime.
Use temporary employees to reduce the amount of overtime worked by your full-time staff.

Reduce training costs.
Reduce training costs and learning curves by bringing in temporary employees who are trained and have experience using the skills you need.

Streamline recruiting.
Use a direct hire service to eliminate the cost and time involvement associated with advertising, screening resumes, interviewing, testing and reference checking applicants.

Lower payroll expenses.
Eliminate the costs associated with processing and administering your company’s payroll and benefits by using a payroll or employee leasing service.

Reduce unemployment claims.
Using a temporary in place of a short-term employee prevents an unemployment claim from affecting the client company. Legally, payrolled or leased employees work for the company providing the payrolling or employee leasing service. All claims affect the staffing service’s unemployment rating, not yours.

Eliminate operating inefficiencies.
Inefficient functions can be outsourced to services that can perform the work more effectively. The outsourcing service should be able to reduce expenses and improve performance while allowing your company to focus on its core competencies.

Develop a Strategic Staffing Plan for Your Organization
At PrideStaff, we are one of the top staffing agencies in Phoenix. We help clients evaluate their current workforce and develop a strategic staffing model to help lower overall employment costs and access the skilled talent they need.

The Largest Employers in Phoenix

Phoenix plays host to some of the most respected companies in the world. From small, local businesses, to large international organizations, Phoenix has a lot to offer job seekers. Let’s take a look at Phoenix’s top five largest employers:

Walmart. With approximately $1 billion in sales per day, it shouldn’t surprise you that one of the largest, and most recognized names in retail is also the largest employer in the state of Arizona. Walmart employs more than 30,000 people in the state alone. There are more than 8,600 Walmarts serving customers in 15 countries. Worldwide, Walmart employs more than two million associates.
Banner Health. The healthcare industry is booming. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are always in search of good medical caretakers. Banner Health—one of the largest nonprofit healthcare systems in the country— ranks number two as one of the largest employers in Phoenix with more than 20,000 employees on the payroll.
Wells Fargo. From banking to loans, to investing and insurance, Wells Fargo offers financial services through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs and online. As of 2011, Wells Fargo ranked fourth in assets and first in market value of stock and is the third largest employer in Arizona with 13,000 employees and 270,000 employees globally.
Honeywell International. This Fortune 100 company comes in at number four on the list of largest Phoenix employers with 12,000 employees locally and approximately 122,000 employees worldwide. Honeywell invents and manufactures technologies for safety, security and energy trends.
Bashas’ Supermarkets. If you live in Arizona, you know the name Bashas. The family-owned and operated grocery chain employs 10,000 workers and comes in at number five as one of Phoenix’s largest employers. Known for its made-from-scratch bakery items, a full-service butcher shop, fresh local produce and award-winning chefs’ entrees, the first Bashas’ store opened in 1932 and has grown to more than 130 stores serving 15 Arizona counties.

Searching for a new job opportunity in the Phoenix area?
At PrideStaff, we work with some of the country’s top employers. Whether you’re searching for a position with a Fortune 500 company or prefer working in a smaller, local business, PrideStaff can help. Search our jobs in Phoenix and beyond!

Choosing the Right Employment Agency

The staffing industry has dramatically changed and grown over the years. Staffing firms do more than have a temp work a day or two at a switchboard or offer the college student home on break a week’s worth of work at the local plant. Accountants, engineers, executive administrators, nurses, computer programmers, paralegals and many other high-profile professionals have been known to go through staffing companies for employment.

If you did an online search of how many staffing agencies there are in the Phoenix/Tempe region, you would find yourself browsing through hundreds of firms. Although the majority of staffing companies specialize in temporary, temp-to-hire and direct hire placements, not all staffing companies are the same. Job placement is the ultimate goal and that starts with finding the right staffing company to meet your specific needs. It requires some work on your end, but it’s worth it in the long run.

Here are some points to consider when evaluating which staffing company is right for you:

What’s your niche?
As previously stated, not all staffing firms are the same. Some agencies offer specific placement in financial, medical and IT areas. Other staffing firms have clients who need administrative/clerical applicants. Others have a combination of office work and light industrial placements. Depending on your skills and talents, previous work experience, education and what kind of job you are looking for will determine what agency you should apply to. A welder will not go to a staffing company that only places financial executives, and a medical biller would not sign up with a firm that only takes on construction workers.
Ask around.
Word-of-mouth is still a great means of advertising, despite the technology-filled world we live in. Talk to your friends, family and business acquaintances if they’ve ever applied with a staffing firm or hired an agency. Once you’ve received feedback, check out the staffing companies’ website or call to ask further questions.
Benefits? Training? Referral bonuses?
Not all staffing agencies offer you the ability to purchase health insurance benefits. If this is a must for you, ask up front. Some agencies offer other types of benefits such as free online skills training and bonuses if you refer a candidate they were able to place.
The first impression.
Your relationship with the staffing agency doesn’t end when you get placed on a job. Your initial meeting should give you an indication of what kind of agency is assisting you. Get a feel for the staffing managers and recruiters you will be in contact with. If you are unsatisfied with your staffing firm, your performance on the job could suffer.

Searching for a great employment agency in Phoenix?

At PrideStaff, we are one of the top employment agencies in Phoenix. From administrative to professional to industrial, PrideStaff offers a variety of jobs in Phoenix and beyond.

A Look at Job Growth in Phoenix

The recession was tough on everyone, from big and small employers and employees, to the unemployed and those searching for a career change. Whether or not you were directly impacted from bleak economy woes, chances are you felt the recession in some way, shape or form with everyday things like the cost of food, gas and utilities.

Now that the nation’s economy is on the upswing, so is the job growth in the Phoenix-Mesa region. The unemployment rate steadily declined in the last half of 2011, starting at 8.7 percent in July and ending at 7.9 percent in December.

34,600 Jobs in the Phoenix Area for 2012

Not every industry reported huge job growth, but a strong trend is evident: a positive projection as economists predicted an additional 34,600 jobs in the Phoenix area for 2012. The trade, transportation and utilities industries came out on top with 365,000 jobs in December 2011, and the professional and business services sectors ranked second with 273,000 jobs. But it was the education and health services sectors, with 259,000 jobs, that showed great promise for the Phoenix area with a projected number of 9,800 more jobs in 2012. Here’s why:

Phoenix has posted the nation’s second highest rate of job growth in private education and health service sectors.
Phoenix’s population has grown dramatically in the last five years causing the private education and health services sectors to make up 15 percent of the city’s overall market.
Private education is soaring due to Arizona’s three public universities unable to accommodate the growing population.
As the student population continues to grow, so does the need for more professors, staff and faculty.
The increase in population also directly affects the need for additional health services when it comes to doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses—specifically physical therapists with certifications to work with patients with heart and vascular ailments.

Here is a look at other industries and how many jobs they ended with in 2011:

Construction: 81,900
Manufacturing: 112,000
Information: 27,800
Financial Activities: 140,600
Leisure and Hospitality: 179,500
Government: 237,000
Mining and Lodging: 3,100