Whether you’re managing a warehouse floor or overseeing staffing for an event, having the right number of workers at the right time is critical to productivity. But making a staffing plan is easier said than done. How do you make a staffing plan to set your business up for success?
This article breaks down the 5 steps to build an effective staffing plan with temp labor, and explains why tools like Bacon are helping businesses adapt faster than traditional labor agencies near you.
Step 1: Forecast Your Labor Demand
Like with any plan it’s important to start by figuring out where you are starting and where you want to get to.
Start by identifying your short-term and long-term labor needs. These needs can be based on production, seasonality or business goals. Without demand clarity, overstaffing or understaffing becomes costly and effectively messes up the staffing plan.
The best way to find a forecast is through reviewing historical data. Look for when the busy seasons are, when production surges happen, and for any instances of past shortages. Take into account any planned promotions, product launches, or seasonal contracts.
Step 2: Define Roles and Skill Requirements
List out every role you’ll need to fill and what skills or certifications those positions require. Include the job titles, forklift driver, picker/packer, bartender, etc., so your roles can be easily organized.
Add the required skills of certifications the workers will need. For example OSHA, food handling, warehouse experience or alcohol handlers permits.
Be sure to write out the duration of the shifts, are these going to be 1-day shifts, multi-week needs, or consistent needs. Different duration of shifts will require different styles of worker.
Organizing these details now saves time and helps direct to which of the types of staffing services your business needs.
Step 3: Decide on Your Staffing Mix
Determine how much of your workforce will be full-time, part-time, or temp labor.
Questions to ask:
- Do I need more flexibility?
- Are my needed roles highly specialized? Or general labor?
- Do I need workers to supplement during busy periods?
- Do I consistently need more staff?
- How fast is my current staffing source?
If your determined needs show that you have a need for consistent or extremely specialized staffing then you should consider hiring full-time workers. However, only using full-time labor does not create a complete staffing plan. Limiting workers to only full-time workers also limits flexibility and speed.
If after you determine your needs and you find you’re needing more flexible or inconsistent general labor staffing then consider temporary labor near me. Temp labor is the most flexible type of staffing because there is no long term commitment.
If your business already uses part-time or temp labor, evaluate how well your current strategy is working. Are you able to find temp employees quickly and reliably? Take a look at the fill rates from the current temp agency. Where is there room for improvement?
A balanced mix of full-time, part-time and temp workers helps reduce costs and create a well rounded staffing plan. Gig work app CEO Hunter Sebrosos compares a well rounded staffing plan to a basketball team to explain how does temp work work.
The full time workers are the starting line up. These workers cover the core skills, highly specialized roles and leadership positions. But for an effective and adaptable staffing plan you need more than just the leadership positions. Just like in basketball if you only have a starting line up and they wear themselves out, you’ll start losing games.
Temp workers are the players on the bench who can come in and relieve the starters. Temp labor fills general labor roles and some mid level skills such as bartending or forklift driving.
Step 4: Choose Your Staffing Sources Wisely
Decide how you will actually source workers, internal hr, a staffing agency, or a digital platform?
Staffing through traditional methods such as indeed, linkedin or job recruiter works well to find full time workers but it lacks the speed for sourcing temp labor.
Traditional temp agencies near me are a classic source of temp staffing. But they may charge higher fees, offer limited flexibility, and are known for their inconsistent reliability.
Online staffing platforms and find local workers apps are the digital data driven way to source workers. These platforms offer on-demand access to workers, more control, often lower costs, and the most flexibility.
Step 5: Monitor, Adjust, and Optimize
A staffing plan isn’t one-and-done. You will need to track performance and adjust based on what’s working.
Things to Monitor:
- Fill rates
- Shift fill times
- Worker productivity
- Cost per worker
- Worker quality
- Rehire potential
Often staffing apps and online platforms have features to help businesses monitor their temp workers.
Continuously tracking and optimizing your staffing plan will result in a staffing plan that is setting your business up for success.
Bonus: Bacon Is Built for Smarter Staffing Plans
If you’re building a staffing plan around temp labor but are having challenges finding temp staff for my business consider Bacon. Bacon gives you more control, better flexibility, and faster access to reliable workers than traditional temp agencies.
With Bacon businesses can create a staffing plan that is flexible enough to meet real time demand. While still being cost effective and reliable.
Bacon is built for finding temp workers near me in various industries, including warehouse temp staffing, event staffing, catering staff and general labor staffing.
Why Businesses Prefer Bacon:
- Transparent pricing
- Access to thousands of workers
- Post and fill shifts quickly
- Adapt your plan to your needs
- No contracts, so subscriptions.
