Hiring temps is becoming increasingly popular, with some companies allocating 30% of their procurement budget to temporary workers, according to Deloitte.
In a world where agility and flexibility are crucial, being able to take on and dismiss workers at short notice is invaluable. The new business has a pared-down core of in-house staff handling the most important work, and hires out the rest to contractors and subcontractors on a project basis.
However, this new way of working comes with challenges. One is that it creates complex workforce planning conundrums, where HR, operations, internal finance, and sometimes a contract agency all have to collaborate to manage temporary workers. There’s also the challenge of accurately predicting the labour hours and costs needed.
But when temp workforce plans are well thought out and effectively implemented, it can bring huge savings of both time and money for employers, as well as granting increased flexibility to employees. So, what does a good temp workforce plan include? Here are the four key elements:
Daily forecasting.
Use historical data analysis and statistical forecasting to get a clear sense of the common workforce trends in your business
Productivity analysis.
Track what you’re spending on temp labour per hour and what additional profit your temp workforce is bringing in to determine the ROI of the strategy you’re following and tweak it where necessary.
Labour-rate planning.
Try to predict the coverage, hours, and budget you’ll need per role to help you take a bottom-up approach to workforce planning.
Scenario planning.
○ Also try to predict how seasonal changes will affect your business. This will enable you to plan the right coverage for each day of the week, each season, and holidays.
These four keys are essential to working successfully with temps. Without following these steps, you can quickly find yourself spending way over budget on your temp workforce. You need to use strategic thinking and scenario planning to predict changes in your need for temps based on the time of year, workload, or projects. Effective temp workforce planning will enable you to reap the benefits of both permanent and temporary staff while saving time and money.