Staffing Up for Recovery • Northwest Indiana Business Magazine

Staffing Up for Recovery

Buy Us A Coffee

How personnel companies help employers navigate the road ahead.
by Steve Kaelble

“It's kind of an industry trademark that we're canaries in the coal mine,” Mirko Marich, managing partner of Staff Source in Hammond, says of the staffing and employment services industry. “We were seeing the downturn in the economy well before most other industries.”

But canaries also sing when the dawn is near. That's why it's so encouraging to hear how well things are going in the staffing and personnel business these days. Manufacturers and other companies tend to turn first to temporary hires when a sluggish economy starts to turn around.

NOW HIRING? Manufacturers and distribution centers often turn to professional staffing companies.

“Companies that are a little skittish have work orders on the books, but are reluctant to bring people on full-time,” Marich says. “So they're going to an agency like ours to get their orders done.” The optimistic prognosis: Hires that are temporary now will become permanent as the economy continues to turn around.

Truth is, there are plenty of good-news stories around the business if you know where to look, says Brian Holecki, director of executive recruitment for Career Transitions in Mishawaka. In some industries and some lines of work, companies were a little too eager to lay off workers during the recent downturn, and now they have to compensate.

“They went through the recession of 2009 and 2010 downsizing a little too far,” he says. “There are skill gaps and function gaps in some organizations. There's still catch-up going on. They're tapping into the pool but not finding the right kind of talent.”

That can even happen in industries where the overall jobless rate remains far from normal. “Some industries still have very large unemployment rates, such as the RV industry,” Holecki says. “But we are still finding a very tough number of qualified individuals for specific jobs.”

The result for companies like Career Transitions: “We're extremely busy. We have jobs all over the United States, but they're specialized. Companies are looking for specialized skill sets.”

Staffing companies are just what the doctor ordered for employers nervously viewing the economic landscape ahead. Downsizing has definitely been the norm the past couple of years, and many companies laid off not only front-line workers but also a fair amount of the human resources support staff.

“A lot of human resources departments were hit,” says Bob Tithof, CEO of Sedona Staffing in Highland. That really poses a problem when the economy recovers enough to necessitate some hiring. Who's going to handle the HR component?

“It takes a lot of time to qualify people to put in these jobs,” he observes. “One of the problems that human resources departments are facing is that if they post a job that pays a decent salary, they could be bombarded with 200 or 300 resumes. Try to find the time to go through all those.” Staffing companies are there to help get that job done.

It may be that an employer has kept HR generalists on the payroll, but not the specialists who are only needed on occasion, according to Desila Rosetti, president of Organizational Development Solutions Inc. “We will come in and assist where they need a depth of knowledge, such as a compensation specialist.”

The services of staffing companies are not just for economic times like today, though. For many companies, it makes sense in good times and bad to bring in labor through a staffing service. Sometimes, demand fluctuates so regularly that an employer will fill certain jobs only with temporary employees, so that the company is not stuck with idle hands on the payroll when the demand slacks.

In other cases, companies will regularly first engage workers through a staffing service on an “intent to hire” basis. “It's basically companies wanting people that down the road they intend to make their employees.” Tithof explains. The reasons make sense no matter what the economy is like. “By going through an employment service, it allows them to try an employee before they offer full-time employment.”

“The advantage to employers is that they can do a test drive, if you will; they can try the person out,” Marich concurs. That helps the employer determine whether the employees are a good fit, which is not just a matter of qualifications and experience. “You can have people who have the right skills but who don't fit within the mold of the company.”

Hiring and then sending such employees back on the street has fiscal implications for the employer. The cost of hiring can be steep, for one thing, and so can the cost of firing, if there's an impact on the company's unemployment insurance. On the other hand, acquire that employee through a staffing service on an “intent to hire” basis, and it's the staffing company that deals with such headaches, Tithof points out. “We would be responsible for that temporary associate's unemployment.”

Likewise, there are companies that never maintain a full HR department, good economy or bad. “In our area, a lot of construction companies don't employ an HR person,” Rosetti points out. “They have an office manager who has assumed duties of human resources.” That can work, but only if there is a consultant on-call–such as a staffing service–to handle the HR work that the office manager is not able to address.

There are many different kinds of employment companies. Some specialize in placing temporary industrial workers, some focus on bringing in permanent hires, in a search capacity or in an “intent to hire” arrangement. Outplacement is another area of specialty, as are various models of permanently outsourced labor pools.

And then there are companies with highly specialized offerings. Code Red Safety in Hammond is one such player. CEO Mike Miller explains that the company provides a full range of safety-oriented personnel. “These are specialized positions,” he says.

Code Red Safety provides many clients with safety supervisors on a temporary basis. A construction contractor is a prime example. The need for safety supervisors varies by construction project, and projects don't last forever, so a company may bring in safety supervisors just for the duration of a specific project. The same holds true when a big manufacturing plant shuts down for a retool–there are safety roles needed only then, not later when the plant is rolling again.

Another need that comes up only now and then is the confined space rescue crew. Perhaps a company is cleaning the inside of a huge oil storage tank. That's potentially dangerous work that doesn't happen every day. What if the workers are overcome by fumes? Immediate rescue is critical, and the local fire department probably doesn't have the appropriate training or equipment. So, a specialized rescue crew from Code Red Safety is hired to be on-hand for the duration of the project, just in case.

“We have a database of 6,000 people who are safety professionals,” Miller says. “We have them matched per industry, and we can find people with specific background or training.” The company also conducts personality tests to help match the safety personnel with the need. One job may require a strict disciplinarian, another may require more of a teacher, and another might need a consultant.

With all of the activity as the economy sputters back to life, where are the opportunities? “For us in Northwest Indiana, we do a lot of work in the automotive sector,” Marich says. “There are a number of suppliers that supply Ford Chicago, and as Ford Chicago ramps up, all of the suppliers are ramping up as well. We're going to see a big uptick in the first quarter of 2012.”

Same goes for the steel industry and its suppliers, Tithof says. Health care and information technology are hot, too, the experts agree.

“The best thing to tell your children is not to be afraid to get into jobs that use your hands,” Holecki adds. That could be everything from computer-aided design and programming to computerized numerical control machining, and that also includes plumber and electrician professions. “Those are really good jobs that pay well.”

Author

Scroll to Top