When building and scaling any business, recruiting the right people for the right roles within a company is integral for success. In a highly competitive workforce, individuals leave their positions on average every three years, and talent acquisition is a 24/7 job. Companies need to have recruitment strategies to fill roles quickly and efficiently or risk losing out on essential skills for the organization.
This is where strategic staffing comes into play. Strategic staffing is a way of planning ahead in recruiting by looking at current and future needs within a business and putting the correct recruitment process in place to ensure those positions are filled when needed.
Strategic staffing can bring a great deal of success to a team when executed correctly. It allows businesses to proactively acquire the right talent and skills while providing cost savings through reduced turnover costs. It also helps teams exit the “transactional spiral” - where companies continue dumping costs into hiring agencies or processes without seeing real results.
When crafting a successful staffing strategy, it is crucial to understand the right philosophy and approach to take. This includes considering the industry, key roles, and organizational needs. Read on to learn more about strategic staffing, what to expect, and how to effectively implement it in your company.
Modern Staffing Has a Problem
It's said that "people are a business’s greatest asset," but the current workforce has a problem — there aren't enough people to fill the many roles that companies need. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were around 10 million job openings in November 2022, a slight decrease from the previous month but still higher for the year.
This means there is a huge demand for talent, but many employers are struggling to fill these roles quickly and efficiently. This is partly due to the rapidly changing landscape of modern work and the skills gap — which refers to the gap between what employers need and what workers have.
The costs of finding replacements for open roles and the costs associated with training and onboarding are also considerable factors to consider. Studies have shown that "quiet quitting" is on the rise, and one-in-three hires are leaving within two years of their start dates. With the estimated cost of turnover ranging anywhere from 27-33% of an employee’s annual salary, it is no surprise that employers are looking for ways to reduce these costs. To ensure that companies can find and retain the best talent, they must look at the big picture and adopt an organized approach to strategic staffing.
What Is Strategic Staffing?
Strategic staffing is a proactive approach to talent acquisition and retention. It involves planning ahead and putting the correct recruitment process in place to ensure that positions are filled quickly and efficiently while considering an organization's current and future needs.
By taking a strategic approach, companies can save time and resources as they can better anticipate their weaknesses, fill those roles with experienced professionals who are more likely to stay with the company for years to come, and reduce turnover costs. These benefits can boost customer satisfaction, enhance productivity, and enhance the team's professional culture.
How Does Strategic Staffing Relate to Staff Augmentation?
Strategic staffing and staff augmentation are closely related. Both involve taking a proactive approach to talent acquisition and retention, but there are some subtle differences. Workforce augmentation is the process of supplementing an organization's existing staff with professionals from outside organizations. This can be done either through recruiting new employees or outsourcing work to contractors.
Strategic staffing, on the other hand, is focused more on long-term planning. This involves looking at current and future needs within an organization and putting the correct recruitment process in place to ensure those positions are filled when needed. This proactive approach can be extremely beneficial in reducing costs associated with turnover.
The Key Characteristics of Strategic Staffing
There are several key characteristics of strategic staffing that set it apart from other recruitment processes.
1. Strategic Staffing Involves Planning Ahead
Strategic staffing requires companies to plan ahead and anticipate where they may be lacking in future talent needs. This includes looking at current positions and anticipating which ones may need to be filled in the future as well as what skills are needed for those roles.
2. It's Proactive, Not Reactive
Unlike other forms of recruitment that are often reactive to current staffing needs, strategic staffing is proactive and anticipates the future. If your turnover rate is high, take a look at your screening process - you may be shocked to see the correlation between who you are brining in and those who are quickly leaving. Being proactive allows businesses to be prepared when roles open up, meaning they are able to fill those positions quickly and efficiently while also reducing turnover costs. For instance, companies can begin the recruitment process before a role is open and be ahead of the competition.
3. It Is Cost Effective when Filling the Right Job
Strategic staffing is cost-effective in the long run as it helps to reduce turnover costs and allows companies to fill roles more quickly, thus saving time and resources. For instance, if you are able to hire the right person for a role, you are more likely to retain them and reduce turnover costs. Strategic staffing is an invaluable tool for companies of all sizes who want to attract and retain top talent. By taking a proactive approach to fill roles quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively, organizations can build a diverse and talented team of professionals who are more likely to stay with the company in the long run.
Why Implement Strategic Staffing for Your Hiring Processes?
While strategic staffing is not a cure-all for all your staffing needs, it is an invaluable tool in your hiring process. There are a few reasons why moving to a strategic staffing system is beneficial:
It Helps You Attract The Right Candidates
Strategic staffing involves planning ahead and anticipating which roles may need to be filled in the future. By doing this, employers are able to more accurately describe their open positions and attract the right candidates with the necessary skills and qualifications they are looking for. The hiring process itself can be quite expensive. Consider the costs involved with marketing a role to attract candidates, interviewing each candidate, onboarding them, and training them. The costs of each step can quickly add up and can be reduced if you are able to better target the right people for the role.
It Helps Reduce Turnover
Strategic staffing helps reduce turnover costs by allowing employers to hire experienced professionals who are more likely to stay with the company for years to come. This reduces the time, energy, and resources spent on the recruitment process and the costs associated with onboarding and training a new employee.
It Helps You Create an Employee-Centric Culture
Saving costs is one thing, but have you ever wondered why individuals leave their roles in the first place? There are several reasons employees choose to jump ship: lack of career development opportunities, feeling undervalued, or not seeing a future in the company. By implementing strategic staffing and creating an employee-centric culture, employers can better retain their existing talent and create an environment where employees feel valued, motivated, and engaged. And by placing an emphasis on hiring employees that fit the culture desired, companies can help nurture a more positive and productive workplace.
Tips on Implementing Strategic Staffing
Strategic staffing requires careful planning, research, and execution to be effective. In order to maximize the chances of success, here are a few tips that you should keep in mind:
1. Prepare a Talent Acquisition Plan
It is essential to have a clear strategy for your hiring process before you start recruiting candidates. This should include details such as the type of role you are looking to fill, the qualifications needed, and the timeline for filling the position. By creating a plan outlining the steps you need to take, you can ensure that each part of the process is completed without any unnecessary delays.
2. Set Clear Goals
Before beginning the recruitment process, it is important to clearly understand what success looks like for each role. This helps ensure that employers are hiring the right people with the right skills to meet the company’s needs. Consider using SMART goal setting to ensure that your goals are achievable and measurable. These are goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
3. Utilize Technology
Technology can be a great asset in strategic staffing, as it helps streamline and automate many tedious tasks associated with recruitment. By leveraging tools such as applicant tracking systems, employers can reduce their workload while helping ensure that candidates have an easy and efficient experience.
4. Hire for the Long-term
While it may be tempting to hire people that can quickly fulfill your needs, it is important to keep in mind long-term goals when making hiring decisions. Strategic staffing helps employers recruit employees who will stay with them and grow with their company as time goes on.
The Bottom Line
Strategic staffing is an essential component of any successful business strategy and something at which Premier Staffing Excels! By defining core values and setting clear expectations for each position, businesses can ensure that their teams are well-aligned with their missions and objectives. Developing an effective evaluation plan allows managers to track performance over time, identify areas where additional training may be needed, and recognize high-performing individuals who may be ready for more responsibility or higher levels of leadership within the organization.
With strategic staffing practices in place, businesses can create teams that are productive, motivated, and dedicated to achieving success together!
PSS cannot and does not provide legal advice. It’s important to consult with qualified counsel before adopting any new policies. It’s also your responsibility to determine whether legal review of work product is necessary prior to implementation.