Bolt Staffing Blog

The question of whether the changes in the labor market over the past three years are part of a permanent, structural change in the American economy, or whether they’re due to a cycle that’s soon to return to normal isn’t very important to someone looking for a job.

However, for employers, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony on March 26, 2012 leaves more than a little concern.

While the Fed boss had reassuring things to say about the causes of unemployment being  due to cyclical factors, the fact remains that many people are still out of work, many have given up looking for a job. Uncertainty about the economy is much more evident than any signs of real expansion.

For those of us in business, while things have improved over the last year or two, the good old days of 2007 remain a fond memory. Many employers have found themselves caught between the immediate demands of increased business and the nagging doubts about the economy and the numbers coming from Washington.

Remember BOLT exists to buffer you from uncertainty.  While people often think the cost of using an agency is simply too high, too often they overlook the costs of hiring on their own. Those costs remain even if you are perfect in your hiring decisions.  If the economy sours and you are forced into layoffs, you will literally watch your investment walk out your door.

With the latest two step coming out of the Beltway, it’s worth reiterating this article that we featured in December’s newsletter.

The truth is that if every one of your hiring decisions is winner you’re right, an agency will cost you more. However, if you bat less than 1.000, we can save you money. When you add that fact to the possibility that we are not yet out of the economic woods, if you’re thinking of adding staff you owe it to yourself to take a look at the December article and then call BOLT!

On Dec. 30, ASA issued an Issue Alert regarding California Labor Code section 2810.5(a), which requires that certain wage and other information be provided to each employee at the time of hire in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information. On Jan. 23, 2012, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement issued revised frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding the law, which became effective Jan. 1.

The revised FAQs were issued in response to widespread criticism from employers and employer groups that DLSE had not provided adequate guidance for compliance. ASA was among the first to seek clarification regarding the law’s implementation, particularly with respect to the notice to be provided to temporary employees. In correspondence to DLSE, ASA pointed out that the model DLSE form is problematic for temporary staffing firms because it says a “work site employer” that uses another business, such as a “temporary services agency” or PEO, should provide the wage information “for the other business.” This suggests that temporary staffing firm clients would have to provide the notice to the staffing firm’s employees (and does not rule out the possibility that both the staffing firm and the client must provide the notice).

We further explained that although temporary staffing firm clients may be co-employers for some purposes, they do not hire the firm’s employeesthe staffing firm hires them. Moreover, clients are not the employer of record for the payment of wages to the staffing firm’s employees and would have no way of knowing a temporary job applicant’s potential rate or rates of pay. Nor do they provide workers’ compensation coverage to the staffing firm’s employees.

Accordingly, ASA developed a suggested notice form that reflects the practical realities of the temporary staffing business and addresses the statutory requirement that “employers must notify employees of the rate or rates of pay.” The form was developed in consultation with ASA California employment law counsel Richard Simmons of the law firm Sheppard Mullin in Los Angeles.

Although the revised FAQs do not specifically address temporary staffing, they provide support for use of the ASA notice form. For example, FAQ 16 states, “[a]n employer can modify the DLSE template or attach a sheet to the existing template with a clear reference to the attachment in the space for “Rate(s) of Pay.” The employer should specify multiple rates within a range the worker will be paid by the employer, including the basis for variation that informs the employee when certain rates within a range will apply (based upon stated criteria such as complexity/difficulty of project work).”

Therefore, staffing firms should be able to address the notice requirement by (i) providing applicants with the range of rates they can expect to earn for the type of assignments they are seeking and for which they are qualified; and (ii) providing a basis for such variation in ratesASA is seeking confirmation that a range of rates and general statement that exact wages will depend on the type, location, and length of temporary assignments, as well as the employee’s skill level, should suffice.

FAQ 17 provides further support for this approach, stating that, “[f]or a worker in a public works project, the applicable prevailing rate is dependent on the location and project work performed by the worker. Accordingly, the employer must include in the notice all rates applicable to such work that are known or can be determined at the time the notice is to be provided.” Because exact wage rates cannot be known at the time the form is provided, staffing firms should be able to specify the applicable range of rates.

Last, FAQ 19 suggests that staffing firms should list the applicable overtime rate using the lowest regular rate of pay the temporary employee can be expected to earn, and also state that this overtime rate is subject to upward adjustment depending upon the pay rate for each temporary assignment: “When providing information regarding applicable overtime rates, only rates known and determinable must be specifically provided to the employee . . . In such cases, it is sufficient that an employer provide the minimal overtime rate based upon a multiplier of 1 or double times the hourly rate and also indicate that such specified overtime rate is subject to upward adjustment when other specified forms of wages are earned during the applicable pay period.”

ASA continues to be in communication with DLSE and will provide additional information and any clarifications that become available.

Source:  American Staffing Association Issue Alert, 2/6/2012

Over the past year we developed a relationship with a particular client and came to understand his business and the kind of people who would succeed in it.  As it happened, recently someone came through our door that fit the client’s business to a tee.  Because we understood the client’s needs we were able to identify this guy as someone they didn’t want to miss.

Both the employer and the employee are happy today, even though the employer didn’t think he’d need anyone for another few months.  However, being astute, he recognized talent when he saw it and decided that there was plenty for the new guy to do until the moment he was planning for arrives.

Recently, Jennifer Laxton wrote a piece about the value of recruiters and their growing importance as time goes on and more baby boomers head off into the sunset.  What she is talking about is exactly how we functioned for our client.

In the end, Human Resources is about Human Relationships.  Here’s her article.

 Are you open to a surprise? 

It’s natural to focus on the fees an agency like BOLT charges for our services and compare them to the cost of putting an ad on Craigslist and a few other job sites and conclude it’s cheaper to do it yourself (DIY).  That is the conventional wisdom.  As is so often the case, the reasoning might be conventional, but wise it’s not!  In fact it can just be wrong.

Using an agency like BOLT to find employees does seem more expensive to find a new employee, and if you live in a perfect world it could be.  However, what’s surprising is that if you use an agency’s skills properly, you actually save money.  Sound crazy?  Follow me and see where we go.

We’ll do an apples-to-apples comparison of costs of hiring for a $15 an hour clerical position.  First let’s look at the costs to you if you do the hiring in house.

DIY:

It’s not hard to spend $500 on job postings and ads.  You can plan on 6 hours of staff time screening responses.  Let’s give that $300 in labor and overhead costs.  (Note that these days an ad for a clerical person can easily produce hundreds of resumes.)  Now you’ve selected your interviewees.  You can easily spend 3 hours preparing and conducting interviews.  Add another $150 labor and overhead.

Congratulations!  You’ve selected your new employee.  Remember, that day one will entail all the payroll and tax documents.  Add another $200 to put that together.  The first two weeks’ salary at $15 an hour works out to $1200.  But wait!  Don’t forget to add your overhead burden for payroll taxes, benefits,  FUTA, SUTA and Worker’s Comp.  We’ll use 30% for this.  You can also plan on another 20 hours of staff time training and supervising, add $1000.

Going it alone: 

So far, after recruiting, hiring and getting your new clerk through the first two weeks your costs look like this:

Outsourcing:

Now let’s look at using an agency like BOLT.  We’re going to assume that you trust the agency’s recruiter to identify candidates, screen and interview for you, since you’ve provided a clearly defined job description and specified certain skills that you would like tested and scored.  Let’s see how those costs compare:

That’s right, you can expect to pay more to get your new employee to the end of the first two weeks if you do the hiring yourself rather than calling us!  Of course that savings will diminish with time, but this is the score after two weeks.  Surprised?  Don’t be.  It gets better!

Strolling back through the car wash

If you never have had that ideal candidate call to say that he’s taken another job, or the person that looked great, interviewed perfectly and came on board and then suddenly left with no explanation, you don’t need to read any more.  However, if you live in the real world, you know there are no sure bets.  When it comes to people, even the best can have sudden problems pop up in their lives and that put you back at square one on the hiring game board.

Now be honest, do you always pick a winner when you select a new employee?

It’s possible that before the month is out you’ll be back recruiting for this position again for any number of reasons.

If that happens, here’s what things look like.

Do over costs:

This is where the premium paid to people like us pays off.  As much as we’d love to say every one of our employees is successfully placed with clients 100% of the time, the truth is we’re in the same world as you.

However, our business is matching clients with reliable people.  Since we’re in the business, we keep an inventory of people ready to go for many positions.  Very often they are people who’ve worked for us on other assignments.  We know them.  While we’re not perfect, we think we can beat the averages more often than not.  Still for the sake of comparison, we’ll assume our first candidate flopped too.  So the costs to you for using an agency to get you to the same 2 week point looks like this:

You don’t need to adjust your glasses!  In this, case using an agency saved you $1620.00 to get your employee two weeks into the job.

It probably won’t surprise you to find that we are in business for the same reason you are.  Our profit in a temp-to-hire order comes from a good placement and a period of longevity before you decide to hire the employee we’ve placed with you.

Historically, that period is 520 hours, or about three months.  So let’s look at your costs after 520 hours, assuming the same 30% burden/70% markup that includes the 30%:

Conclusion

So here you are.  To identify, interview and select an employee for a $15 an hour clerical position using your own resources will cost you close to $15,000 at the end of three months.  To pick up the phone, call us and outsource your expenses and heartache will cost you $1500 more over three months, or $16,300.

As you can see if your employee left you after two weeks of training and pay and we got it right the first time that $1500 premium becomes very cheap insurance, indeed!

In other words, for an arguably small premium you can only hire people that you come to know very well.  After three months you’ll know their strengths, weaknesses and you will know them personally.  If something happens before you hire them permanently, pick up the phone and we’ll have a replacement pronto!  When you deal with human beings, it’s hard to get a better guarantee than that!

Remember, too, that we’ve used the highest pricing we would typically charge.  In these trying times we are certainly willing to work with you to find pricing that will work for both of us.  The same holds true on the 520 hour conversion.

Obviously, that only improves matters for you.

Remember, there are many ways to go about the hiring process.  When choosing among them be careful to consider all your costs before you decide going it alone is best for you!  Please see the adjacent article about other ways to use an agency that can often deliver the people you need, when you need them.

The Solano Workforce Investment Board held a Job Fair October 6. The event was very well organized and very well attended.  There were over 30 employers present. We took over 170 resumes and we were impressed with the caliber of people attending.  If you left us your resume we are working hard to match you with your next employer!

The event was a great opportunity for us to see what works for job seekers, since we saw lots of people.  The people who stood out in our minds were prepared: not only did they bring their resumes with them, they also were dressed as if they were ready to talk to a potential employer. Their questions were on point and their manner reflected their readiness to get down to business.

In addition to people who dress and act as though they are ready to go to work, the successful applicants know the difference between two other “P” words: persistence and pushy. A persistent job seeker knows how to ask questions clearly and assertively without going overboard.

Remember, employers are looking for people to help their businesses grow.  They want to see someone who is able to achieve a goal without raising the hackles of customers or co-workers.  Pleasant, friendly follow up is welcome and reflects well on you. Annoying pestering doesn’t.

Please see the article below about follow up.  The short version is if you have something useful for your prospective employer or staffing agency, by all means make sure they know it. On the other hand if your call or follow up is focused on you and your wants, it’s much better not to bother. It’s natural to feel pressure to find a job, but never put the pressure you’re feeling on a potential employer. If they find you troublesome as a prospect, they’d be crazy to hire you.

Being on task is never more important than when you are looking for a job. Remember employers are looking for what you can do for them.  Show them the courtesy they deserve by respecting their time and their interest in you.  Beware of abusing it.

Following up with people you meet, whether at interviews, networking or other social events is the single most important thing you can do to assure your success in job hunting.   There are some simple rules to follow that will “lock down” the impression you make with the people you meet, and maximize your chances for success.

Interviews

You’re one of the lucky ones invited to an interview.  Regardless of how you thought things went, the most important thing you can do is cement your impression with the interviewer.  Maybe things were a little bumpy; perhaps you weren’t satisfied with the way you handled some items in the interview. On the other hand, maybe you thought you were fantastic.

Regardless, good manners demand that you show respect for your interviewer’s time.  Email thank-yous are a quick and painless way to show your professionalism.  They also offer the added benefit of giving you the opportunity to fill in any gaps you might have left behind in the interview.  Do this the same day as the interview; don’t give your interviewer a chance to let your impression drift into the background.

By sundown the next day be sure to have a handwritten thank you note in the mail.  Thank the interviewer for the opportunity to discuss the position.

If things go well, you’ll often find yourself invited back for a second interview.  Again, don’t let that day go by without sending an email thank you.  You can include any additional information that may have come up in the interview.  These may be things like references, your availability, or salary requirements.

Following up after a networking event, mixer or other social setting

As soon as you can discreetly do it, write notes on the person’s business card to help you recall the person and the conversation.  By sundown the next day be sure you have a handwritten note in the mail.  Your message can be simple and brief, something like:  “I enjoyed talking with you about…and I’m looking forward to working with you in the future.

If you talked about something that made you think of useful information, send an email with a link.  Be sure to include your contact information.  If you have something specific to talk about and you think it would be helpful to the person, you can also call them and talk with them or leave a brief voicemail.  Be careful to do this only if you think it will have a direct benefit to the person.  Brevity is critical, if you are tempted to say more than a short sentence or two, just say you have an answer to their question and ask them to call you back.  Be sure to leave the number where they are most likely to reach you.  Always be respectful of the person’s time.

Social networking can be very useful.  Ask to join the person’s LinkedIn network.

Long Term Relationships Take a Long Time to Build

Use email to maintain an ongoing dialogue.  When you see something that might be useful to the person, send them links to articles or events.  Each year send a New Year’s card with a handwritten note updating them on your career and professional status.

Job Seeking is Sales

You are selling the most important commodity you have: your skills and the finite amount of time that you have in your life to apply them.  Respect the task you have before you and respect those who show interest in you.

When you are seeking a job you need to show your potential employer what you can do for them and their company.  Be sure you always strike the balance between your desire to work for them and their desire for success.  If you are careful and thoughtful about how and why you are contacting them you are showing them how you can help them succeed.  That optimizes your chance for success.