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Prep Your Staff for Temporary Employees

March 4th, 2016

Taking on a team of temporary or contingency employees can help your company thrive during challenging times, and these extra hands can be a godsend when you’re trying to process an avalanche of new orders during your busiest season. But workplaces can be delicate ecosystems, and the arrival of new faces and personalities can sometimes shake up the status quo. Make sure your existing teams are not only prepared for the newcomers, but ready to give them a warm welcome and a helping hand. Here are a few tips that can keep the transition smooth and seamless.

Give plenty of warnings about dates and times.

As soon as you know when your new recruit—or recruits—will start, let affected employees know. But because the start date may be a long way down the road, expect them to forget. Send reminders a few times before the actual day arrives. Along with these reminders, encourage your teams to treat the new arrivals in a way that represents the company well. Request friendliness and proactive outreach.

Provide a place to land.

Don’t leave your new employee idling in the reception area or an empty conference room while you scramble to set up a workspace. Do this beforehand and you’ll cut back on expensive wasted time and general awkwardness. The same applies to HR processing and paperwork; try to get the new person up and running as soon as possible on his or her start date.

Employees should know what’s expected.

If you expect one of your employees to greet the person at the door, and another to conduct his first training session, and yet another to take him to lunch on his first day, make sure each of these employees clearly understands your expectations. Who will be the person’s “boss” or day-to-day supervisor? Who will they turn to when they have general questions? Who will be responsible for distributing and monitoring their assignments?

A little hype can’t hurt.

If you’re excited about your new employee, encourage your current teams to share that excitement. Tell them a little bit about her profile and background, and share some of her expressed interests. This will give them something to talk to her about, and it might preemptively break the ice.

Keep an open door.

If your assigned “coach” or manager finds him or herself at a loss, make sure they know where to turn. Sometimes having a temporary or new employee in the workspace can be confusing for everyone, but if your teams know where to take their questions, the acclimation process will be a little easier.

For more on how to help your new and existing employees connect and start working together as a team, reach out to the Westchester staffing experts at Merritt Staffing.

Future Hiring Needs: Are You Prepared?

December 12th, 2014

Your hiring needs for this month are covered. You’re steadily on track to replace every departing employee and you’re bringing in new recruits in perfect pace with your expanding business. You have not a single pair of hands beyond what you need, and as soon as Sally retires and Steve says goodbye to care for his growing family, you’ll have new employees already lined up to take over their desks.

So this day, week, and month are locked down and accounted for. But what about next year? What will you do when Steve’s replacement starts gunning for a promotion to the next level? If you can’t accommodate her, what will you do when she leaves in search of a company that can? What will you do if your new product line starts selling beyond expectations and you need to hire more staff to keep up with a flood of orders? And will happen when your new orders suddenly dry up and you need to contract your workforce back to affordable levels?

The answer, as always, lies in planning ahead. Instead of taking a lean, just-in-time approach to the staffing process, try to use all the data at your disposal to determine what your staffing needs will look like in one, three, and five years.

Build a Pipeline

You may not have a crystal ball that can tell you when your employees might leave the company, but you can certainly make educated guessed about promotion readiness. When your top executives leave or retire, have someone in mind who you can groom and prepare for the role. Have others in mind to replace those, and so on down to the entry level. The harder you work to cultivate and retain the links in this chain, the more closely reality will adhere to your expectations.

Hire Contingency Teams

Consider hiring contingency, temporary, independent, and part time staff for roles with an uncertain future. If you don’t know how long an expansion will last, or how a new product will be received by the marketplace, limit your risks and control your workforce growth. That way you won’t have to make promises or take on full time employees that you can’t keep. Contingency staffing can also help you ensure a personality and cultural match before you make a long term commitment.

For more information about staff development, hiring, pipeline building, and long term planning, contact the experts at Merritt.

 

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