With the prospect of a substantial National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage increase looming, you may be considering whether utilising the services of a recruitment agency for temporary workers is the right move for you and your business.
The short answer is that there are multiple benefits of using a recruitment agency as a temporary staffing solution, but what are the benefits and how do they apply to you as an employer?
Cost is undoubtedly a primary factor when making any decision within a business, what you may not have considered is that engaging the services of a recruitment agency could actually save you money!
Unlike retaining a permanent workforce, employers have the ability to increase or decrease the workforce in response to customer demand when using a temporary employment agency. This flexibility and control in engaging only the required number of staff means that businesses are not carrying surplus labour and paying out hefty wage bills unnecessarily as a consequence.
At QS Care we have a large pool of workers available to work immediately; all of whom have been thoroughly vetted in line with not only legislative obligations, but our own, extremely high, in-house standards. This pool of workers covers a vast array of skill set requirements and experience, across all types of care and support staff.
Securing a partnership with an agency removes the stress of any last-minute staffing issues. You know that one simple phone call will give you access to an experienced, friendly team of recruiters and an immediate temporary workforce, providing you with a solution to your problem.
Recruitment is one of the biggest time drains on any business. Writing initial adverts, sifting through responses, pre-screening, interviewing and onboarding are just some of the tasks involved in the recruitment process and they create hours upon hours of work.
Employers may then find themselves in a situation where the hire has not been successful and the recruitment process has to start all over again, draining time away from other important areas of the business.
Using the services of a temporary recruitment agency simply takes all this away. By creating a good working partnership with an agency, an employer can explain exactly what skills and attributes they are looking for from a worker and ensure that they receive the right calibre of staff for their company. Should a situation arise whereby the suitability of the worker isn’t quite right, then a replacement can be found quickly, causing minimal disruption to productivity levels.
Advertising cost money! There is no getting around this fact, however, all too often businesses only consider the tangible costs and neglect to factor in the hidden costs of time.
Not only will a recruitment agency take all the costs of any advertising away, it will also save companies a huge amount of money in removing the time implications they face in undertaking their own recruitment. Handing the advertising and recruitment over to a temporary agency frees up internal permanent staff to carry out their own crucial jobs!
As an agency is footing all of these initial costs, an employer wouldn’t actually pay anything until a worker has been in your care home and carried out some work, a low-risk cost strategy which every business should take into consideration!
Being a dedicated recruitment agency means that we have permanent access to a number of national job boards, and we maximise their usage to our advantage. It is a well known fact that job seekers tend to stick to the same job boards when looking for work, by only advertising on one or two platforms a huge section of the potential candidate pool is being missed.
However, advertising on job boards is expensive, and for a lot of employers it is a risky expense which offers no guarantee of a successful return. By engaging the services of a temporary recruitment agency, any business can rest in the knowledge that the agency will have a far wider reach into the local talent pool and will work hard on their behalf to secure the best of that talent.
Just because a business is looking for a temporary staffing solution does not mean that a ‘bum on a seat’ approach is acceptable. At QS Care we fully train our staff to evaluate a potential candidate and compare their skills, attributes and work history against the requirements of the client. We also adopt an open and honest methodology, should we not have exactly what you are looking for, we will let you know and let you have the final decision.
One of the main complaints we hear when visiting new clients is their frustration at being sent workers without the relevant skills to perform the role. We listened to these complaints and created a bespoke in house system that eradicates this possibility, giving employers the knowledge that they will receive the right worker with the right skill set.
Your industries don’t switch off, so neither do we!
With even the best planning things can always go wrong – one of your staff gets sick, a last minute order comes in, a technical issue occurs etc, etc. It offers peace of mind to know that you have a labour provider who can come to your rescue and offer assistance, not only during standard working hours, but through the night and at weekends too.
At QS Care, we have worked hard to ensure we offer an out of hours service which maintains excellent levels of service and is simple to access. It is one of the most important aspects of our service to our clients and we treat it as such.
Recruitment is our job, we know the market, we know the labour trends, we know what will secure a worker, we know how to help you!
We are currently in a candidate driven market, all too often the term and its implications are not fully understood by employers. By working with a specialist recruiter, not only do you gain all the benefits outlined earlier but you also have access to knowledge and expertise around the current labour market. This can be invaluable in securing the best talent and ensuring a competitive advantage.
All of the staff at QS Care are rigorously trained in a number of different areas, including customer service, recruitment practice and legislation, this ensures that every team member has the same knowledge and training to deliver an excellent level of recruitment service.
Having access to a dedicated Contract Manager affords employers the peace of mind that they can work in collaboration with a temporary employment agency to ensure that they receive the right calibre of person for their company, with the right skill set for the role that needs covering. Constant communication and an honest, open relationship between a client and the Contract Manager is the key to a successful recruitment partnership.
Multiple safeguards, including Right to Work, DBS checks, and Training certificate checks are put in place to guarantee that all practices are compliant, not only in line with legislative obligations but equally against our own high level of in house requirements.
These safeguards are subject to both internal checks, carried out at various management levels, and also audits from external bodies. Our accreditations are testament to QS Care’s long standing commitment to ensuring a fully compliant service and a due diligence that leaves employers safe in the knowledge that there are robust processes within their recruitment supply chain.
The above list is certainly not exhaustive, it is merely a highlight to some of the common queries that arise when employers are considering using the services of a temporary recruitment agency and answers the question of whether it is worth using a recruitment agency.
As specialists for over 30 years, supplying both temporary and permanent staff within the healthcare industry, we can offer up a wealth of knowledge and expertise when it comes to providing a top quality service. Our partnerships with numerous clients throughout the Midlands and South Yorkshire areas span many years, further demonstrating our dedication in providing the right service for you and your needs!
If you would like further information regarding any of our services, take a look at our website by clicking here www.qscare.co.uk/employers/
Alternatively, speak to any member of our team who will be happy to discuss what bespoke services we can offer that will fit your individual requirements. Find your nearest branch within our contacts page https://www.qscare.co.uk/contact/
