Effective Strategies for Managing and Reducing Light Industrial Warehouse Staffing Costs

Macee BrothertonEmployers

If your Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston manufacturing business is like most, you always look for ways to save on costs and increase profits. It's more important than ever between supply chain delays, rising inflation, talent shortages, and other issues in today's challenging market. 
One of the biggest expenses your business has is people. Labor cost is typically one of the largest line items in your budget. But you can't start dropping salaries or slashing hours, or you wouldn't have many people working for you any longer. So, how can your organization save money on hiring and maintaining a productive workforce? With the help of a light industrial staffing agency. 
Keep reading to learn more about how utilizing a staffing agency in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston helps your business save money and increase productivity at the same time. 

Drive Down Costs by Partnering with a Staffing Agency in Dallas-Fort Worth & Houston

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If you're unfamiliar with what a staffing agency does or how one can help your business, that's okay. It's simple: a staffing agency matches companies like yours with job candidates for your open roles, either on a temporary or permanent basis. In the world of manufacturing and light industrial work, staffing firms often provide temporary labor. This means that workers remain on the staffing agency's payroll and work on-site at the company for a set period.  
There is also temp-to-hire staffing. In this arrangement, an employee works at your facility for a probationary period while still on the agency's payroll, allowing you to evaluate the candidate for skills, work ethic, and cultural fit until the end of the probationary period. Then, you can decide whether you'd like to bring that candidate onto your payroll and hire them as a full-time employee.  
Both temporary and temp-to-hire staffing services have long gone hand-in-hand with the light industrial and manufacturing industries. That's because these services can help your organization save money while supporting increased production at the same time. Here's how: 

Temporary Employees Cost Less to Train

In manufacturing and light industrial settings, training is essential for productivity and safety. Of course, training isn't cheap – it can cost thousands per employee to get them fully trained, and that process takes time. One of the biggest advantages of hiring through a temporary staffing agency is access to pre-qualified, pre-trained candidates.  

The light industrial and manufacturing candidates you'll find through a staffing firm already have experience in the roles you're hiring for. Whether it's a forklift driver, picker/packer, assembler, or CNC machinist, you'll gain access to vetted, qualified professionals who don't need weeks of training to get up to speed. Once you've briefed them on the particulars of your facility, they're ready to hit the ground running – that lets you keep up production and save on training costs simultaneously. 

Use Light Industrial Staffing Services When Needed

Manufacturing and light industrial leaders know that demand can increase – and decrease – at a moment's notice. Demand ramps up once you sign a large contract or during a busy season of the year, then falls off again when the work gets done. This constant ebb and flow can make hiring difficult. Your business probably can't afford to bring on permanent, full-time hires when you don't need them in a few months. This is another area where temporary and temp-to-hire staffing services help you thrive. 

When you leverage a contingent of temporary workers, you can scale your workforce up and down as demand dictates. Bring on specialized, trained employees when you need the extra help; scale down when you don't. Supplement your core, full-time staff with temporary labor when needed, but avoid paying for a full-time workforce all year round. This way, you avoid all the hassles – and costs – of layoffs because the temporary employees working on your projects were always on the staffing agency's payroll, not yours. 

Light Industrial Staffing Agencies Help with Employee Retention

A high turnover rate is a red flag for any business, your warehouse or manufacturing operation included. When employees constantly leave, it strains your HR team since they must continuously hire. Plus, it has a negative effect on morale – when employees see their peers leaving, it can lead to a domino effect which can have devastating consequences. 

Another benefit of temporary staffing services? It helps boost employee retention. One of the best ways to keep great employees around is to hire the right person the first time. Staffing agencies help you do this – professional recruiters have deep industry knowledge and use state-of-the-art sourcing methods to find top talent for your company. Plus, a staffing agency's stringent vetting and reference process helps to ensure you're seeing the right fit for your organization's needs the first time. This results in less turnover and a higher retention rate.

With temp-to-hire staffing, you can evaluate an employee on-site before adding them to your team full-time. This is another great way to ensure retention and avoid the risk of a bad hire.  

Access to Top Light Industrial and Warehousing Talent

You can always go about the talent search on your own. So, why bother engaging a light industrial staffing agency? Simply put manufacturing and light industrial recruiters have access to top-performing candidates that you may not be able to find on your own.  

Staffing firms spend years developing pools of pre-qualified workers, and these networks are quite extensive. Your business gets a wider selection of qualified candidates while avoiding the time and effort that goes into hiring itself. Sometimes, a staffing firm can even access passive candidates – people currently employed but may be open to a new job opportunity if the right one comes along. These are workers you wouldn't be able to access on your own, and they can be true game-changers for your company. 

Outsource Administrative Burden and Reduce Overtime and Benefits Spend

How many hours a week does your core team spend on administrative and payroll tasks? Imagine if you could outsource all of that and make up that time. With a staffing agency, you can. When you use temporary staff, all costs associated with payroll processing and administrative work are transferred to the staffing firm. And since temporary personnel work for your staffing partner, not your business directly, any unemployment or workers' comp claims don't affect you.  

If your company pays out a lot of overtime, you're spending money you don't need to. A staffing agency can help you cut back or even eliminate overtime costs by using temporary employees to get work done rather than paying your core staff to work more. The same goes for benefits expenses. Using temporary employees who are paid through a staffing firm allows you to eliminate the expense of those workers' benefits, saving you in the long run.  

Reduce Burnout Among Your Core Team Members

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Burnout is a real problem in many fields, and the manufacturing and light industrial world is no exception. Burnout isn't just bad for your employee's health; it's bad for business – employees suffering from burnout are less productive and are more likely to leave if the problem isn't rectified. If that happens, you're stuck spending the time and money hiring a replacement.  
Temporary staffing helps to alleviate burnout among your core staff. Having the extra help means your full-time employees don't have to work twice as hard to get their work done. When things get busy at your facility, bring on temporary employees to help ease the burden and avoid the problem of burnout. 

Partner with a Light Industrial Staffing Agency in Dallas-Fort Worth to Control Costs for Your Warehouse Facility

Ready to control hiring costs for your light industrial, warehouse, or manufacturing facility? Turn to the premier light industrial staffing agency in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston: KP Staffing. We offer a variety of light industrial staffing services to suit your organizational needs, including temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct-hire staffing as well as payroll services and on-site recruiting.  
Are you looking for temporary workers to bolster your existing team during periods of increased demand? Temporary staffing is the perfect choice. If you're unsure whether you'd like to hire a permanent team member immediately, consider our temp-to-hire option. You'll get to evaluate our associates on-site at your facility, bringing a sense of their unique skill set and how well they fit within your organization before committing to a full-time employment relationship.
To get started, contact our business consultant team to find out more about how we can help your facility reduce costs and improve productivity. We look forward to meeting you.