These 7 Tips Will Revolutionise Your Staffing Strategy

With so many things to think about, staffing your business effectively can seem like a daunting task. But a few simple tricks can make a huge difference.

Staffing is a key component of running a business. Staffing is often conflated with recruitment, but they are not the same. In fact, recruitment is just one aspect of your staffing strategy.

Recruitment is the process of identifying, selecting and hiring employees. Meanwhile, staffing as a whole is about managing, retaining, and deploying staff for optimal productivity, efficiency, and meeting organisational demands. Staffing is an ongoing, dynamic process, which takes careful preparation and planning to get right.

In this article, we reveal 7 tried-and-tested tips to achieve ideal staffing levels for a better-working business.

#1: Define Your Objectives

Optimal staffing levels are directly related to operational goals. So the best tactic for you will vary depending on what outcomes you want for your business.

For example, if your goal is to grow your business by tapping into new services, you will likely need to increase the size and scope of your workforce, and recruit new staff who can deliver these services.

In contrast, if your goal is to increase earnings without expanding your services, you could tweak your existing personnel to maximise productivity with minimal further investment.

In any case, clearly defining your business objectives, whatever they may be, is crucial for understanding your staffing needs and the best approach to take.

#2: Assess Your Workforce

In order to make informed staffing decisions, you need sufficient accurate information about your current workforce. 

Gauge your existing staff to produce a comprehensive snapshot of your personnel and working environment. Collect and gather accurate information about your workforce, such as headcount, number of services offered, and skill gaps. 

You could also evaluate performance and identify your top and worst performers. This will help you identify viable candidates for future leadership positions. 

Incorporate this examination process into your routine management and audit regime. Be consistent and avoid scattered information, as this will paint an incomplete picture of your company.

Consolidating your findings into a report is a useful step. You can then draw conclusions about what’s working well and what needs to change.

#3: Monitor Staff Turnover

Nobody likes unpleasant surprises. Planning ahead and keeping “in the loop” within your organisation is vital to staying on top of staffing levels.

Keep track of staff turnover and pay attention to each employee’s progress, goals, and career path. Encourage your staff to share their plans in the spirit of professional transparency and mutual understanding. If an employee is planning on leaving, gather a clear overview of the situation. Information about departure dates and notice periods must be readily available.

This allows you to hire new candidates well in advance, to avoid business disruption and minimise the cost of knowledge loss when employees leave without completing a handover. 

By monitoring these trends over time, you’ll learn how to anticipate and prepare for changes even at short notice, so you are never understaffed. If you run multiple facilities, shift scheduling tools and applications can be very useful.

#4: Promote Employee Wellbeing

Your company culture not only forms the foundation of your business objectives, but is also a powerful tool and instrumental in your staffing strategy. A good company culture can do wonders for staff retention and performance.

While delivering excellent service should be your primary mission, a positive working environment is also essential to maintain morale and avoid exorbitant staff turnover costs.

Supporting staff wellbeing should be part of your organisational ethos. Ask your employees for their views, and seek to address any recurring concerns.

An environment where people enjoy coming to work will help you attract and retain the best talent.

#5: Make a Staffing Forecast

Once you understand your goals and workforce, you should make a staffing forecast. This is a long-term plan for how you will approach staffing your business over the next 5 to 10 years.

To do this properly, make sure to involve your management team, owners and/or shareholders. Getting their long-term vision will help you make arrangements for future restructures, acquisitions and campaigns.

Your staffing forecast should take into account your future business needs. Build succession planning into your projections, as this involves new staffing requirements. This will also offer an insight into potential resource needs.

#6: Review Your Strategy

Business demands can change rapidly, so reviewing your plans and projections is very important. Go over your strategy regularly to ensure your forecasts are still current and relevant.

For example, signing or terminating major clients can have marked consequences for your staffing situation. This directly impacts your recruitment and operating margins.

Try to review your staffing plans at least once every six months, and as soon as possible after any major events. Make sure your approach is flexible enough to adapt to changing business conditions, so you’re never caught off guard.

#7: Get Organised

Being organised is perhaps the most important part of optimising your staffing, and thankfully it’s also one of the easiest to achieve.

There are many tools at your disposal to help streamline your staffing and deployment processes. Embracing innovative software and digital solutions can transform the way you manage your time and resources.

Agency Portal is a powerful agency management platform that allows you to automate your staffing and shift management from anywhere with the power of technology.

With Agency Portal, time-consuming tasks like shift scheduling, timesheets, attendance and invoicing are completed for you, freeing up time and resources to focus on the human side of your company. Perfect for optimising your workforce and getting that competitive edge.

To learn more about Agency Portal and try 30 days for free, call 0330 808 3871 or send an email to support@getshifts.co.uk.