How Staffing Companies Can Withstand COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the global economy to a halt, adversely affected long-term projections and operational goals, and brought unprecedented panic and uncertainty to businesses. From testing a company’s damage control capabilities to upsetting staff occupancy rates, it hit different areas of staffing companies hard, changing the way they think, behave, and function.

In May-June 2020, Haley Marketing conducted an online survey of staffing industry professionals to research how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the staffing industry. According to Haley Marketing’s key findings, 

“93% of agencies reported a decrease in revenue 

and 

nearly 6 in 10 (59%) dropped more than 30%.”

That clearly shows the pandemic delivered a blow to the staffing industry, and the aftermath might be even more uncertain. The staffing companies have to deal with the undetermined financial, human resources, operational, and legal losses. So, how should the staffing company owners respond to the unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? 

Carefully manage workforce requirements and prioritize staff safety

The seismic pressure of enduring COVID-19 uncertainty demands staffing companies to revise employee communication strategies and devise a team action plan to streamline the staffing process, efficiently manage remote staff requirements, and financially support furloughed employees.

Also, with many companies preferring on-site working over remote work culture, it is vital to prioritize employee safety, considering that employees are the company’s prime assets. That said, follow government safety guidelines and advice regarding workplace cleaning and social distancing.

Revamp business strategy for continuity

According to a recent report by Capstone Headwaters, “while the curtailment of elective procedures has negatively impacted staffing, demand has surged for nurses in areas combating acute COVID outbreaks.” The increasing demand for nurses and doctors led to higher revenue for healthcare staffing companies.

The report also clearly stated that a well-known healthcare staffing company named AMN Healthcare witnessed 14% increase in its revenue from the nurse and allied staffing solutions over 2020. Within the 1st quarter, it hit record-high revenue-generating $602 million, the report said.

To survive ongoing COVID-19 uncertainty, staffing companies should review their current offerings and capabilities as a business. This allows them to prepare a list of service alternatives in demand to support, sustain, and possibly thrive during this crisis. Continue to reshape the services portfolio as the situation and market demands.

Implement Automation

Long-term crisis management in a short period of time demands modern processes and tools over traditional approaches. While we have already spent almost a year sustaining the economic crisis, it’s high time that staffing businesses prioritize a technological transformation strategy to heavily focus and implement digital methodologies and automate the daily work processes.

Implementing smart and robust staffing solutions not only does allow faster and better-informed decision-making but also eases the workforce management processes for the staffing operations manager.

Better the Client/Customer Engagement

While your staffing business copes with the ongoing uncertainty and works to establish a robust communication channel with the remote staff, it is equally crucial to improve engagement with clients and customers.

Clients being one of your business’s most vital assets, adapting the right communication mediums to understand their expectations and challenges during the crisis is important. To do so, staffing companies can scale their digital client support channels and self-service options as well as implement modern staffing software solutions, allowing clients to have better end-to-end communication with employees and the company.

Think Long-term

They say, better late than never! Take the key learnings from this year of absolute uncertainties to build efficiencies and best practices for your staffing business that will benefit the organization at every level in the long term.

Moreover, there have been significant changes in consumer and client behavior while coming to terms with the new normal. Hence, a plan of action bearing in mind another possible shift in the behavior or approach post-pandemic needs to be in place. Staffing businesses can learn from the present situation and devise a business process that can survive similar future shocks and changing client and customer behaviors.

Key Takeaways

• Prioritize employees’ safety since ensuring the safety and wellbeing of workers in the workplace keeps the business operating. 
• Addressing staff requirements and concerns in a timely and transparent manner to reassure business progression and security for the long-term.
• To avoid further business downfall, rework your staffing business’s strategy by evaluating the potential risks, services in demand within the staffing sector, and possible COVID-19 aftermaths.
• Bid goodbye to traditional staffing processes and say hello to modern technological solutions to swiftly overcome the operational and financial damages caused by the COVID-19 crisis and provide your employees as well as clients a streamlined staffing experience.
• Better the client and customer engagement, better the future of your staffing business. Establish solid communication with your clients and customers and implement software solutions that can help you in enhancing their engagement.
• Build resilience by putting in place strong long-term strategies in order to prepare yourself for the new normal and the future shocks similar to COVID-19.

Staffing businesses around the world are trying to come to terms with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has made organizations inevitably change their old business approaches and strategies. Continuing with the same business processes and way of functioning will make it difficult to stay afloat now and into the future.

However, looking at the brighter side, the pandemic has also revealed the areas where the staffing businesses need to strengthen themselves, reshape the processes, and build resilience in order to endure the economic uncertainty and make themselves ready for the post-COVID-19 business world.

About the Author

Chirag Mehta is the founder and CEO of NextCrew. He has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry and is a passionate builder of cutting-edge technology solutions for serviced-oriented customers. His immense interest in streamlining the staffing processes through technological advancements inspired him to embark on his journey with NextCrew, providing on-demand staffing software that helps temporary staffing agencies succeed in the growing gig economy. You can follow him on LinkedIn.