No business can succeed without the right people and skills in its workforce. It's vital, therefore, to ensure your recruitment process is tailored to help you find strong talent that will push your company forward.

Getting hiring right will elevate your organisation to new levels of success, but getting it wrong can expose you to all sorts of risks. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has estimated that the average employer takes 42 days and spends $4,129 to hire an employee, all of which could be lost if you make the wrong decision. 

There are many other possible repercussions of inefficient recruitment, such as: 

  • The financial and operational costs of making a bad hire
  • Lost productivity when you find the new recruit is unable to do the job to the required standard
  • Disruption and lower morale among existing employees
  • Your employer brand being affected by a high rate of staff turnover

These are all strong arguments for why you should team up with an experienced recruitment company to minimise risk and make the right hiring decisions.

Here are four other big benefits you could gain from bringing us on board to optimise your hiring practices:

legal compliance

There are various legal obligations involved in recruitment, which you should be aware of to protect yourself from penalties that could seriously impact your business. Non-compliance with labour laws - whether it happens deliberately or due to lack of awareness - can lead to fines and long-term reputational damage for your organisation.

If you're a smaller company, the chances are you don't have the time or the resources to spend on keeping up with the latest developments in HR and labour legislation. This can be a particular challenge if you operate in different geographical areas that have their own local rules and regulations.

Any business that operates in the European Union, or employs residents of EU countries, is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation. That means you have to abide by certain rules regarding personal data, such as ensuring job applicants' personal details aren't kept on record when they're no longer required and people can access their references, should they wish to do so.

Another concept employers should be familiar with is collective agreement, which refers to the arrangements you have in place with trade unions. This often encompasses:

  • Terms and conditions of employment
  • Hiring, dismissal and suspension
  • Allocation of work
  • Discipline 

These agreements are not always legally binding, but failing to acknowledge and respect them could put you in some difficult situations that have ramifications for your workforce and the business as a whole.

Non-compliance with rules and regulations like these is a risk you can't afford to take. That's why it pays to work with a trusted partner who can offer the legal knowledge and expertise you need to operate within the rules and build strong, lasting bonds with your employees.

We start every client relationship with a focus on getting to know your business and understanding your various needs, priorities and pain points. That allows us to build a detailed picture of your compliance position, potential risks and steps you can take to address them.

flexibility

Flexibility is an important and valuable trait for modern businesses. The traditional idea of 9-to-5, office-based or on-site working is becoming a thing of the past, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has normalised the idea of the remote workforce.

As far as recruitment is concerned, taking a flexible approach can lead to a range of important benefits for your business, such as being able to scale your resources up and down with maximum speed and efficiency. If you operate in an industry that's affected by seasonal trends, like hospitality, retail or construction, you don't need the same number of staff throughout the year.

You could also find that your resourcing requirements fluctuate in line with client demands, economic trends and the details of individual projects and contracts. 

This can be problematic if you manage recruitment yourself and have to make time for anticipating future requirements, hiring the right number of people and ensuring you're not paying for workers you don't need.

Partnering with a recruitment company makes flexible staffing much easier. We work closely with all of our clients to understand the various trends and patterns that affect their business, to ensure they can acquire the talent they need, when they need it. We can also give you rapid access to an extensive network of vetted, experienced workers for when you have to hire at speed.

These benefits could be more evident than ever in the coming years. In the 2021 Talent Trends Report from Randstad Sourceright, 77% of human capital leaders from 17 global markets said they were more focused on workforce agility than ever before.

"This year, flexibility will be critical to helping your company adapt to rapidly shifting market conditions. That's why so many are turning to flexible talent to address critical skills shortages… as well as looking to save costs and get rapid access to talent."

-Michael Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Randstad Sourceright

time to focus on your core business

Perhaps the biggest benefit of outsourcing your hiring activities to a dedicated recruitment company - particularly if you're a smaller firm - is that it gives you more time to focus on the most important thing of all: running your core business.

It's not unusual for the leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises to fill a wide range of roles. You could find yourself switching from HR manager to finance director to any number of other jobs, all within the course of a day.

This can become especially difficult when you're faced with the various complexities and demands of the recruitment process, without the time and specialist expertise required to tackle them properly.

Being able to offload essential tasks like hiring and payroll management to a trusted partner, without any fear of a drop in standards or key targets being missed, will make your life easier and less stressful. It will also help your business succeed, because you'll have more time to concentrate on doing fewer jobs to a higher standard.

We follow a rigorous process to ensure we deliver the best possible results for every one of our clients. This starts with understanding your unique needs and steadily evolves with each step, all the way up to employee on-boarding and post-hire follow-up.

We've produced a guide that offers an in-depth look at the key stages in our 'human forward' approach to recruitment.

about the author
Nikki Brain
Nikki Brain

Nikki Brain

group sales director & senior vice president at randstad sourceright & uk

Working with Randstad's entire suite of services including managed service provision, recruitment process outsourcing, outplacement, temporary staffing and permanent recruitment means that Nikki and her team are able to support companies' overall talent objectives. Driven by a passion for solving complex challenges, Nikki and her team partner with organisations to build bespoke solutions that help meet their overall objectives, deliver exceptional value and are aligned to the organisations' vision and values.

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