All businesses experience employee turnover. But small businesses are hit especially hard by high turnover because it forces them to pay the high cost of hiring—again. The cost just to hire and screen an employee can be as high as $375. This includes advertising for the position, conducting a background check and drug screening). And most small businesses don’t have a human resources department that can do these tasks.
Staffing services are taking the burden off small business owners by providing pre-screened employees that have been interviewed, drug tested and had their backgrounds checked. This gives the business owner several advantages, said Mike Hayes, owner of Momentum Specialized Staffing.
“Sometimes because the owner doesn’t have the time or resources he or she will not check references or ask for a drug screening,” Hayes said. “This can be a fatal mistake. Some people come across well in the interview but if you investigate their job history, you’ll find things that show they are not a good employee. And while it does happen occasionally, very few people will show “signs” of addiction during a job interview. A drug screening will alert you to any problems and save you a lot of headaches in the future.”
Hayes offers companies a ‘try it before you buy it’ on the job interview to employers.
“’The employee agrees to work at employer for three hours at minimum wage to see if there is a good fit,” Hayes said. “The small business owner didn’t have to go through the hassle of hiring the employee and doesn’t have to go through the hassle of letting the employee go.”
More and more companies are using staffing agencies. According to the American Staffing Association, on an average day in 2008, U.S. staffing agencies employed 2.66 million workers. Mike Donley, owner of Donley Service Center in Phoenix, is one of them.
“A staffing company has been absolutely essential to the success of our business, not only in finding quality employees, but for saving time and money on the amount of work our staff would have had to devote to going through resumes and interviewing,” Donley said. “We’ve been able to focus on servicing our clients instead of wasting quality time and money on searching through hundreds of applicants.”
The number of applicants for any type of job is expected to increase. Arizona’s unemployment rate is at 8.2 percent, the highest rate in 26 years.
“We had two customer service positions recently and we had 150 online applications, 35 people who came into our office and 375 resumes,” Hayes said. “We get this kind of response every time we post a job.”
Michael D. Hayes is owner of Momentum Specialized Staffing in Phoenix. Mike is a member of the Executives’ Association of Greater Phoenix (EAGP), 100 Club of Arizona, Men’s Art Council, and The Arizona Trucking Association. He provides practical, real world advice on his blog, www.momentumstaffing.wordpress.com. Mike has been featured on several Phoenix television and radio stations and in the Arizona Republic. You can learn more at www.youtube.michaelhayesspeaks.com. Email: hazer@momentumtrans.com 602-477-8193
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