Case Study Part II: Do-Overs During the Recession

Back in January we started telling the tale of our situation here at T/A Industries.  I’m sure you remember me.

My name is Roger Dorn and I am the Plant Manager.  We make auto parts and thanks to programs like “Cash For Clunkers” and other government goodies being given away our business is growing and we needed to increase the size of our staff by 25.  Not being certain that the good times here to stay we went the “temp” route to solve our staffing needs.


It's sure easy to "stay down on the ball" when you have a quality staffing service backing you up.

1. As part of the supplier selection process we identified ten points of concern for our potential new supplier to address as part of the competitive bidding process.  The provider selected best fit our needs in the following ways.  Oh, by the way, they were not the service with the lowest rates. Our new provider has a business mix that is 80% light manufacturing and 20% office and clerical.  They work with a variety of industries and no single client makes up more than 10% of their total business.  We checked two business references.  One they provide and one from our own source.
2. A detailed recruiting plan was presented that met our challenges to utilize non-traditional recruitment sources.  We felt it desirable to expand the pool of available workers beyond newspapers and the unemployment office.
3. Concerning our multiple shifts and the potential for problems on each we selected a service that had office hours around our shift start and stop times including Saturday. When their office was not physically open a contact person was available on call.  This allowed us to replace call-offs and no shows quickly with less resulting down time in production
4. The turnover and no-show problems of the past were addressed with the submission of a retention plan.  Part of the solution dedicates a member of their full time staff to be on site 6-8 hours per week.
5. Our new service performs a felony background check and e-verify of social security numbers.  We have established a policy that eliminates job candidates with drug or theft related felony convictions.
6. All employees provided by our new service must pass a six panel drug test before starting work.  Random drug tests are also done on a monthly basis.  We like the fact our supplier is self-insured for workers compensation purposes as it gives them a vested interest in the safety of everyone working at our facility including our own employees.
7. Two levels of staff from the office of our staffing service physically toured our plant and observed firsthand the positions they would be filling.  By mutual agreement we decided to require at least 6 solid months of manufacturing experience and applicants must have a high school diploma or equivalent.  Pre-employment tours have been offered as an option should turnover or safety issues get out of hand.
8. Through internet access our provider has a system in place that allows us access to our account at any time to track such things as order status, invoices, usage.etc. We transmit hours worked by temps electronically by each Monday afternoon and pay our invoices by electronic bank transfers of funds.  This is all part of our efforts to save time and save the trees 
9. As was previously mentioned the service we selected did not provide us with the lowest hourly bill rate.   What they did provide in addition to a very competitive rate included:
1. A 1.4% rate for all overtime hours
2. Discounted rates for long term temps
3. No liquidation fees for us hiring a temp
4. Credits for no-show or non performance
5. No extra charges for drug testing, background checks etc.

     10.  Perhaps the most impressive thing about the package presented and accepted by us from our new supplier is that we were given the home phone numbers of all the owners/officers of the company to use if needed.  Try getting those from Manpower or Kelly! While our new supplier has been on the job only three months, we have noticed significant improvements in “temp” productivity over our pre-recession supplier. 
Granted three months still puts us in the honeymoon stage it’s still a good start.  I guess if you think about it selecting a new staffing provider is a lot like picking a wife. . . or maybe not.

Oh, by the way, our new staffing service is Ryan Alternative Staffing.  No surprise there I suppose.  So far, they’re major league in our book… couldn’t stop myself!