We recently conducted a market research study focused on the use of temp staffing in large manufacturing plants. Here is what the plant managers we interviewed described as the top five drawbacks of using temps:
- Inconsistent attendance and performance
- Attitude can be more negative and non-committal compared to full-time employees
- Management of temp staffers is more time consuming for supervisors
- Difficulty in finding skilled temp staffers
- Risk of theft around proprietary processes and products
We can show you a staffing model that lets you avoid such problems, meet more of your plant KPIs – and recoup thousands of hours of time spent by you and your management team, every year.
The managed labor staffing model, developed by LACOSTA for manufacturing plants over the last 45 years, provides both skilled and non-skilled labor to address your labor shortages but without the drawbacks – while also costing less than temps, and leading to far higher employee retention rates.
Inconsistent Attendance & Poor Performance
Getting temps to show up the next day, let alone a week later, is an ongoing challenge. Plant managers and HR often try to prevent labor shortages by contracting with 3-5 temp agencies at a time. Some find themselves constantly searching for new temp agencies out of dissatisfaction with the ones they’ve used.
With LACOSTA managed labor, we staff at 120% of need so you always have the people you need – in both skilled and non-skilled positions. Our onsite management trains and cross-trains these workers, so your team doesn’t have to. In addition, our generous benefits package means we don’t have the same performance issues as with temporary workers and our employee turnover rate is a fraction of the industry average. When issues do arise however, our onsite managers are on the spot to correct them and implement sustainable solutions.
Bad Attitude
Non-skilled temp work covers work that can be challenging and monotonous, to say the least. When performing job tasks that many others would reject while making minimum wage, employees are unlikely to approach the work with the best attitude or highest level of motivation.
We treat our managed labor employees better than that, paying higher hourly rates than other temp agencies and offering a generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, vacation time, and 401(k). Cross-training and upward mobility opportunities also provides managed labor employees with a path for growth and improvement, and the employee support programs offered further drive an employee-focused culture.
Time-Consuming to Manage
Managing unmotivated and low-paid temp workers can be time consuming. “You have to keep a close eye on these people,” said one plant manager, describing the thousands of hours managers spend trying to keep track of temps to ensure they are in the right place, doing the right work.
With managed labor, our onsite managers supervise and manage workers – that’s why we call it managed labor. We manage them so you don’t have to – allowing you to focus your resources on the core areas that drive your business forward.
Difficult to Find Skilled Temps
Today’s labor market operates under especially challenging conditions. Even non-skilled labor is in short supply while the search for skilled labor is up against unprecedented shortages.
With managed labor, our recruiting efforts are continuous – we provide skilled labor in addition to non-skilled labor and can flex to the demands of our customers operations. Our practice of staffing to 120% of your requirements means absenteeism doesn’t affect your operations while simultaneously incurring no additional cost. We make sure that our clients never come up short so they can hit their KPIs and deliver to the needs of their customers.
Confidentiality Concerns
The risk of product or trade secret theft is an additional challenge associated with short-term employees. Temp agencies do nothing to address these concerns which can lead to difficult HR situations and long term risk.
With the managed labor approach, we take responsibility to prevent any form of theft, beginning with our hiring processes and hiring requirements. Onsite, our managers supervise workers closely to ensure that our crew is a doing a job that we can be proud of, with standards of integrity and reliability that we can stand behind.
Get a Managed Labor Audit
Here is our three step approach for identifying how to eliminate your plant labor problems and give your time back with managed labor staffing.