5 considerations for choosing temp staffing software.

Temp staffing agencies engaging in shift-based workforce management experience increased work complexity, cost and hours that accelerate with scale.

Management systems haven't evolved to cope with the challenges of managing shift-based work for a larger workforce.

Replacing them with a single end-to-end system solves a host of workflow challenges — making impressive cost and time savings in the process.

If you're thinking of upgrading to such a system, there's plenty to consider.

A reliance on outdated systems like spreadsheets and legacy applicant tracking, and HR systems makes agencies’ workflows needlessly complex and costly.

Worker data is spread across many separate systems that don't offer a single, real-time overview of worker information or client requirements.

Extracting ‘siloed’ data from various sources makes it challenging for agencies to react swiftly to clients' quickly changing labor needs.

Most agencies believe the answer to such challenges lies in the costly, long-term development of a bespoke system. They often don’t have the skills or capacity to develop this in-house.

Instead, they’ve learned to live and make do with competing management systems and inefficient workarounds.

But updating and upgrading management systems doesn’t necessarily mean embarking on a long-term development project.

Sophisticated management systems, like JoinedUp by Beeline, drive time and cost-efficiency. By giving teams a comprehensive end-to-end picture of client, project and worker information in a central dashboard, consultants can plan and fulfil shifts faster and with greater accuracy.

JoinedUp also automates much of agencies’ repetitive daily admin like shift calculations, timesheet production and generating error-free payroll information.

JoinedUp gives agencies powerful data visualization and automation tools that simplify shift-based workforce management.

To find out how our management system can help you make cost and time savings, talk to our team.

This article will look at some of the factors agencies need to consider when choosing a new management system.

Automation

By automating the most time-consuming tasks, agencies can make impressive cost and time savings.

JoinedUp features a sophisticated candidate matching and availability algorithm that pairs candidates to roles by experience, location, rate and availability.

This feature is one of our many timesavers that add up to an average 27% increase in productivity. And a saving of 12 work hours per consultant each working week. Agencies can capitalize on these efficiencies by increasing the number of workers under management by each consultant by 25-35% without increasing headcount.

JoinedUp also automates timesheet generation. By calculating pay and charge and factoring in complex overtime and rate configurations, we eliminate inaccuracies and reduce pay disputes. Client data shows JoinedUp reduces payroll queries by an impressive 90%.

Data visibility

Having all the crucial data to hand in a central dashboard allows agencies to fulfil clients' labor needs quicker, cutting days off the average time-to-fill.

The benefits continue when candidates are onboarded. Workers use the app to update their availability in real-time, along with other information like eligibility to work, criminal records checks, license statuses and more.

Accessing this information in the same dashboard as project requirements makes it much easier for teams to match applicants to open positions and fill shifts quicker, while preventing double bookings and no shows.

A more efficient planning process lets teams fill shifts months ahead with confidence, eliminating the need to work reactively at the last minute.

If long daily ring-rounds to fulfil last-minute worker shortages are a regular feature of your agency's workflow, JoinedUp’s advanced planning and scheduling tools are a must.

Streamlined

Assessment, recruitment and onboarding are some of agencies’ most time-consuming processes.

By taking these online to an app, agencies can cut out paperwork and face-time with consultants to boost speed to fill. Online or app-based applications have the added benefit of reducing the admin associated with collecting and recording compliance data such as license statuses, criminal record checks and more.

The app shows candidates a real-time view of completed and outstanding requirements, along with reminders when documents need to be renewed or resubmitted. This reduces the work needed to make sure applicants are eligible to work and the time it takes to place applicants into roles.

The secure system also keeps agencies in line with GDPR and privacy legislation, while generating an audit trail to demonstrate compliance when needed.    

Improved data capture and centralization throughout the recruitment and management process makes KPI reporting easier — and here, we use automation to give agencies the competitive edge.

A fully-customizable KPI dashboard generates automatic reports agencies can use to align their objectives more closely with their clients. It also provides valuable data-driven insights to drive performance and spend efficiencies.

Efficiency boosting

This is also about the agency being able to scale: less time spent filling positions = more positions each consultant can fill = more profit & growth!

Having the relevant information for planning and shift allocation lets you meet your clients’ labor needs more swiftly. And offers an improved experience for both clients and workers.

Plus knowing which parts of your workflow take up the most consultant hours will let you see where automation could help you make significant cost savings.

Armed with this information, it’s possible to cut the time taken to place new workers into a shift by up to 90% and remove days of work from processes.

With JoinedUp, you can continue making efficiencies, thanks to data-driven insights and analytics that allow you to see and solve system-wide bottlenecks.

Data from our clients shows an end-to-end system increases productivity by an average of 27%.

By making consultants’ work easier, agencies see an impressive improvement in gross profit that allows them to scale by up to 35% with no additional headcount.

Minimizing errors and inaccuracies

With a workforce that operates in multiple shifts, often in high-volume, or during seasonal fluctuations, minimizing errors and inaccuracies has to be a priority. 

Many of the processes, like shift patterns and rate calculations are highly complex. If current processes are old-fashioned or siloed; it is really challenging to identify and rectify the most common causes of errors and inaccuracies.