As a weak economy struggles to find its feet, both large and small companies look for ways to stay flexible and agile. Forward thinking firms want a staffing strategy that allows them to grow quickly at a moment’s notice as tides lift, but they also want to cut back if an unexpected event requires them to contract.

This tendency has a few implications for the broader economy. First, the staffing sector can be seen as a reliable indicator of coming rises and falls in employment indexes. And second, a sign of increased temporary hiring suggests that companies are about to add more permanent staff, or are looking to spend newly available capital brought on by promising lending trends and relaxed restrictions to growth.

What’s Happening in the Staffing Sector?

As it happens, the staffing sector is experiencing robust growth. Hiring rose steadily in December, continued its rise in January, gained 45,000 jobs in February and has continued to show promising numbers throughout the early spring. 

According to analyst expectations, the percentage of temps in the U.S. workforce, now at 1.86 percent, will soon pass 2 percent, exceeding its April 2000 peak. What does this mean? It means employers are reaching for flexibility. It itself, that’s not a sign of complete economic recovery, but it’s definitely a positive trend. Employers may not be ready to hire full time help at full time wages with traditional benefits, but an increase in temporary employees suggests easier credit and a strong interest in staffing positions that were previously beyond the reach of hiring budgets.

In another promising trend, staffing firms are reporting high conversion rates, or high levels of temporary employees who are later hired as permanent staff. In cautious economic times, companies can use temporary employees to stay flexible and keep hiring costs down, but they can also use temporary placement as a risk-free vetting process for new employees.

Both employers and job seekers should take note of this tendency. While temporary placement lacks the structure and potential wage growth of standard employment contracts, it allows both employer and employee the freedom and flexibility to change course when necessary. And it allows long term relationships to grow organically between hiring managers and their teams.

If you’re looking for ways to build your bottom line and expand your workforce, but you also want to stay flexible in uncertain times, contact the staffing experts at RPC and find out how we can help. Temporary or permanent, let us connect you with the qualified employees you need.

Something attracted you. At this point, it doesn’t even matter what lit the initial spark. Maybe you just liked the tone of the job posting, or maybe you decided to apply because you were impressed with the company’s reputation and thought that joining the team would open new doors for you. Maybe you’re desperate to leave your current position, so you’ve been applying for any and every reasonable job that crosses your radar. But no matter how it began, the wheels are in motion and a new job is coming your way.

As long as the job application process continues, you can move forward without any real hesitation. The ball stays in the employer’s court, and any red flags you notice, like a long commute or a socially awkward interviewer, can be ignored or pushed to the side for the time being. “I’ll just get the job offer first,” you say to yourself. “Then I’ll worry about what to do next. One thing at a time.”

Well, here’s the job offer. So…should you accept? Ask yourself these ten questions first. If you answer yes to all of them, go for it! If you answer no for more than three, tread carefully. And if you answer no for more than five, run away. 

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Accept a Job Offer

1. 
Was the job application process easy and steadily paced? If your phone calls were answered, your emails received and confirmed, and your interview scheduled, conducted, and evaluated within two weeks, that’s great. If you were ignored, put off, or left waiting by a silent phone, think twice.

2. 
Was your interviewer competent and respectful? In other words, did he seem to have a strong understanding of the business? Had he read your resume before speaking to you? Were his questions thoughtful and relevant? 

3. 
Will your commute be manageable?

4. 
Will your housing situation have to change, and if so, are you prepared and willing to move?

5. 
Will this job cause minimal change or disruption for your family?

6. 
Will the job provide your non-negotiable benefits, like health insurance or flexible hours?

7. 
Will the job provide any of your more negotiable benefits, like an onsite gym? 

8. 
Can you live comfortably and save something for retirement on this salary?

9. 
Do you fully support and believe in what the company does? In other words, would you be proud to work here?

10. 
Will the new job move your career forward? Does it offer in-house room for growth and does it align with your long term goals? 

If you answered no to several of these questions and you accept the job offer anyway, don’t expect miracles to save you from a bad decision. But at the same time, have a sense of adventure and factor in the cost of saying no to a potentially interesting new experience. In either case, you’ll eventually have to roll the dice. So do it with courage! And have faith. For more help with the job search process, reach out to RPC. We can help you make sure you’ve considered every detail before you make this important decision.

When it’s time to make salary offers to talented candidates, the stakes are typically clear. A high salary offer might attract a star applicant, but what if the offer is too high and your budget is overextended? And what if the candidate isn’t as great as he or she seems? On the other hand, lowball offers allow excellent candidates to slip away. In a nutshell, those are the basic risks and challenges managers face while determining salary compensation.

But experienced managers know that the stakes of a salary offer are sometimes a bit more complex. For example, what problems might result if you pay a star candidate considerably more than his or her coworkers? Should you be skeptical of a seemingly qualified candidate who seems willing to accept a very low offer? And is high compensation really the only foolproof way to attract and retain top talent?

Some of these questions are intangible and entirely dependent on the circumstances. But most salary compensation woes can be answered with one word: data. The answers exist. You just have to have the patience to seek them out and the willingness to do a bit of research. Keep these considerations in mind as you go forward.

1. 
Compensation for a given position is not likely to fluctuate wildly, even during a weak economy. But it will change and drift. No current salary data, no matter how accurate, can be expected to apply in a few years.

2.
Salary averages vary considerably by location and specifics like years of experience. Don’t be frightened when you see very high averages for a position you can’t afford to staff at that level. Just look closer.

3.
Review all data carefully, but don’t take it at face value. Recognize that industry averages, visits to Salary.com (an excellent resource) and conversations with your own salary consultants will leave you with a final range. But you still can, and should, adjust that range in the face of your unique circumstances and a candidate’s unique qualifications.

4.
Be careful not to expose yourself to accusations of discrimination. It may seem like a good idea to snag a talented rising star by making her an offer she can’t refuse. But if word gets out to her more modestly paid coworkers (and it will), factor in the possibility of morale problems, interpersonal friction, increased turnover, and possible lawsuits.

5.
Remember the first rule of running a business: Money is important. That means salary negotiations are important. Don’t just offer the last salary your recruiter reports regarding a similar position a week ago. And don’t just act on impulse, instinct, or budget allowance. Every hour you invest in research before making an offer is an hour well spent.

You may not be able to afford an in-house compensation expert or a high-end salary consultant, but that doesn’t mean you’re alone. Contact RPC and talk to our experienced staffing team. We can help you make sure your compensation offers are not too high and not too low, but just right for the needs of your staff and the future of your company.

The low morale around your office is becoming harder and harder to ignore. At first, you overheard a few unhappy gripe sessions around the water cooler, but you could dismiss this as the grumbling of one or two chronic complainers. Then two bad apples became five. Then one of your best employees gave notice. Was the resignation related to the grumbling? You may never know for sure.

Now a subtle undercurrent has become a constant murmur of discontent, and your most talented staff members are getting restless. More of your employees are calling in sick, the office is quiet and gloomy, and nobody is touching the sign-up sheet for the company softball team.  Worst of all, new ideas have stopped flowing. Employees are afraid to make suggestions, and they’ve become so shell- shocked and risk averse that they don’t seem to care if their projects—or the company– succeed or fail. What’s next?

Resolving a workplace morale problem can be broken down into three not-so-simple steps: Recognizing the problem in the first place, finding out why it’s happening, and making a plan to bring energy levels back to where they belong. You’ve done first, and that’s commendable. But now for the second step—identifying the root of the problem. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind.

Eliminate Workplace Morale Problems: Get to the Heart of the Matter

1. Ask questions. And make sure you’re asking the right ones. If you call employees into your office to ask them how they’re feeling and how their projects are progressing, let them address morale issues in their own words. Don’t lead your witnesses. If you do, you might not get the real story.

2. Consider the context. Has your company experienced a recent shift in top management? Are employees adapting well to the new leadership? Are they still getting all the resources they need to do their jobs? The new management may be the problem, but the loss of the old management can also sometimes leave a trail of disorientation, loss, or even grief (depending on the reason). 

3. How secure are employees feeling about their jobs? A layoff scare can have an effect that lingers for a long time, even months, after it ends. If the layoff rumors (or realities) exposed upper management as unfeeling or disloyal to its employees, the employees will remember this whether they keep their jobs or not.

4. Are any new policies or regulations causing resentment? Are employees having difficulty meeting newly established standards for performance, productivity, or behavior? The source of your morale problem may be as simple as a new dress code, or as complicated as an office of employees mourning the loss of a coworker. But before you can take steps to resolve the problem, you’ll need to find out where it lies.

For more help with office culture and workplace morale issues, contact the staffing experts at RPC. We can help you keep your workplace positive, vibrant and productive.

If you manage HR issues in a physically demanding workplace, you probably have first-hand experience with the financial, medical, and emotional cost of workplace injuries. But even in the comparatively safe environment of an air-conditioned office, workplace injuries happen every day and incur enormous annual nationwide costs for companies across every industry.

These costs affect everyone involved in the company and the community at large. Not only do workers suffer from pain, slow recovery, lost wages, and higher insurance premiums, but companies and taxpayers suffer as well. On-the-job injuries mean unstaffed positions, duty restrictions, complicated fill-ins and scheduling problems, and expensive job re-training. In the United States, the total cost of workplace injuries is estimated to exceed one billion dollars annually.

Many of these workplace injuries are unavoidable, and accidents often happen in spite of rigorous safety protocols. But a staggering number of costly on-the-job health problems are entirely preventable, especially those that can be classified as “repetitive strain injuries”. Are you taking all the steps necessary to protect both your workers and your bottom line from these kinds of injuries? Consider the following precautions and make sure your working conditions are as safe as possible.

Workplace Injury Prevention: Avoiding Repetitive Strain Injuries

1. 
Defeat repetitive strain injury by rotating tasks.

Are your workers confined to stations in which they repeat the same tasks and go through the same muscular motions for several hours at a time? If so, adjust your process so that employees can share and alter tasks throughout the day. No single employee should be repeating the same motions for more than an hour at a stretch. Every 60 minutes, have employees transfer to another set of motions in order to give tendons and muscle groups adequate time to rest and recover.

2. 
What about the desk and chair?

Most office environments replace repetitive tasks with repetitive, continuously-held positions. Sitting motionless at a desk in front of a computer may not seem taxing, but any position that’s held for too long can take a serious physical toll, if not in two years, than in ten. Make sure office workers receive training and are encouraged to stand, stretch, and relax the eyes at regular intervals throughout the day. This can ease the nerve-pinching (impingement) in the wrist that can result from continuous typing and related activities. It can also help reduce eyestrain and restore constricted circulation in the limbs.

3. 
Invest in tools and workstation design.

It’s a good idea to invest in ergonomically-designed  tools and equipment, especially for workers who spend long periods of time engaged in sustained positions or repetitive activities. Ergonomically designed equipment refers to any equipment that reduces the amount of force and strain necessary to complete a given task. Make sure employees understand how to use this equipment and are able to make the most of ergonomic designs and accommodations.

For more information on avoiding workplace injuries, contact OSHA or make an appointment to speak to the staffing and HR experts at RPC.

Succession planning is a crucial aspect of workforce development, and industry leaders across most established fields recognize this fact, no matter how they decide to prepare for future workflows. But in the IT industry, a surprising number of firms place very little emphasis on long-term staffing needs and IT workforce planning.

According to recent surveys, well over half of industry managers have no IT staffing plan in place to manage needs beyond a year in the future. Fewer than 20 percent have a two-year workforce plan in place, and a very small minority—fewer than six percent—claim to have a five year IT staffing plan.

This lack of forethought can be attributed to several likely factors. Project needs in the IT field evolve rapidly, and as project requirements expand and contract, a heavy investment in a long-term staffing roadmap may seem unlikely to pay off. IT start-ups also tend to operate on narrow margins and small operating budgets, so individual staff members often take on multiple, flexible roles. Within any given IT department or independent company, teams are often assembled on a moment’s notice to take on emerging trends and meet the fluctuating demands of the marketplace.

But it’s for these very reasons that agile IT managers need to become proactive and step out ahead of the curve when it comes to IT workforce planning.

Why Engage in Long Term IT Workforce Planning?

   1. It’s easy now. But it won’t be for long.

Take a look at your list of productivity goals for the next two, three, and five years. Now consider the productivity goals of your employers and clients. The modern IT world is driven by evolution, expansion, and interdependence. Your client’s goals will eventually shape your own, and wherever the market steers them, it will eventually steer you. As project demand proliferates and becomes more complex, make sure you have the help you need standing by.

   2. So you can weather whatever the market brings and come out ahead.

So you have the team you need right now. And as project requirements expand, you’re pretty sure your current staffing resources will stretch to fit your growing output. In fact, recent contractions and layoffs still have you reeling, and you aren’t ready to think about anything but streamlining and more streamlining to prevent those dramas in the future. But stop and think. You’ll be better able to run a lean and ready operation made of tightly knit teams if you know what lies ahead.

   3. Better IT workforce planning means better workforce management.

And when IT departments are cobbled together from teams of specialists being asked to wear different hats every day, productivity suffers. In the IT field, your most valuable form of capital is your human capital. Don’t take a sloppy approach to workforce deployment. IT workforce planning isn’t just about adding personnel—it’s about making the best use of the personnel you already have.

For more help with IT workforce planning, contact the staffing experts at RPC. No matter what the future brings, we have the experience, skills, and resources you need build and retain a competitive IT team.

We’ve all been told that fearless communication is vital to the job search process. Everybody’s busy, everybody’s attention is divided, and the best way to get people to reach out to us is by reaching out to them. Right? Right. But following up on a job interview or application can be a delicate process. So how can you make contact without ruffling feathers? Here are a few considerations.

How the Follow -Up Works: Best and Worst Case Scenarios

Under the best of circumstances, you’ve submitted your application, you’ve waited a week, and you haven’t heard a word. The hiring manager has been harassed by multiple responsibilities and she’s been avoiding the pile of resumes building up on her desk. When you call and state your name, this happens:

You: I haven’t heard from you, but I just wanted to reiterated that my skills are perfectly suited to the….

Her: What did you say your name was? I’m looking for your paperwork now. Oh, here it is. Great. Come in Tuesday and we’ll talk about the job. See you then.

In the worst case, the position was staffed before you even applied, and if you call and begin a rant about your qualifications, the hiring manager will remember nothing about you but your impertinence. You’ll have wasted your time, wasted hers, and embarrassed yourself. She’ll be so annoyed that she’ll curse your name and blacklist you throughout the industry.

But the truth is, the second scenario doesn’t really happen. So just in case, it’s a good idea to drop your inhibitions and pick up the phone.

Following Up: What Not to Do

After submitting an application, wait for one to two weeks. After a job interview, wait for one week. Don’t jump the gun and call too soon. The reason: general courtesy allows for one follow-up call. Don’t waste your call before the hiring manager has had a chance to process your information and review it with her team.

When you make your follow-up call, don’t babble, wheedle, or bore. Keep your call short and confident. Know what you plan to say beforehand and be ready to deliver a brief reminder of your key qualifications. Start and end the conversation smoothly. Smile as you speak, even if your listener can’t see you.

If you gather your courage and pick up the phone with your speech at the ready and you get sent to voicemail, don’t panic. Hang up, decide what you’d like to say in the message, and then call back. This does not count as your one permissible follow-up; you’re also allowed one voice message. The same applies to messages left with receptionists or assistants.

If you follow up and don’t hear back for another two weeks, all bets are off. From this point forward you can feel free to call as many times as you like. But before you begin a relentless barrage, ask yourself: Do you really want this job? Think carefully before you rush into a working relationship with a company that disrespects you or undervalues your time. It might wise to take this silence as a sign and move on.

For additional help and guidance with the job search process, contact the staffing experts at RPC.

You have an important position to staff, you need to do it soon, and you need to do it well. You also need to complete the hiring process in a cost effective way that doesn’t break your budget. You might get lucky; a brilliant, personable, affordable candidate might stroll in the door at any minute and allow you to cross this item off your to-do list by the end of the week. But the chances of this are low. As you already know, a successful hiring process takes hard work and careful scrutiny.

But keep in mind that along with hard work and due diligence, the hiring process also involves a few intangibles like faith, risk tolerance, and instinct. Great managers don’t just sit still and exhaustively pick apart candidates in search of a sure thing. Instead, they gather all the available facts and then they make a decision and move on.

The Hiring Process: Perfectionism vs Experience

Perfectionism can be a damaging obstacle during the hiring process. But making a choice and closing the deal can be an expensive gamble. So what’s a careful manager to do?  Experienced and inexperienced hiring managers often approach the same situation in different ways. Here are a few examples:

1. This candidate has four of the measurable requirements for the job, but not all five.

The inexperienced hiring manager: This is supposed to be an employer’s market. The economy is terrible! So my candidate pool should be exceptional. But these candidates each have one missing qualification out of the five that I need for the position. I’ll just wait. In this climate, I shouldn’t have to settle.

The experienced manager: We need a candidate who speaks fluent French; that’s non-negotiable. But “five years of experience” may be a steep expectation, considering that this is an entry-level job. Let’s re-evaluate these five requirements realistically.

2. The candidate is personable…but not quite personable enough.The inexperienced manager: She seems nice, but a bit too eager to please, if you know what I mean. Plus, I didn’t like that remark she made about my tie.The experienced manager: She showed a bit of nervous energy during the interview, but I’ve conducted many, many interviews during my career and I can tell the difference between genuine social awkwardness and a simple case of nerves.
3. The candidate is personable and completely qualified, but she comes with a few red flags.Inexperienced manager: She’s has all five requirements and she seems like a cultural match, but the recruiter sent us links to her social media profiles, and I’m skeptical about some of the things I saw.Experienced manger: My years in this field have taught me how to combine bits and bytes of information into a broad, cohesive picture of what a candidate is really like, both as worker and as a person. Sometimes my impressions are on target, and sometimes they’re a little off, but I recognize the point at which I’ve gathered enough positive data and I’m ready to roll the dice.
4. This candidate is perfect, but so are all the others.Inexperienced manager: I’m in agony. I just can’t decide. So I won’t. I’ll continue to put it off until half of these great candidates are scooped up by my competitors.Experienced manager: I can think of worse problems to have. Let’s finish this task and move on.

If you’re truly stalled, the experts at RPC can help you gather the information you need to make an informed hiring decision. Contact our office today.

As the economy struggles to recover, technology evolves at an unprecedented pace, and old fashioned job security gives way to a streamlined modern workforce, employees are becoming increasingly independent and self-sustaining. Welcome to the 21st century and the rise of the Gig Economy. In this new age, many of us are doing what we have to do to pay the bills and keep our skills sharp, either between or instead of full time, long term positions with a single employer. 

If you’re joining the growing ranks of full time freelancers, short-term contract workers, and others who divide their time between multiple jobs and employers, you’re certainly not alone. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind as you make the most of your divided daily labors.

Mulitple Jobs: Stay Focused on Long Term Goals

As a full time free agent, it can be easy to get drawn into the minutiae of daily tasks and lose sight of the big picture. Yes, you’ll need to keep hustling throughout the day, and with no guarantee of what the future might bring, you’ll probably feel a strong need to focus on the moment and accept any and every job, no matter how relevant it may be to your long term plans. You may even start to forget that you have a long term plan.

Try not to do this. Stay calm and summon the courage to be selective about the work you pursue. Maintain sight of where you’d like to be in three, five, and seven years, and try not to be distracted by work that draws you away from that vision.

Protect Yourself: Rely on Contracts and Clear Communication

Complete independence often means reduced control over the flow of money into your account. When you freelance full time, you need to become your own bill collector, and that means getting tough and serious about legal contracts, late fees, and other terms of your employment. Do you have a protocol in place for employers who skip out on bills, drag their feet, or write bad checks? Written upfront contracts can help. Clear communication can also prevent problems. And so can experience. If you’re stiffed on a bill, learn as much as you can from the episode and use that knowledge as you engage with future clients. Were there any red flags, for example, that you should have noticed before accepting the work?

Organize Your Finances Carefully

When employers withdraw nothing from your payments, you’re left on your own to manage your tax calculations. You may not think you can afford a personal accountant, but a good accountant can be an invaluable resource and may be less expensive then you realize. Meanwhile, save at least forty percent of every payment and stash it away for tax purposes. And stay current on your quarterly tax payments so you don’t have to hand over an entire year’s worth of state, federal and local income taxes on April 15th.

For more advice on handling the demands of multiple jobs, contact the employment experts at RPC.

When it comes to the salary negotiation process, there are volumes of helpful advice available for candidates and job seekers. Candidates are often seen as the ones with something to lose, the ones who have to shift nervously in their seats and bluster their way to a fair deal. But it’s best for negotiators on both sides of the table to remember that hiring is a two way process. Just because you’re the one offering the job doesn’t always mean you’re at an advantage.

In fact, the opposite is often true. If you’re the employer than you’re the customer in this exchange, and you wouldn’t be sitting across from this candidate if you weren’t in need of something she’s prepared to supply. Great candidates like this don’t appear every day. You don’t want to lose her, and as you enter into this long term relationship, you want to make sure you’re getting what you pay for. 

Keep these considerations in mind as the interview process draws to a close and the salary negotiation process begins.

1. 
Make things easy on yourself by appealing to a wide pool of applicants.

Be strategic about your search. Use your network, use your online resources, and consult staffing experts like the ones at RPC for advice on attracting great candidates. When it’s time to talk money, more options will mean more breathing room.

2. 
Don’t show all your cards.

Don’t reveal too much about your monetary needs in your job posting. A post commanding all applicants to submit full salary histories along with their resumes is not only transparent, it’s also scary. Good candidates won’t be attracted to struggling companies that can’t pay them what they’re worth.

3. 
Don’t jump the gun (and don’t let candidates do so either).

Don’t start talking about salary until the candidate has a complete understanding of everything the job will entail. Give her the full tour. Otherwise, she might make a low offer that she’ll want to retract when she learns more about the challenges of the position. Or she may make a high offer before realizing that this truly is her dream job and she’s willing to take a lower figure in order to get in the door. In either scenario, you risk losing her, and that’s something you don’t want.

4. 
Respect her research, but do your own.

Doing your research means more than just asking the candidate what she’s currently making. The answer she provides may or may not be true, and besides, it shouldn’t determine your destiny. For a wide variety of reasons, her previous salary may vary wildly from what she’s currently expecting.

If you’re the on the hiring side during a salary negotiation, you’re the one making the offer, and you’re the one hoping for a return on your investment. So before you open the floor to discussion, investigate online resources like HR Salary Wizard, and make sure you’ve accounted for the geographic area and the market demand for the position.

For more hiring tools and salary negotiation tips, make an appointment with the staffing experts at RPC.