A.R. Mazzotta - Connecticut Employment Specialists

Temporary employees can be a great asset to your organization.  They can help you meet critical deadlines, fill-in for unplanned absences and free your core staff to focus on their most important tasks.

But if your company uses large numbers of temporary employees, it’s easy for your direct staff to fall into an “Us vs. Them” mentality.  And while treating temporary workers as an entirely separate workforce may seem innocuous, the practice can have unintended consequences for your direct employees.

For example, research from the University of Arizona has found that direct employees (particularly at lower levels) are less satisfied with co-workers and bosses when working with a higher proportion of temporary employees.  Why?  The responsibility of training and socializing temporary workers on company-specific processes is often assigned to direct employees.  As a result, having more temporaries can complicate full-time workers’ jobs.

Here are a few suggestions for improving the working relationship between temporary and direct employees to achieve even better staffing results:

• Make temporary employees feel welcome.  While temporaries are, in fact, a separate part of your workforce (and must be treated differently because of co-employment laws), you and your staff can still make them feel welcome in your organization.  By encouraging social interaction (e.g., formal or informal introductions) among all workers, you can foster social ties that are essential to a cohesive workforce.
• Educate your direct staff.  Take the time to clearly explain the role and value of temporary workers.  The better your direct employees understand the benefits temporary help provides, the more likely they’ll be to work productively with them.
• Take advantage of training.  If you use large numbers of temporaries, many staffing services will develop customized orientation and training programs for specific positions.  This shifts the time-consuming burden of getting new temporary employees up-to-speed off your direct employees’ shoulders.

Click here for more tips on keeping your temporary employees productive and efficient.

Bottom line, there are a number of steps you can take keep relations between temporary and direct employees positive.  And the more positive their working relationship, the better your results will be.  Contact A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists today to learn more about our staffing services for Connecticut employers.

Ever feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information coming at you each day?

With the barrage of data pouring in from newspapers, TV, the internet, social media, RSS feeds, e-mails, voicemails and good-old-fashioned face-to-face meetings, finding the critical information you need amidst all the “white noise” can be exhausting.

Take the BLS Monthly Employment Situation, for example.  It contains monthly employment estimates for over 1,000 industries from its Current Employment Statistics program.  However, the changes in these overall employment levels tend to be delayed in the monthly labor reports – making it a lagging indicator of economic trends.

Sound like a lot of white noise?

Not entirely.  Temporary help employment numbers, which are part of the monthly BLS report, are generally considered to be a coincident indicator for overall employment.  This means that changes in temporary help employment tend to forecast subsequent changes in overall employment and coincide with changes in economic activity.  Why?  Many companies use temporary staffing as a means to quickly adjust their operations to meet fluctuating demands for their products and services.

Here’s how to get current data for temporary help services in the BLS report:

1. Go to the BLS Current Employment Statistics home page.
2. Then select either the HTML or PDF version of the “Employment Situation Summary.”
3. Data for temporary help services can be found in Table B-1 (page 30 of the report’s PDF version).

Effectively manage the economy’s highs and lows with A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists.
Our full spectrum of staffing services for Connecticut employers can help you run lean – while providing on-demand access to the talent you need to meet surges in demand.

These days, with a greater number of candidates vying for the same openings in your company, you may find yourself having to say “No” more often.  Needless to say, writing rejection letters can be an unpleasant and stressful part of the hiring process.

But even when you can’t offer a job applicant the position, it is important to end the interview process on a positive note.  Here are some quick tips for writing candidate rejection letters in a constructive way, to build good will with candidates and position your company as an employer of choice:

• Send out the rejection letter promptly.  If you’re certain you will not be hiring the individual, let him know that he was not selected as soon as possible.  Even when the news is bad, your timely follow-up will convey a high level of professionalism.
• Always use formal company letterhead for a rejection letter and never handwrite it.
• Address your candidate by name.  Further customize the letter with the position for which he applied, as well as a supportive comment about the applicant’s qualifications, experience or enthusiasm.  Although a rejection letter is basically a form letter, your candidate shouldn’t feel as though it is.
• Be direct, but gracious.  Make it clear that there were other candidates more qualified for the job, but do so in a respectful way.
• When appropriate, encourage further action.  If the candidate is a good culture fit, and may be qualified for other openings with your company, say so.  Encourage him to stay in touch and apply again.
• Always end on a positive note.  Thank the candidate for applying and interviewing.  Wish him good luck in his career development.  Remember, this may be the final impression this individual has of your company – make sure it’s a favorable one.
• Close the letter formally with “Sincerely,” or “Best wishes,” and sign your name.

Don’t want to write rejection letters?

Call A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists, a leading Connecticut staffing firm, with your direct placement needs.  We’ll handle every step of the process – from recruiting to testing and initial interviews – and only present you with the most qualified candidates.  If you decide not to hire an individual we refer, just let us know and we’ll take care of the rest.

Learn more about the benefits of A.R. Mazzotta’s direct placement services.

You’ve just won a three-month contract with a major new client – congratulations!  Now, you need to figure out how to get the extra work done. 

Should you pay your current employees overtime, or bring in temporary help?  Consider the following sample cost analysis.  It is based on an annual salary of $40,000 ($19.23/hr., based on a 40 hr. work week), vs. time-and-one-half overtime, for one employee:

Cost Analysis

Although this is just a sample exercise for illustration purposes, it clearly demonstrates the economic rationale for using temporary employees.  When you need additional productive hours on a temporary basis, staffing services provide a hassle-free way to lower costs, reduce burnout and improve the productivity of your direct staff.

A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists – Connecticut’s Staffing Economics Experts

Need help assessing the cost of a staffing strategy?  Contact A.R. Mazzotta today.  Our experts will work with you to determine the most productive and cost-effective ways to get your work done.

Cost Analysis Assumptions

* Temporary staffing rates vary by market, but the relationship (ratio) between pay rates remains the same.

** Fringe benefits include:  holiday pay, sick leave, vacation pay, personal days, insurance, F.I.C.A., S.U.I., F.U.T.A., worker’s compensation, etc., based on a national average of 31%.

*** Based on U.S. Chamber of Commerce national average statistic of 12%, which includes firms that pay no benefits.  For small firms with moderate benefits programs, this cost is typically 40-45% of payroll, and for larger firms with extensive benefits programs, the cost can be up to 100% or more of payroll.

An effective mentoring program provides a wide range of business benefits:

• Facilitated onboarding. Mentoring speeds up the process of bringing on new hires as well as redeploying existing employees into new lines of work.
• Increased employee satisfaction and retention. Research has shown that employees who participate in mentoring programs have higher job satisfaction and reduced turnover.
• Improved employee productivity. When employees are mentored, they can get answers to common problems quickly – without wasting time on rediscovering or re-inventing solutions.
• Effective career growth / succession planning. Mentoring programs help employees reach their full career potential, grooming them to fill key roles as part of an organization’s succession plan.
• Knowledge management and retention. Mentoring promotes effective knowledge sharing, to reduce the risk of losing critical skills and knowledge when employees leave.

Obviously, mentors can play an important role in ensuring your company’s continued success.  But while identifying a budding protégé may be straightforward, identifying a potential mentor can be more complex.  Whether that person is you, one of your managers, or an outside expert, a mentor should possess the following professional and personal attributes:

1. Senior-level business experience. To provide guidance, the expert should have several years experience working in senior corporate positions.  At a minimum, the expert should be a professional peer to the protégé.
2. Interpersonal and political “know-how.” The expert ought to be proficient in handling all sorts of complex interpersonal dynamics within the context of office politics.  To be an effective trainer, the expert must be able to help the protégé navigate the tricky political waters of his organization.
3. Integrity and confidentiality. Professional development involves discussing high-level, strategic, off-the-record information, as well as sensitive personal issues.  Honesty and discretion are essential when broaching these confidential topics.
4. Organizational and personal insight. The expert must have an in-depth understanding of the company’s objectives, needs and hierarchy.  Equally, he must also appreciate the protégé’s strengths, weaknesses and goals.  To achieve professional development goals, the trainer must align both the company’s and the protégé’s interests.
5. Flexibility and ingenuity. When egos, ambitions and agendas collide, sparks fly.  What works for an organization one day may be thrown out the window the next.  An expert trainer must be able to shift gears, develop solutions on the fly, throw out tactics that prove ineffective and come up with new ones – fast.  He must be comfortable dealing with uncertainty to navigate a corporate environment rife with change.

A.R. Mazzotta Professional Development and Coaching Services
As a premier Connecticut employment agency, A.R. Mazzotta offers a variety of HR resources – including coaching for executives, key staff and work teams – to assist your company through the entire employee cycle.  Contact us today to learn more.

Tips for Successful Salary Negotiations

Congratulations!  You’ve found a superstar with the ideal skills, personality and experience for the position.

But you still have one hurdle to overcome – salary negotiations.  Landing the cream of the crop without blowing your personnel budget can be tricky.  To help, here is a quick list of strategies for negotiating salary with high performers:

1. Have the right mindset.  Negotiation is a process, not a war.  At all costs, avoid the pitfalls of the “us vs. him/her” mentality.  Instead, enter the salary negotiation process open-minded, with the ultimate goal of hiring the best possible candidate for your company.
2. Do your homework.  Rest assured your candidate will have done his.  Before heading into negotiations, prepare yourself by:  reviewing the candidate’s salary history; consulting relevant salary surveys; knowing what your competitors are paying; understanding current market and economic conditions; factoring in cost-of-living differences; and developing a comprehensive compensation package.
3. Use a negotiating point person.  In multiple interview situations, a candidate may ask salary questions of more than one interviewer.  Be prepared.  Prevent potentially catastrophic communication errors by designating a single person to discuss and negotiate salary with a candidate.
4. Never lowball a candidate if there is a good fit.  A top candidate knows what he’s/she’s worth.  If you lowball him/her in an attempt to save a few dollars, he/she will likely be insulted and reject the offer without even countering.
5. Sell the intangibles.  Identify a candidate’s “hot buttons” – intangibles which are just as important to him/her as money.  Leverage these intangibles (e.g. company culture, stability, challenging work, opportunity for advancement, flexible hours, etc.) to sweeten the deal when your pay range is maxed out.
6. Be up-front if you can’t negotiate.  If your initial offer is not negotiable (because of budgetary or other constraints), tell the candidate when making the offer.  If possible, provide an explanation.  The candidate will understand that your base salary offer is firm, and will then move on to negotiating other parts of the compensation package.

Work with A.R. Mazzotta.  Avoid the pitfalls of salary negotiations by using our Recruiting Services for Direct Hire.  We can handle every step of the process from initial screening through salary negotiations, to ensure you land a top performer without breaking the bank.

What’s the single most important variable in the success (or failure) of your business?

Your staff.

Steven Berchem, Certified Staffing Professional and Vice President of the American Staffing Association, posted a great article on the ASA website which addresses the ways today’s businesses are using staffing to gain real competitive advantage. 

Here are a few of the article’s salient points:

• As agility becomes more essential to success, smart companies are rejecting traditional hiring models and taking bold approaches to staffing.  They are moving away from lengthy hiring processes and no longer see the wisdom of filling every position with a permanent employee.
• These changes in key business practices have led companies to use more temporary and contract employees in diverse and highly skilled professions, including: accountants, attorneys, chief executives, doctors, graphic designers, IT professionals and even pilots.
• Today’s staffing employees are motivated, satisfied and educated.  In a survey conducted by the ASA, nine out of 10 staffing employees said they would recommend temporary or contract work to a friend or relative.  And while it may come as a surprise, staffing employees are actually better educated than the overall workforce, with 74% having at least some college education (compared to 62% of the traditional workforce).
• Staffing firms provide the only means of accessing some of America’s best talent.  In fact, the majority of staffing employees either use temporary or contract work as their sole means of finding a “permanent” job, or they simply prefer their current work arrangement over traditional employment.

To read or download the full article, click here.

Maximize the Value of Your Human Resources with A. R. Mazzotta

If you’d like to maximize the value of your staff as a source of competitive advantage for your company, contact A.R. Mazzotta today.  We can show you how to use staffing to become more agile, efficient and profitable.  Together, we can develop a smart staffing plan that will enable your organization to compete – and win.

According to a worldwide survey of senior managers, years of staff cutbacks have undermined trust in the workplace.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s new report, titled “Companies at the Crossroads,” recommends that to restore that trust, companies must put their employees first  – or risk experiencing deep talent erosion and sustained underperformance as the global economy recovers.

Here are some key statistics from the December 2009 report:

• 29% of business executives surveyed said employee engagement is low – and that they expect to lose key people as talent demand grows.
• 41% of respondents cite a shortage of talent in their organization.
• 44% of executives surveyed said they find it increasingly difficult to recruit talented employees.
• 50% of respondents plan to ramp up recruitment in 2010, with only 18% freezing headcounts.

The survey found that while executives understand the need to focus on their talent, greater action is needed to develop sound talent management strategies for the future.  Low trust among mid-level employees, coupled with low graduate recruitment and an ongoing demand for senior executive talent, is creating a “perfect storm” for businesses:  the most talented employees may be headed out the door, with fresh talent not yet recruited.

Bottom line, these trends can have a serious impact on your business as the economy recovers.  A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists is prepared to help.  We proactively recruit to ensure you always have immediate access to the skilled, talented and reliable individuals you need – especially when that talent becomes hard to find.  Visit our website to find out what we can do for you.

When used strategically, temporary staffing can improve productivity, increase capacity to handle spikes in workload, and provide access to specialized skill sets – all without increasing your fixed expenses.

To help ensure your temporary staff is as efficient and productive as possible, be sure to follow these five key steps:

Step #1: Determine the type of person you need and define required skills.
Meet with managers and those who will be working with the temporary employee to determine which skills are ideal for the position you are trying to fill.  Examine top performers you already have on staff to determine what skills have made them successful.  And finally, work closely with your staffing agency and provide as much detail as possible.

Step #2: Work with an experienced staffing agency.
Find an agency that has experience in your industry.  Not only will an experienced staffing agency know where to look to find the right person, but they will also be able to help you determine things like an appropriate pay rate for a particular position.

Step #3: Provide a solid orientation and training program.
Include information such as working hours, breaks and lunch schedules, any safety regulations or company rules, and contact information for direct supervisors.  You may also want to assign a core staff member or supervisor to help orient the temporary employee.  Also, find out what type of training and orientation your staffing agency can provide.  Good staffing agencies will offer guidance on how to best bring temporary employees up-to-speed so they can hit the ground running – and they may even conduct initial training and orientation for you.

Step #4: Communicate clearly and openly.
Make sure your temporary employees understand what’s expected from them.  Encourage employees to ask questions and make sure they know to whom they should direct those questions.

Step #5: Check in regularly.
Be sure to take a minute or two at several points throughout the first day to check in and gauge progress.  Set specific days/times you plan to check in throughout the week to answer any questions and monitor progress.

Bringing a temporary employee on board at your company can offer a host of benefits – as long as that employee is managed properly.  And from our experience, hard-working and properly managed temporary employees often become leading candidates for full-time openings.

If you’re interested in hiring temporary employees or just want to learn more about how temporary staff can help your company, contact A.R. Mazzotta today.  As a local, full service staffing agency serving Connecticut employers for over 40 years, we can deliver the flexible staff you need without increasing your permanent workforce.

Most of us today are conditioned to look for the best possible price.  In most cases, this makes good economic sense.  But when it comes to staffing services, the company offering the lowest prices isn’t necessarily going to deliver the best value.

Here are a few good reasons why shopping around for the lowest-priced temporary employees might not be the wisest use of your staffing dollars:

• To offer you the lowest price, a staffing service may be forced to cut back on the quality and amount of service they provide.  They may not be able to afford the same depth of recruiting and screening.  As a result, they may have more difficulty finding the right candidates for your specific needs.
• Because of simple supply and demand, the staffing agencies that offer better wages to their temporary employees will most likely get the more talented, skilled, reliable and experienced applicants.  Any staffing firm can find a “warm body” to fill your position.  But finding a quality employee that truly fits your organization may be too crucial to risk – especially for what may boil down to a few cents per hour.
• Not getting the right person for the job can have very costly ramifications.  For example, a temporary employee who is less than qualified for the position can cause the following unforeseen expenses:
  - additional time (money) up front to adequately orient and train the temporary
  - increased supervision for a less qualified temporary
  - mistakes and reworks – the time, money and materials involved in re-doing the work of a less qualified temporary
  - poor productivity – the amount of work a sub-par employee fails to complete (compared to a qualified individual)

The bottom line is, many things in business aren’t worth risking.  The quality of your human capital is definitely one of them.

A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists:  the Best Staffing Value for Connecticut Employers
When it comes to the quality of A.R. Mazzotta’s candidates, you get what you pay for – skilled, reliable, hard-working and experienced people who truly fit your needs.  Rest assured, we will always deliver the best value for your staffing dollar.