The ASA Staffing Index, developed by the American Staffing Association, provides a current measure of staffing industry employment trends.  Published weekly, the index estimates the weekly changes in the number of people employed in temporary and contract work.

Index numbers are reported just nine days after each work week ends, making it a virtual real-time measure of staffing employment trends.  ASA research shows that staffing employment is a coincident economic indicator and leading employment indicator – especially when the economy is emerging from a recession – making the index especially relevant right now for businesses across the nation.

The ASA Staffing Index also serves as a valuable resource for economists, journalists, analysts, researchers and policy makers who are interested in current trends in staffing employment.  Participants account for more than one-third of industry sales offices.

Two numbers are reported weekly.  The first is the weekly percentage change in staffing employment.  The second is the index itself, which shows staffing employment trends over time.  Both numbers are normally posted on the ASA web site on Tuesday mornings.

This Week’s Staffing Index:

Follow this link to view current ASA Staffing Index data.

Monthly Report – April 2011

Staffing employment in April is 7% higher than in the same month last year, according to the ASA Staffing Index.  The index for April is 92, up one index point from 91 in March, suggesting that U.S. staffing employment has increased 1% over the past month.  Staffing employment is typically lowest during the first few months of each year and grows during the subsequent months.

A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists – In-Step with Connecticut Employers’ Changing Needs

A.R. Mazzotta delivers customized recruiting services, temporary staffing and workforce solutions to help companies like yours achieve sustained business success as the economy recovers.  What can we do for you?  Contact A.R. Mazzotta today.

Here are just a few of the ways temporary staffing can help your business contain expenses, manage uncertainty and maintain productivity during a slow economic recovery:

Contain employment costs.  Healthcare, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, Social Security and overtime costs continue to rise each year.  Temporary (temporary) staff can help you mitigate these costs:

• As the temporary employee’s employer of record, the staffing service pays benefits, unemployment, taxes and other personnel expenses.  You pay only for productive hours worked.
• When you use temporary staff to handle special projects and peak production periods, you don’t have to increase your fixed payroll costs – or direct headcount.
• You can eliminate overtime, and the employee burnout it causes, by bringing in temporary staff to handle extra hours when business picks up.

Manage uncertainty.  If your business faces an unknown future in this economy, consider using temporary staff to keep your workforce flexible.  You can bring in additional labor and expertise when you need it, while avoiding the expense and problems caused by overstaffing.

Increase focus.  When times are tough, every employee must be put to his or her highest and best use.  Temporary staff can be used to handle low-priority, mundane, or non-core business functions, so that your regular staff can focus on their most important priorities.

Minimize layoffs.  Although some businesses may be hiring again, many others continue to face the threat of layoffs.  Planned staffing services can help you smooth the fluctuations in your workload that typify the onset of a recovery – providing the staff you need to handle sudden surges in demand, while reducing the need for layoffs once things slow down again.

Maintain productivity.  Staffing services carefully pre-screen and test their workers to ensure they have the skills and attributes necessary to perform for your company.  In certain cases, the staffing firm will even train and orient new temporary staff for you, to help you maintain productivity.  And because staffing services handle recruiting, screening, interviewing, testing and reference-checking for you, their services help you be even more productive.

Through good economic times and bad, A.R. Mazzotta provides the services your business needs to thrive.  Contact us today to learn more about our staffing services for Connecticut employers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Why?  According to the American Staffing Association, the staffing industry has long been considered both a coincident economic indicator and a leading employment indicator.  In other words, changes in the staffing industry occur at the same time as changes in the overall economy; changes in staffing industry employment occur before changes in overall employment.

But new ASA research (statistical analyses of 36 years of government data) has further refined the relationship between the staffing industry and the economy as a whole:

• Temporary help employment is a strong coincident economic indicator when the economy is emerging from a recession.  This suggests that a sustained upturn in temporary help would signal the end of the current recession.
• Staffing industry employment is a strong leading indicator for total nonfarm employment by about three months when the economy is emerging from a recession.

Bottom line, the results suggest that a sustained upturn in temporary and contract staffing employment would signal the end of the current recession.  Additionally, total nonfarm employment would begin to grow about three months later.

Want to learn more?
Visit the American Staffing Association’s website to view and download reference documents that detail this research.  To learn more about the services and benefits A.R. Mazzotta offers, please visit our website.

• have the authority, and take the initiative, to make sound business decisions;
• are energetic, passionate and committed to doing a great job;
• are creative and innovative problem solvers;
• continually strive to improve quality, productivity and morale;

all because they feel personally rewarded for doing so.

But while the benefits of empowerment are clear, the steps to creating an empowered workplace may not be.  Use these quick tips to get your business started on the right path:

1. Understand what empowerment really is.  Empowerment isn’t something you do to people.  It’s an environment you create by giving employees goals, information, feedback, training and positive reinforcement.
2. Identify an opportunity for empowerment.  Start small.  Create a work team by selecting a few key employees who have the right skills, knowledge and resources to complete a small test project.  This project should be challenging enough to allow your staff to grow and take on additional responsibilities.
3. Set clear expectations.  Let your employees know what to do and how to do it.  Factors to consider include:  deadlines, channels for sharing information, methods for delegating authority, and ways to check progress / measure success.
4. Provide decision-making guidelines.  Provide clear instructions for when and how to make good decisions.  Explain when it’s okay to the take initiative and when employees should check with team members first.
5. Encourage open communication.  Information sharing is a critical component of an empowered workplace.  Create an atmosphere in which employees feel comfortable expressing concerns and sharing new ideas.
6. Establish accountability.  Provide the advice, perspective and guidance your team needs, but require them to create and manage their own solutions.  If mistakes are made, do not step in and fix them – use them as opportunities for employees to learn.
7. Let go.  Tough as it may be, don’t micromanage.  Once you’ve established clear expectations and guidelines for the project, it’s time to take your hands off the wheel.
8. Provide positive reinforcement.  For empowerment to permanently take hold in your organization, your employees have to want to do it.  So celebrate the successes (however small) your employees have while working on the test project.  Provide the feedback they need to feel respected and valued in their efforts.
9. Review results, then take it to the next level.  Once the project is complete, assemble your team for a debriefing.  How did the group do?  What worked?  What didn’t?  Use the lessons learned to develop a more comprehensive plan for getting your whole company on the road to empowerment.

An Empowered Workplace Starts with Great People

A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists can deliver the talented office, professional, technical and industrial staff you need to create an empowered workplace.

1. Keep employees informed.  Make sure employees understand your organization’s current “state of the union.”  Communicate what challenges and goals your company faces, as well as the factors that will contribute to your success. 
2. Let employees know what they can do to help achieve that success.  Explain how increasing customer service and loyalty, increasing efficiency, minimizing waste, etc. can help achieve company goals.  The more employees believe they can have an impact on organizational outcomes, the higher their productivity and morale will stay.
3. Ask employees for input.  Before making decisions that impact their roles or work – and may possibly lower spirits – ask employees for their feedback.  If you attempt to understand their perspectives and feelings, changes will be more readily accepted.
4. Respond to staff members’ questions and requests promptly.  Both morale and productivity suffer greatly when employees feel their concerns are just ”swept under the rug.”  So if you don’t have one already, create a formal process for addressing employee issues in a timely manner.
5. Give employees a sense of ownership by increasing responsibility.  For example, one Philadelphia-based consulting firm creates voluntary employee committees to set up an annual health fair and ongoing food co-op.  The extra work makes employees feel good and allows potential leaders to hone their skills.
6. Consider alternative rewards to company picnics.  Believe it or not, many employees find forced company socialization a burden.  So instead of spending money on an annual cookout, consider other ways to drive productivity.  Try awarding spa or salon gift certificates, movie passes, etc. to thank employees for their individual efforts.
7. Institute a peer-nominated employee recognition award.  An Atlanta business school awards employees for personal achievements as well as organizational contributions that go beyond job responsibilities.  This company finds that recognizing just one employee creates a huge boost in morale company-wide.
8. Offer more flexible work schedules.  For many workers, especially single parents and other caregivers, having the flexibility for personal time to handle family obligations is a huge morale-booster.  And often, your company can offer this perk without incurring additional expense.  Ideas include earlier/later start times; working four 10-hour days; working from home one day a week; and job-sharing.

Staffing Can Boost Morale and Drive Productivity

Here are two more ways A.R. Mazzotta can help keep your staff’s spirits and productivity high:

• Treat an employee to a day off.  Allow us to provide a temporary replacement for the day.
• Reduce employee burnout.  Bring in our temporaries to help ease the burden of overtime.  Remember, you can avoid paying overtime by using our employees to handle the extra hours.

Here are some common feedback mistakes:

• Speaking out only when things are wrong.
• Providing generic praise without specifics or an honest underpinning.
• Waiting until performance or behavior is substantially below expectations before acting on it.
• Giving negative feedback in public.
• Criticizing performance without giving suggestions for improvement.
• Not conducting regular performance reviews.

Clearly, giving and receiving constructive feedback is a skill that must be honed.  Developing proficiency in this area is essential to building good relationships with, and motivating peak performance from, your team.  To help get you started, here are four tips for providing feedback that produces more positive outcomes:

1. Be proactive.  Nip issues in the bud and avoid messy interpersonal tangles that result from neglected communication.  If you meet with employees regularly to give feedback, it conveys that their success is important to you, and that you want to be accessible to them.
2. Be specific.  Although it’s not easy to provide negative feedback, it’s important to be as clear as possible by giving specific examples that illustrate your point.  Instead of saying, “Your attitude is bad,” say, “When you miss deadlines, then cross your arms and look away when I discuss it with you, it gives me the impression that you don’t care about the quality of your work.  Can you help me understand this?”
3. Develop a progress plan.  Be clear about the specific changes in behavior that you expect in a specific period of time, and follow up as scheduled.
4. Link employees’ performance to organizational goals.  Reinforce the value of your employees’ contributions by giving specific examples of how their work and positive behaviors serve the organization and its customers.

At A.R. Mazzotta, we understand and appreciate the value of constructive feedback.  So we’d like to hear from you.  Please contact us with your questions, comments, and suggestions.