Currently, wages are rising with surprising speed. Partially, this is due to the after-effects of The Great Resignations and a persistent labor shortage. When recruitment and retention are challenging, and a candidate’s market takes hold, companies often boost compensation as a means of attracting talent. As a result, other organizations have to follow suit. Otherwise, turnover will increase quickly.
However, many companies are also dealing with the impact of inflation. As costs rise and consumers and businesses change their purchasing habits, budgets become strained. In turn, increasing wages further may not be plausible, creating what can seem like a no-win scenario.
Fortunately, there are ways to deal with wageflation successfully. If you aren’t sure where to begin, here’s what you need to know.
Adjust Compensation for Your Core Staff
First and foremost, adjusting compensation for your core staff to ensure it meets expectations is a must. Otherwise, you’ll have trouble maintaining a solid permanent team, which can harm productivity and damage morale.
Spend time researching wages for all of the positions that make up your long-term, permanent team. Ideally, you want to gather insights about what local competitors offer, though you can also use broader, location-based data when necessary.
If you discover that your wages are below what’s available elsewhere, create a plan for making adjustments. Then, inform your employees about your intent to bring up their compensation, including when pay raises will go into effect. That lets your core workforce know that you’re focused on providing competitive salaries, which can build trust and loyalty.
Use Alternatives to Traditional Hiring
Many companies have hiring needs relating to positions that aren’t a part of their core staff. For example, organizations may need extra employees during peak seasons to ensure productivity aligns with demand. Additionally, there may be project-specific skill requirements, reflecting capabilities that companies may not need long-term.
In these situations, traditional hiring strategies aren’t cost-efficient. When you bring an employee onto your payroll short-term, you are embracing a range of costs and risks that can harm your bottom line, which isn’t ideal during a period of both general inflation and wageflation.
Instead, it’s best to partner with a staffing firm for these types of hiring needs. By securing temporary workers through a recruitment agency, you can reduce your risks and cost. Plus, you’re lowering your administrative burden since the employees aren’t joining your payroll, allowing your human resources team to focus their efforts on other areas, like retention.
Plus, by partnering with a staffing agency like A.R. Mazzotta, you can connect with top talent quickly. Further, you can receive guidance regarding fair wages for short-term hires, all while having the ability to scale your workforce up or down at a moment’s notice without any undue financial ramifications.
Ultimately, wageflation may remain part of the equation for some time. By working with a recruitment firm, you can avoid some of the hardships while also ensuring you have access to the talent you need to thrive.
Partner with A.R. Mazzotta
If you need skilled employees for short-term needs, turning to a reputable staffing service can simplify your process and reduce costs. Request an employee from AR Mazzotta today.