Lead by Giving Your Workforce Options

ThinkstockPhotos-89880706Staffing is a tough business. Razor-thin profit margins, fierce competition from all angles, technology changing faster than the speed of light — or so it seems — labor shortages, etc. It’s hard to keep up with it all, and you can’t do it alone. Now more than ever you need to be able to recruit and retain a first-rate staff. For any company leader, that’s job No. 1.

But what if employees are asking for something you’d rather not give them? “Part of leading is not just getting your way, but knowing when to give way,” says Jon Osborne, Staffing Industry Analysts’ VP of strategic research. “Obviously, managers need to consider costs and operational efficiency, but in the current tight job market, it may also be necessary to be more flexible and accommodating of people than we have in the past.”

Working from Home

One way to do that is to give your staff the option to work from home. In a recent SIA survey, more than 15,000 internal staff respondents were asked whether they currently work at home to any degree and about how important the option is to them. A quarter of internal staff reported they work from home at least to some degree.

The option to work from home — whether exercised or not — seemed to be broadly important with respect to overall employee satisfaction. Among employees given the option to work from home, NPS scores (regarding recommending their respective employers) ranged from 62% to 77%; among those not given such an option, the NPS was 55%. But working from home is not for everyone. Our Staffing Company Survey 2016 states that making an at-home/remote recruiter situation effective is about identifying the right recruiters.

Dare to Lead

Let’s suppose you decide you’d like take the plunge on allowing staff to work from home. You’ll need advice; happily, you’ll get it at the upcoming Staffing Industry Executive Forum. The Tuesday, February 14th session, “Expert Master Class: Best Practices for the Virtual Manager” is on how managers can adapt their leadership style to cater to remote employees. Years of working with high-profile executives has given best-selling author, speaker and consultant Kevin Sheridan the chops to reveal how the “virtual manager” can build and sustain a productive and motivated team from afar.

That’s just one example of what this Executive Forum has to offer. Our agenda will help take you and your firm to the next level.

MORE: Security for Remote Workers

 

Subadhra Sriram

Subadhra Sriram
Subadhra Sriram is Staffing Industry Analysts' editor and publisher, media products. She can be reached at SSriram (at) staffingindustry (dot) com.

Subadhra Sriram

Share This Post

Tweet

Recent Articles

One Response to “Lead by Giving Your Workforce Options”

  1. claudia senders says:

    Hey  Subadhra,
    I agree with you that competition are increasing day by day and it
    affects in all department i.e Staffing agency, HR etc. If Staffing 
    agency needs to move further the agency needs to use https://ismartrecruit.com which supports Multilingual and Complete Robust options.

    https://ismartrecruit.com
    Thanks!

Powered by staffingindustry.com ·