Feast, famine and flexibility: creative staffing options provide pluses for employers, employees.

• Author: Error, Casey C.
• Position: SmallBusinessAdvisor

HIRE. Fire. Hire. Fire. It's a disturbing cycle, and it can bring a corporation to its knees. But corporations don't have knees; they have executives--who have employees--who have families--who very much have knees. Surges in production (and reduction) can devastate businesses and terrify employees who are left stranded in the wake of fleeting demand. Fortunately, there is another option: At a time when "feast or famine" seems more literal every day, flexibility can provide permanent relief to employers and employees.

"The workforce relies on people," says Susan Smith, vice president of Manpower of Utah. "Businesses still need employees. They still need staff. Flexible staffing is a way for businesses to meet all of their staffing requirements without rehiring." Just-in-time talent--a term Smith coined for flexible staffing--is a growing trend in which temporary employees are shared with non-competing organizations that have fluctuating needs for similar staff.

What's the difference between temporary staffing and flexible staffing? According to JoAnn Wagner, president and CEO of SOS Staffing, "Flexible staffing means targeting a specific industry and building a flexible workforce for direct deployment. The average flex-employee works for only two to three companies each year and holds about 10 jobs per year." Traditional temporary workers may perform a different job (in a different location) every week, and in some cases, every day.

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Another key difference is training. Flexible staffing comprises virtual pools of people in like industries who are provided with substantial and ongoing training. How substantial? According to Smith, Manpower employees have free access to over 50,000 online training programs in their Virtual Learning Center. Such training programs are designed to enhance an employee's skills, which can help reduce the amount of time and money an employer spends on individual training. "We've been doing this for 25 years, and somebody here has done that job," Smith asserts. "Somebody is already trained."

A New Animal

In theory, flexible staffing enables an employer to retain and sustain a core workforce, while reducing the primary risks and costs associated with training, production and reduction. In practice, however, it's a pill that may be too new for some businesses to swallow. "Flexible staffing is a new animal," Smith warns. "It's a mindset change, and it's not going to be for everybody. "Government...