Plainly all of us in business have weathered quite a first quarter this year. If you're reading this, you are still standing and you deserve kudos! Although what we are seeing being played out on the world and national political and economic stages is something vastly different from anything any one of us has seen before, recently we've noticed a little uptick in our business. Hopefully you've seen that, too.
CAUTIOUS GOOD NEWS
Here at Bolt Staffing, job orders steadily increased during the month of March. Hopefully the darkest days are behind us. Since the staffing industry is an economic bellwether, perhaps our North Bay microclimate is seeing signs of spring.
We hope your business is experiencing this thaw and it may help to know two industry leaders are: the catering and wine industry.
Our catering clients are reporting steady bookings and some are even concerned about having enough staff to support their events for the summer season! Apparently there is still plenty of confidence to commit to big-ticket weddings and other events. Obviously, that's a good sign.
Another area of promise is the wine and related industries. While there is plenty of caution, forecasts for the year are solid for wineries, bottle, cork, suppliers and other industry vendors. This is somewhat less surprising than catering, since as they say,
"When times are good, people drink, when times are bad people drink, more"!
Job orders for bottling line production employees are steady and staffing plans for crush 2009 look favorable. We understand wineries are planning to increase their use of outside temporary help, rather than hire their own seasonal employees, for cellar work during this upcoming harvest.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
We all are looking for steady improvement in consumer confidence and it reminds me of the humble little crocus. These beautiful little flowers are fearlessly bold in their eagerness to herald the arrival of spring. Especially in climates harsher than ours, they leap from the frozen ground bursting into the most welcome beautiful blooms of purple and yellow and give hope of spring and summer to hearts heavy with the seemingly endless winter. Typically, as quickly as they arrive, another frost comes to kill them faster than they came.
We want your company to be as fearless and bold as the crocus and at the same time careful enough to avoid the possible second frost!
These days, it's worth keeping this in mind. Beware of moving too hastily to permanently add to your staff. The flexible staffing solutions Bolt offers, protect you from another unexpected freeze in the demand for your product or service. By hiring temporary help as things pick up, you avoid adding fixed costs during uncertain times.
Examples:
�Avoid layoffs: by hiring temporary help, you can expand or contract your workforce without incurring expenses like unemployment claims and COBRA benefits; not to mention the decline in employee morale that occurs from layoffs
�Protect your existing workforce: by hiring through Bolt, you pay only for the hours worked by our assigned employees, this avoids taking work away from your core, full-time workers
�Hiring costs: recruiting good people takes time away from your core business; by using Bolt we do all the postings, sifting through resumes, interviewing and skills testing
�Try before you buy: Bring on a temporary employee and assess their performance and fit while business picks up. By hiring through Bolt, only proven and productive workers make it on your payroll.
Having started my staffing career during the recession in the early 1990s, I remember how important the role temporary workers played during the period of economic recovery. Savvy companies rebuilt their companies cautiously, using temporary employees to protect existing jobs, reduce hiring costs and hire only those people who were proven performers. With unemployment rates in the double digits, this recession is more severe.
Using our service to recruit the best workers (rather than employees) is a savvy, cost effective way to protect your business.
As always, I would enjoy hearing your feedback. Please call me or one of our experienced recruiters to discuss your workforce needs or your strategy for the future.
We appreciate your confidence and your business.
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