A Hidden Source of Temporary Staffing: Your Facility Service Provider

While many companies look to “staffing agencies” for temporary workers, you may be missing out on a variable labor source that’s much closer to your business – your facility services vendor.

Four Benefits of Sourcing Temporary Staff From Your Facility Services Vendor

1. Save time on onboarding

Onboarding a new vendor requires a substantial time investment before workers can even be hired. Typically, you go over company policies, protocols that are specific to your facility, processes for issue resolution, and standards for hiring workers. While it

can be tempting to cut corners on this time-consuming process, the consequences of failing to onboard properly can negatively affect production and safety.

One immediate benefit of using your facility services partner for staffing needs is that they know your facility and your business. That eliminates much of the paperwork and meetings that are part of the typical onboarding process. Instead, you’ll only have to get them up to speed on the expanded scope of work.

2. You know their resources

Payroll, time keeping, quality control – each new vendor brings a level of uncertainty around these core capabilities. You put a lot of trust in your staffing vendor to manage workers properly. You rely on them to provide invoices that accurately reflect the work that was done, and to ensure that scheduling, communication and pay for temporary workers are handled properly. When those matters aren’t handled properly, worker morale dips and costs can spiral out of control.

But you already know how well your facility services vendor manages their staff. Scheduling, time keeping, and quality control mechanisms should already be a part of your agreement. The less time you spend learning about whether their systems are compliant, how they’ll report to you, etc., the more time you can spend on other facets of ramping up production.

3. Onsite management improves accountability.

One concern that many manufacturers have with temporary staffing is work quality. While you may have an in- house resource to supervise temp workers, that may not be enough to make them feel accountable for their work.

More than likely, your facility services vendor has an onsite account or project manager to oversee staff and ensure that work is being performed according to your needs. Onsite managers can quickly resolve issues and even keep records to help support regulatory compliance. With a staffing service, you may not get that same level of oversight.

4. They’ll be ready to train on Day One.

Bringing new workers into your facility means you’ll have to dedicate resources to training them. In recent years, OSHA and the National Labor Relations Board have placed more responsibility on businesses for the safety of temporary workers. It’s more important than ever to have a solid partnership with your temporary staffing source, as you now share the responsibility for safety.

Fortunately, your facility services vendor is already training staff in your facility. From navigating the facility to safety protocols, you can lean on them to support or take on all training for temporary staff. That frees up time for your staff to focus on their core responsibilities.

When you leverage your existing facility service provider relationship, you can enjoy the benefits of greater efficiencies and reductions in labor costs. By using your existing vendor who already knows your facility, you are able to take some of the edge off of managing seasonal fluctuations in demand. You’ll spend less time on administrative hassles and you get the peace of mind and flexibility that come from working with a team that already understands your business.

About ABM

ABM (NYSE: ABM) is a leading provider of facility services in the United States and various international locations. ABM’s comprehensive capabilities include janitorial, electrical & lighting, energy solutions, facilities engineering, HVAC & mechanical, landscape & turf, mission critical solutions and parking, provided through stand-alone or integrated solutions. ABM provides custom facility solutions in urban, suburban and rural areas to properties of all sizes - from schools and commercial buildings to hospitals, data centers, manufacturing plants and airports. ABM Industries Incorporated, which operates through its subsidiaries, was founded in 1909. For more information, visit ABM.com.

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