Accurate Staffing Skilled Trades

Accurate Staffing Skilled Trades offer W-2 staffing solutions for your business

With support from Accurate Staffing Skilled Trades, you can worry less about your recruiting efforts and focus more on serving your customers and growing your overall business.

Accurate Staffing Skilled Trades delivers a safe, reliable and compliant W-2 workforce for your staffing needs while also performing a variety of duties for you.

  • Our teams are responsible for administrative tasks related to payroll taxes, employee benefits and workers’ compensation insurance.
  • Through our comprehensive vetting process, we ensure that every worker we recommend to your company has the necessary skills, experience and commitment to excel in the job.
  • We stay on top of changes in labor laws and regulations to ensure that all employment practices remain compliant.
  • In the end, our staffing solutions free up your time, allowing you to focus on vital business tasks.

Accurate Staffing has a local presence and all markets throughout the U.S. to provide staffing support across a variety of industries, including retail, hospitality, events, manufacturing, clerical and more.

Meanwhile, Accurate Staffing Skilled Trades is home to a dedicated team of skilled trades staffing experts. We work across trades and industries to help you find the tradespeople you need.

 

Advantages of Hiring a Staffing Agency

ADVANTAGES OF USING A STAFFING AGENCY TO REACH YOUR 2024 GOALS

As you address your talent needs in today’s challenging economy, have you considered working with a staffing agency to help fill temporary or direct hire roles?

Rather than wonder “Why would we hire a staffing agency?” you may want to ask yourself, “Why wouldn’t we?” Because, in the case of many open positions, the benefits far outweigh any doubts you may have about your decision.

THE RIGHT STAFFING AGENCY PARTNER CAN HELP YOU:

REDUCE TIME TO HIRE

A staffing agency helps drive a more efficient hiring process as they streamline your recruiting operations without sacrificing quality. They handle much of the time-consuming legwork including sourcing and screening candidates, scheduling interviews, and handling the details of follow throughs, offers, negotiation and more. Their industry expertise removes much or all of this burden from your plate.

  • Agencies have deep talent networks already in place. They dip into these pools to find the candidates you need within the time frame you request. This can reduce your time to hire to days, instead of weeks or months.

CUT OTHER HIRING COSTS

In addition to lowering expenses used to attract top talent, staffing agencies reduce their clients’ overhead by eliminating benefit costs from your budget. Agencies cover workers compensation and general liability insurance, take out payroll taxes, pay the workers they supply your company, and cover other employment-related costs.

  • This also lowers your liability. Working with a staffing agency, legal risks associated with employment become the agency’s risk, not yours. Your agency is responsible for making sure employees are properly classified, paid, and have access to benefits, among other legal requirements. You have no worries about potentially costly disputes.

IMPROVE RETENTION

By helping you make the right hire the first time around, your staffing agency can help you narrow down exactly what you need in a candidate. Recruiters work with job seekers all day, every day, and they have vast, current knowledge of the talent market. They are adept at spotting resumes and individuals with just the right skills and personality for your open roles. And ultimately, these are typically the superstars who stay with their companies for the long term.

  • An added plus? You can try before you buy. Through your agency, you can opt to hire a temporary employee so you can gauge their performance and fit. When their assignment or contract period nears an end, you can decide whether to hire them permanently or move on to a different candidate.

ENHANCE FLEXIBILITY

Your staffing agency can quickly provide employees based on your current staffing needs. This enables you to right size your staffing as needed, whether it fluctuates due to seasonal needs, permanent workers taking time off, or the ebb and flow of customer demand.

Accurate Staffing, Inc., matches top talent with healthcare, office, managed services and light industrial jobs in the Akron, OH market and beyond. The right people make all the difference to your success.  Contact us today so we can help you build your winning team.

How to Manage Your Summer Staffing Needs

How to Manage Your Summer Staffing Needs

In many industries, the current worker shortage will become even worse due to increased activity during the summer months. Accurate Staffing offers tips on how to attract and retain workers so that you can avoid a staffing shortage this season. 

Seasonal Staffing Solutions for Your Business

Summer is fast approaching and with it comes another busy season for companies in a variety of industries. Having reliable workers who can get the job done will be key to your success in the coming months. Accurate Staffing shares six tips that can help you avoid a summer staffing shortage this season.

  1. Reward your current workforce
  2. Bring back last year’s workers
  3. Look for cross-training opportunities
  4. Offer a variety of scheduling options
  5. Expand your hiring pool
  6. Consider partnering with Accurate Staffing

Reward your current workforce

Retaining your current workforce is the first step to preventing a staffing shortage. It’s more important than ever to ensure your employees feel happy, motivated and appreciated. Start by checking in regularly and asking for their input on decisions that affect their work. This sets the foundation for open communication and makes workers feel respected and valued.

You can also offer perks and incentives — like happy hours, game nights or weekly lunches ⁠— to help boost morale and employee retention. Other ways to show your appreciation include helping workers with ongoing expenses such as offering bus passes, gas cards or free parking.

Plus, celebrations and rewards programs can keep staff engaged and enhance productivity. Workers who go above and beyond can win tickets to a local sporting event or show or receive extra time off. Even small gestures can have a significant impact on employee morale.

Bring back last year’s workers

On average, it takes four to six weeks to hire a full-time employee. If you take four to six weeks to hire this summer, your business could struggle to meet staffing demands. Plus, a full-time hire may not be the best choice given economic uncertainty.

Solve your summer staffing shortage without breaking your budget by calling on those who know your business best: Last year’s seasonal workers. They know what it takes to get the job done and can provide the support you need without the usual hiring hassles of onboarding.

Another thing to note: When you’re choosing from last year’s workers, look for traits such as a positive attitude, good communication skills and a strong work ethic.

Look for cross-training opportunities

When times get busy, looking to your current workforce for more support can have a big impact. Team members may have skills and experiences that are perfect for other roles. Someone with an outgoing personality may have what it takes to succeed in a frontline role, for example.

Cross-training can have a positive impact on your recruitment and retention efforts as well. A PwC study notes that 77% of workers are interested in expanding their skillset or completely retraining for a different role. Meanwhile, 48% of workers would switch to a new job if offered training opportunities, according to a Gallup survey.

When it comes to your summer staffing goals, you get the best of both worlds. Promoting your training opportunities can help attract more applicants to your company. Meanwhile, your current team members chosen for these opportunities will feel more valued knowing that you are invested in their career development.

Offer a variety of scheduling options

In recent studies a survey, 44% of job seekers say flexibility is the primary reason they are looking for a new job. As a result, more companies are adopting flexible scheduling models to attract and retain workers.

Adapting your scheduling methods to accommodate your workforce can help support your staffing needs through the summer. Some of these options include:

Flextime: Workers choose their own start and end times provided they are still on-site for set core hours.

Self-scheduling: Workers select their own shifts on a first come, first serve basis.

Shift work: Your workforce is split so employees do the same job on different rotations, still allowing you to meet deadlines.

Staggered hours: Workers begin and end their shift at different times, allowing them to make appointments or run errands.

Finding the flexible scheduling strategies that work for you and your workers will boost retention, attract new candidates and create a staffing solution that fills gaps in your workforce in the summer season and beyond.

Expand your hiring pool

When it comes to hiring, you can broaden your horizons to include different groups of job seekers. They often have open availability which can help your business account for unplanned absences or rapid business growth. Some examples of seasonal workers who might serve your business:

Recent high school graduates and college students who are looking to make extra money or explore their career options.

People switching careers who are looking to find career advancement options, or a better work-life balance.

Working parents and caregivers who are seeking flexible jobs that allow them to fulfill family responsibilities.

Military veterans and spouses who want to transfer their skills into the civilian job market.

Keep in mind that if the performance of your seasonal workers is strong, they can become permanent members of your team. That way you’ll prevent seasonal staffing shortages and ensure your productivity year-round.

Consider partnering with a staffing agency

Being understaffed can cause a lot of problems for your business and negatively impact your staff as well. This can result in increased stress, reduced output or poor performance, according to a study from the Society of Human Resource Management. Even worse, it can lead to more workers leaving for other jobs.

So, how do you ensure that you always have access to the workers you need? If filling open roles is an ongoing challenge, a staffing agency can provide summer staffing solutions. A staffing agency will create a staffing plan based on your current needs with easy access to seasonal staff for your open roles. Even better, they can provide the workers you need, whether it’s a single person at one location, or an entire workforce across multiple job sites.

HOW Accurate Staffing SUPPORTS YOUR SUMMER STAFFING NEEDS

Accurate Staffing can help you solve your seasonal staffing shortage this summer or at any time of year. Our team of staffing experts in over 500-plus markets can fulfill a variety of staffing needs. For example:

  • Construction staffing (clean-ups, clean-outs)
  • Event staffing
  • General labor staffing
  • Hospitality staffing
  • Retail staffing
  • Warehouse staffing
  • And more

Since unexpected staffing needs can happen at any time, our app, The Buzz, provides you 24/7 access to job seekers in your local area who are available immediately. As a result, you can fill jobs with seasonal staff even outside of normal business hours.

Call Today:

Akron:
330.630.0700
Canton:
330.494.9675

15 Effective Employee Retention Strategies in 2023

15 Effective Employee Retention Strategies in 2023

In the last year and a half, millions of employees from multiple sectors around the world have joined a mass exodus from the workplace. Many have tried explaining the mass exodus, but reports indicate it may be due to inadequate salaries, limited career advancement, poor work-life balances, general unhappiness with management or the company and numerous other reasons.

This so-called Great Resignation, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, has turned employment into a worker’s market. TikTok users have coined phrases such as “quiet quitting” and “act your wage” as employees find community with others who don’t feel properly valued or appreciated by their workplaces.

As employees decide what’s right for them, employers are having to reconsider what actually makes their company worth working for. If you feel like your business may be at risk of losing top talent, or you have already begun losing your best workers to the Great Resignation, it is probably time to consider some employee retention strategies. Here are 15 effective strategies to boost employee job satisfaction and help you hold on to your best workers.

  1. Offer Competitive Base Salaries or Hourly Wages

Offering a wage worthy of sacrifice and hard work should be the number one priority when making your employees feel their work is valued. Proper compensation is far and away more important than any other item on this list; you will not retain employees effectively unless you pay them what their time is worth.

Not only should employees be paid fairly for their time and work, they should also be able to afford the cost of living where they live, their wages should be regularly adjusted for rising inflation and they should be additionally compensated as their experience level with the work grows. Additionally, every time their responsibility increases, so too should workers’ reward increase.

The first step to offering your employees the right wage is to determine the living wage in your area. Keep in mind that though the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25, reports show that that hourly rate is below the living wage in nearly, if not every, county in the U.S. MIT offers a living wage calculator to help estimate the cost of living in each state, city or metro area. This should be the absolute base pay for any position and wages should increase from there.

The second step is to research what your competition is offering in terms of salaries and wages, and what kind of raises competitors have been handing out. If you are not offering the top wages compared to your competition, you will be more likely to lose your best employees. Lower performers will take their jobs, costing you significantly more money in the long haul than were you to just pay the best employees more.

Hiring and training a new employee is significantly more expensive than raising the wages of an existing employee. The Society for Human Resource Management estimates it can cost six to nine months of an employee’s salary to replace them after consideration of headhunting, hiring and training costs. For example, that’s $30,000 to $45,000 to replace an employee making $60,000 a year—not to mention the massive loss in productivity, revenue and workflow during the hiring and training process.

  1. Let Your Employees Work From Home

According to Upwork’s “Future of Workforce Pulse Report,” 36.2 million Americans will be working remotely in 2025—an increase of nearly 90% since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote work isn’t just convenient to reduce the spread of disease, but has been shown to make employees happier and more productive at work. With modern technology, working entirely (or even partially) from home is possible in a vast array of industries.

While more research needs to be done on the long-term effects of remote work, Upwork’s report shows positive effects of work-from-home include a reduction of nonessential meetings, increased schedule flexibility, commute elimination, fewer distractions and greater autonomy. When your employees do not have to spend time sitting in traffic, stressing about child care or losing productivity due to scheduling issues or lengthy meetings, they will be more productive and happier.

Remote work will not likely be a permanent solution for many businesses, and more and more Americans return to offices each month, but offering flexible work-from-home options may be an incentive to keep the best employees with your company for the long run.

  1. Provide Flexible Scheduling and Reduced Workdays

Along with offering remote work, studies from the Society for Human Resource Management also show businesses offering more flexible work options maintain significantly better worker retention. Even before the pandemic made work-from-home a norm, a 2019 study showed nearly two-thirds of workers found themselves more productive outside of a traditional office due to fewer interruptions, fewer distractions and less commuting. Creativity can’t always be turned on like a faucet, so offering your employees flexible hours encourages them to find the times they will be most efficient and productive to focus attention on the work.

Along with providing flexible scheduling, reducing the hours in your workday or work week can actually increase employee productivity and encourage more employee retention. A 2014 study by Stanford University found productivity enters a steep decline after a worker exceeds 50 hours of work per week. While we often think workaholics who are the first to arrive and last to leave are more dedicated and productive, that is not necessarily the case if much of the productivity in those hours is lost to burnout or exhaustion.

  1. Encourage and Promote a Work-Life Balance

Fourth on our list of key retention strategies for businesses is to encourage and promote a good work-life balance—not just for your employees, but for yourself, too. Especially after the pandemic drastically changed how employees value work, more and more workers cite work-life balance as the reason they consider new jobs or the reason they have refused opportunities. That work-life balance could come by means of remote work, flexible scheduling or reduced workdays, as mentioned above, or simpler acts such as encouraging employees not to check email or answer work questions via phone unless at work or on the job. Respecting employees’ time away from work is key to maintaining a healthy working relationship with them.

  1. Recognize and Reward Your Employees for Their Work

Employees who feel appropriately recognized and rewarded by workplaces are much easier to retain long term, but studies also show those employees will work harder and be more productive. Unfortunately, over 80% of American employees say they don’t feel recognized or rewarded. A report by the Brandon Hall Group found companies that prioritize recognizing their employees multiple times per month are 41% more likely to see increased employee retention and 34% more likely to see increased employee engagement.

There are numerous ways to recognize and reward your employees, but it’s important to make sure you prioritize both social recognition and monetary rewards. It feels good to not only be recognized for our work, but to be publicly recognized, as it helps everyone know when others are appreciated, too. Financial rewards, whether in the form of straightforward cash, gift cards or even other perks such as paid time off, are among the most important and most successful rewards you can offer an employee. Consider asking employees open-ended questions about what they’d like in terms of rewards, too.

Make sure you are not only recognizing your employees for results, but also for efforts. Sometimes projects are not as successful as we hoped, numbers are not reached or deals are not closed. While this can be a disappointment, making sure your employees know that, though they didn’t reach the goal, their work is still appreciated. This can help encourage your employees to try harder the next time and support them when they might otherwise feel hopeless or defeated.

  1. Create a Culture That Employees Want To Be Part Of

Another key retention strategy is creating a work culture that your employees want to be part of. A 2019 Glassdoor study found that a company’s culture matters significantly not only to employees who are considering a job (77% said they would consider a company’s culture), but also to employees staying in their jobs. In fact, nearly two-thirds of employees cited a good company culture as one of the main reasons they elect not to leave.

Developing a great company culture may involve implementing many of the retention strategies detailed in this list. These efforts might include rewarding your employees not just for success but for effort, creating a meaningful mission for your company and involving your employees in creative decision making about the present and future of your organization’s mission.

It’s also important to make sure your workplace is diverse and inclusive, especially to members of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and LGBTQ communities who may often have trouble finding workplaces in which they feel safe and welcome. A workplace respecting people of all races, backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations will attract and retain a wider, more diverse and better community of talent.

  1. Build Employee Engagement

One of the most important strategies for employee retention is to build up your workers’ engagement with your organization. A disengaged employee may have lower morale, cause losses in productivity and generally bring down your company. Make sure to give your employees a voice by making them feel listened to and showing them that their opinions matter.

Try introducing opportunities for your employees to feel safe giving candid feedback. It is likely that your workers may know more about the best ways to accomplish a given task than you do if they have been doing it longer, so giving them the opportunity to communicate and collaborate on improvements to workflow and the work environment will help employees feel like they had a hand in developing culture and ensure they remain engaged with the company.

Likewise, do not force unnecessary engagement or push activities designed to build engagement without a specific goal or solution in mind. For those workers who do not wish to participate in any activities unrelated to the job you pay them to do, forced participation in social or other activities unrelated to work can be a reason to leave. Every workplace is different and not every workplace requires the same types of employee engagement—one of the best ways to avoid this issue is to ask employees what they’d prefer.

  1. Create an Emphasis on Teamwork

Another key part of employee retention in some environments is creating a strong emphasis on teamwork. Creating chances for collaboration—including interdepartmental collaboration—can promote not only teamwork, but overall employee engagement. Strong teamwork not only encourages bonding between coworkers, which can create a better overall culture, but it also drives higher overall performance. Good teamwork will help managers and employees pair up strengths and weaknesses within departments and more strategically balance the workload.

  1. Reduce Employee Burnout

A 2020 Gallup report, Employee Burnout: Causes and Cures, found that 76% of employees sometimes experience burnout on the job and 28% stating they feel burnout “often” or “always.” While it is often assumed burnout is caused by overwork and can be solved by taking days off or reducing work hours, Gallup’s study found burnout is actually more influenced by how employees experience their workload than the literal number of hours they work. Employees who feel more engaged by their work, who are properly recognized and rewarded and who are offered better job flexibility via reduced hours, remote work or flexible scheduling actually report higher well-being.

The Gallup report found the top five factors that lead to employee burnout are:

  1. Unfair treatment at work
  2. Unmanageable workload
  3. Unclear communication from management
  4. Lack of manager support
  5. Unreasonable time pressure

Developing and improving your overall company culture, building better employee engagement and offering clear communication, consistent management and transparency will all help reduce employee burnout. Additionally, providing wellness offerings and other perks can greatly help with employee retention.

  1. Provide Wellness Offerings

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that both physical and mental health are paramount to a happy, functional society. Taking care of your employees’ health doesn’t just include offering things such as flexible scheduling or remote working. You should also make sure that your workplace is clean and hygienic with health and safety protocols in place and that you have strict rules against employees coming to work while sick. This also means providing sick pay to incentivize employees required to be at a location to stay home when sick. Make sure to also provide quality health insurance with excellent coverage and numerous tiers and options so your employees know their health is valued.

Some companies, including LinkedIn, have also found success in providing all employees mental health time off to cope with burnout at the same time. This collective week of time off reportedly allowed burnt-out workers to not feel like they were missing important emails, meetings and project notes.

  1. Give Other Job Perks

While many of the retention strategies on our list this far may be seen as perks of a specific job, job perks can come in a number of shapes and forms. In addition to offering the basics, such as remote work, flexible schedules and good healthcare, you can give your employees discounts on things such as cell phone service, travel costs, car rentals, food and more.  AnyPerk.comCorporatePerks.com and BenefitHub.com are all similar services, with affordable rates as low as $5 per employee per month, that give your workers great benefits and discounts at national businesses. You can also make your own connections with local businesses that might be happy to offer discounts on products.

  1. Foster Growth and Offer Professional and Personal Development

A great business recognizes how important training is during the onboarding process of an employee, but a business with strong employee retention also recognizes the value of continuing to invest in training and upskilling employees. Upskilling your employees by investing time and resources and providing them access to additional education and training within their field not only makes them happier and more likely to stay with your company, but also makes your company stronger as a whole.

  1. Hire for the Cultural Fit

Many people can learn a specific skill or develop certain expertise. But not just anyone fits into an existing team nor shares the cultural values of your employees and your company. Hiring for the cultural fit can ensure long-term employee retention because these new hires will mesh well with the team quicker, making everyone more comfortable and getting productivity back on track faster. In fact, a Harvard Business Review article cites bad hiring decisions as one of the top causes of employee loss, with 41% of surveyed employers estimating a single bad hire costing their business $25,000 or more.

  1. Manage for Retention

2018 report on the Employee Experience by Udemy found nearly 50% of employees quit their job because of a bad manager. A good manager, on the other hand, acts not as a “boss” but as a “coach.” The key difference being that while a boss is seen as an unsatisfiable source of demand micromanaging every aspect of employees’ work, a coach knows their employees are players on a team. A good employer/coach works to guide employees in the right direction by offering advice, support and goals while still allowing their workers to have a high degree of autonomy.

  1. Know When It’s Time To Say Goodbye

Unfortunately, no amount of strategy will guarantee perfect employee retention. At some point, your employees must move on—either to retire or to find work more suited to what they’re looking for. Knowing when it’s time to say goodbye and handling employee offboarding effectively and well is just as important for overall employee retention as any of these other strategies. Remaining employees should know they will be well taken care of whenever they do move on themselves.

Why Employees Leave and Why They Stay

Encouraging employees to stay is important, but knowing why employees leave can be more important to developing an effective retention strategy. Offboarding, the process of closing the employment of a departing employee, can be just as important as onboarding. Offboarding can help encourage an amicable separation, ensures the transfer of knowledge and secures the company’s property and data as well as help a company learn why an employee is leaving and what it might be able to do in the future to keep employees.

A key part of the offboarding process is the exit interview, which can give employers insight into why employees are departing. A few of the most common reasons—especially after the COVID-19 pandemic—include:

  • Inadequate salary or hourly rate
  • Feeling overworked or burnt out and unsupported
  • No, or limited, room for growth and career advancement
  • Need for a better work-life balance
  • Unhappy with management or the company culture
  • More compelling job opportunities

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

American psychologist Frederick Herzberg, perhaps most famous for his work in business management, famously promoted his “Motivator-Hygiene” theory, sometimes also called his “Two-factor” theory. According to the theory, two sets of factors influence motivation in the workplace and either enhance employee satisfaction (and thus encourage employee retention) or hinder it.

 

The hygiene factors refer to those factors actually enabling motivation in the workplace. Herzberg’s hygiene factors are those that meet the physiological needs each employee expects to have fulfilled. These factors focus on things such as money, job security, good work relationships and positive working conditions. Without these base hygiene factors, employees cannot be satisfied, and no amount of motivating factors will retain employees at the company.

The motivating factors, on the other hand, are dependent on the conditions of the job itself. These are the factors that motivate employees to perform better and strengthen their commitment to the company and their jobs. These factors focus on things such as growth opportunities, professional development or advancement, recognition, greater responsibility and more.

How To Create Your Own Employee Retention Strategy

While all of the 15 employee retention strategies we outlined above are effective in their own ways, each business’s needs are unique and some strategies make more or less sense than others.

Competitive pay, wellness offerings, perks and professional development can all provide direct benefits to the employees themselves. While your business may not be able to offer everything your employee is looking for in each of these areas, if you choose a few of these strategies to focus on, you can still begin working toward enhancing employee retention.

Offering work-from-home opportunities, flexible scheduling, promoting a work-life balance and reducing employee burnout are all important strategies to help retain employees. Since certain business types do not allow flexible scheduling or remote work due to the nature of the business, it may make sense to focus on promoting a healthy work-life balance and offering strategies to reduce burnout.

Creating a strong culture through recognition, rewards, engagement, teamwork and good hiring and management practices are all strategies to create the best environment for your employees. These are all key regardless of your type of business, but it may make sense to focus on certain ones more or less depending on your field of work. No matter how you manage to show your employees you care, the culture you create at your workplace is paramount to good employee retention.

Bottom Line

Employee retention is incredibly important to the operation of a successful business. The strategies we’ve outlined above are not an automatic fix but part of a larger shift toward supporting and caring for employees many companies are not doing enough for. The pandemic has left many workers recognizing the value of their time and energy, so making sure your company is proving you value your workers’ time and energy appropriately is incredibly important.

Ref/Posted on https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/employee-retention-strategies/#how_to_create_your_own_employee_retention_strategy_section by Chauncey Crail

Call Today:

Akron:
330.630.0700
Canton:
330.494.9675

The New Year – The Importance of New Beginnings

The New Year – The Importance of New Beginnings

Whether you like going out to ring in the new year with a flute of champagne or you prefer to spend the evening in, New Year’s Eve gives us all a clean slate! 

Why is New Year’s Eve worth celebrating? For many people, it’s more than an excuse to dress up and go out — it’s a symbol for starting over. It’s a precise moment for leaving some things in the past while embracing change and challenges. New Year’s Eve also gives us the chance to reflect on the previous year, because most of us are different people than we were 365 days ago. 

When we’re celebrating New Year’s Eve what we’re really celebrating is the positive the changes we’ve made and the chance at new beginnings. The new year represents the possibility to become happier and healthier, not because crossing the midnight threshold on December 31st creates some kind of do-over magic, but because the turn of the calendar year inherently allows for a mental reset.

The first step to becoming happier often means changing the way we think. A study by Psychological Bulletin showed that the happiest people owe some part of their success to optimism and positive thinking. The New Year is an annual opportunity to alter our mindsets, to believe that we can change, that we can become better versions of ourselves.

“A New Year doesn’t automatically change us or our outlook on life, but it can serve as a natural starting line for changing both the way we think and the things we do.”

A big misconception about change, and the New Year, is that you need to make a resolution and accomplish it immediately. You need to lose weight as fast as possible, you need to start working out every day, or you need to completely change your diet on day one. Don’t get me wrong, these are great resolutions, but changing your diet, routines and body takes more than a snap of your fingers, it takes time and sometimes more than a few setbacks. What does this mean; if you don’t meet your goals on your first attempt, don’t beat yourself up. But also, don’t immediately lock yourself into the idea that a new start has to revolve around any one notion of becoming “better”. New beginnings can come in many shapes and forms, and here are just a few ways you can give yourself a new beginning that has the potential to become the new normal.

New Beginnings Mean You Can Try Something That Makes You Happy

Having a new beginning may be as simple as trying something new that makes you happy. This could be a popular resolution like working out more or eating better — these things do, over time, tend to make people healthier and happier. But if that’s not your thing, don’t force it! There are so many different ways the new year can bring you happiness. 

For instance, a new hobby. This could be reading more, taking more photos, crafting, cooking, or another solo activity that allows you to gain new skills and explore your creative side. It could also include more social activities with people who have similar interests. Try something new that scares you a little, the best things happen outside of your comfort zone.

New Beginnings Are A Chance To Give Things Up That Make You Unhappy

Stop doing things that make you unhappy. A resolution doesn’t have to be adding something, it can be taking something away. Giving up unhealthy attachments or breaking a bad habit is a great way to start over. Quitting smoking and cutting back on alcohol both fairly common and totally respectable resolutions. The things you give up, don’t have to be just clear and extreme negative influences. Sometimes the things you need to let go of take on more subtle forms. If you don’t like going to the gym, try a new way to stay active like hiking, a sport league, or a class. If being on social media makes you unhappy, take a hiatus or consciously limit the time you spend on social platforms.  The new year is a great time to give up anything that’s holding you back, unpacking a little emotional baggage is a great way to travel forward.

New Beginnings Allow For Setting New, Attainable Goals

Make goals that are measurable and attainable. A lot of people give up on New Year’s resolutions because they require both dedication and an actionable plan. That’s why it’s important to sit down, set a goal, and put a plan in place to start crushing that goal. 

If you’re looking at major changes, like a new house or new job, set small, realistic goals — get your resume updated, apply for at least one new job every week, stop just looking at new apartments or houses and start scheduling visits. If you want to buy a new car, put a plan in place. Figure out your budget, determine when you want to buy a car, start saving every month, and start car shopping. Even if you can’t make the purchase for several months, due diligence will help you learn what to expect in your market.

Whatever you want to get done, put a plan in place first. A majority of people quit on long-term resolutions because they don’t have a strategy to succeed. Just remember, you can’t do it all at once — you have 365 days to accomplish a goal, it just takes dedication and preparation.

New Beginnings Are A Time To Start Prioritizing You

The importance of a fresh start means you can start targeting areas of self-care that are lacking. Consider a month when you do a self-care challenge, or take inventory of your mental and physical health — are you feeling stressed out? Try different methods of self-care that target stress. Are you feeling down on yourself? Try different methods that target positivity and self-worth. Maybe you just need to stop saying “yes” so frequently so you can have a little more time for self-care.  

No matter what it is, take time out of your schedule to take care of you. Self-care starts with actually doing it — set an hour a day, a day of the week, or a few days a month, to focus on you and your well-being. This will help you escape the day-to-day routine of wake-up, work, eat, sleep, family obligations, repeat. 

New Beginnings Can Launch Long-Term Action & Goals

The beginning of the year is a perfect place to start, but you may not finish it in the year you start it. Sometimes the things we need to accomplish will take much longer than 12 months. Saving for a home, getting out of debt, renovating your house, or even just creating an annual tradition can take years to truly complete. Longer-term goals can absolutely fit into your new year plan if you make your goal about initiation and consistency. You may not get your home remodeled this year, but you can create a savings plan, meet with contractors, or just make some progress on your to-do list. Don’t be afraid to make your resolution about starting and working toward a bigger goal.

Whether you’re trying to pick up a new habit or break an old one, the most important part of the new year/new beginning mentality is that you create a plan for success and stick to it. Hold yourself accountable, set deadlines and have your friends help hold you accountable. For some it also helps to create rewards for yourself as you hit milestones along the way. A road map, a support system and a desire for meaningful change will keep you motivated far beyond the end of January.

References from purehealthyliving.com

11 Tips to Fend Off Holiday Stress

The holidays are a time for family and cheer, but making sure the house is clean, the food is ready, and the presents are wrapped and ready to be opened can be overwhelming. These factors can bring unwanted stress and depression in a time meant for happiness.

Some important, practical tips can help minimize the stress that accompanies the holidays. These tips may even help you enjoy the holidays more than expected.

Through the endless parties, cooking, shopping and cleaning, try taking one of 9 steps to ensure you have a stress-free holiday:

  1. Plan ahead.

Between co-workers, friends and family, it’s inevitable that some commitments will end up on the same day. Make sure to plan on what you can attend in person or virtually. If you’re hosting the holidays, create a menu to help you stay organized and make grocery shopping easier.

  1. Say no.

With holiday commitments, it is OK to say no to a few or all of them. It also will help relieve some stress. Try sharing your to-do list with other family members.

  1. Plan spending.

The holidays mean spending money. Make a budget and stick to it. Spending money on your loved ones is important, but it’s also important to pay your energy bill. Don’t buy gifts that you’ll be paying off for the rest of the year.

  1. Create relaxing surroundings.

Turn on some music, light some candles or open the windows on a sunny day. Research has found that listening to music and the scent of citrus can boost feelings of well-being, and vitamin D is always a happiness booster.

  1. Maintain healthy habits.

The holidays are notorious for ruining healthy habits. A short workout each morning will help your decision-making throughout the day. Encourage your family to try snow shoeing or sledding to get in extra exercise. Eat healthy snacks like fresh fruit or vegetables throughout the season and to fill up before a dinner party or celebration with tempting, but unhealthy, foods.

  1. Share feelings.

Spending a holiday after a loss in the family can be difficult. Accept your feelings and open up about them to others. It may make you feel better to share. Try to switch up old traditions to ease the loss.

  1. Respect differences.

Family members will have different viewpoints than your own. Try your best to forgive and forget this holiday season. Focus on your similarities and replace tension with something productive.

  1. Be realistic.

You are only one person, and you can only do so much. Be realistic with how much you can handle this season. Forget about perfection, and relax and enjoy the company surrounding you.

  1. Respond with Kindness

You can’t change how others act during the stresses of the holiday season, but you can change how you respond to situations as we are in charge of our ourselves including how we respond.  Keep in mind that the holidays are especially difficult for those who are alone. See if you can extend an act of kindness to those you know are without family and friends during this time of year.  If things get tense, take a few deep breaths.  Just taking a few breaths can shift things and give you a different/new perspective.

  1. Take a break.

Don’t forget about your own needs. Take a nap, go for a short walk, read a book or watch a funny movie. Laughing relaxes the whole body, and can relieve physical tension and stress.

  1. Rethink Your Resolutions.

Typical News Year’s resolutions can set you up for failure.  Here are some tips for success:

  • Start small. Break your goal into tinier steps over the course of the year. If weight loss is your goal, it doesn’t have to be drastic. Try to eat more veggies during your first month and gradually cut back on sweets throughout the year.
  • Be kind to yourself. If you didn’t achieve last year’s resolution or stray from the path this time around, let it go. “We often contrive these stories (‘I’m never going to quit smoking!’) that only add to our distress.”  “With practice, we can notice this self-critic, let go of that negativity and pick our goals back up without the guilt or shame.”

Holidays are meant to be a fun, enjoyable time with friends and family. These tips can help ensure you truly enjoy your holidays when stress starts to set in.

References: Mayo Clinic & Hopkins Medicine

How Do You Engage and Retain Gen X

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starmanHow Do You Engage and Retain Gen X 

As the economy roars forward, companies are in a battle not only to hire capable talent, but also to retain the workers that are assets to the organization. Much has been written about the impact of the baby boomers and millennials in the workplace. However, what about the smaller Generation X cohort that is sometimes the forgotten middle child of the generations? While they may be outnumbered by the boomers and millennials, their influence has shaped US companies during years of technological advancement and corporate change.

What Are the Characteristics of Gen X?

Independent. Born between 1965-1980, Gen Xers were often referred to as latchkey kids because a number of them came home alone after school because both parents worked. This fostered a sense of self discipline and autonomy. These individuals had to self-manage their own activities and make decisions based on judgment in the absence of an adult. Gen X learned not to depend on others for constant direction; they created their own outcomes.

Adaptable. Gen Xers’ childhoods predated the internet, personal home computers and cell phones. They had to learn, embrace and master evolving technology to be successful in corporate America. From using the first cordless home phone to commanding the world of work on a smartphone, Gen Xers’ actions illustrate the ability to adapt, pivot, and embrace change.

Self-Reliant. This cohort has experienced two Gulf Wars, the dot-com bust, the tragedy of 9/11, the Great Recession, and Covid-19. All of these events came with a great loss of jobs and retraction of the economy. Gen Xers have managed to navigate some of the most unprecedented events in history that impacted careers and livelihoods. Their resourcefulness helped them thrive and develop the expertise needed to stay relevant in the workforce in the midst of those events.

What Does Generation X Want from Their Employers?

Growth and Development. Invest in Gen X workers’ continued growth and development. Whether it be formal classroom leadership training, conferences, seminars or online courses, help them enhance their skill set. They already have a wealth of business acumen, so modernizing their tool kit benefits them and improves results for the organization. Most of Gen X has been working for decades, and any job can become repetitive and monotonous if skill sets become stagnant. Create a culture of learning and design training programs that address the needs of mid-career professionals.

New Projects and Meaningful Work. Invite them to lead new company projects and initiatives. In addition, consider offering Gen Xers a different role outside of their comfort zone that teaches them a new talent. They likely have a distinguished track record of tackling new assignments, so keep them energized with new leadership responsibilities. Evaluate your process for promotions. Is it based on performance data? Many in this group want to achieve the next level of success within a company. Engage in dialogue and determine what is important to them in their career trajectory.

Flexibility. Some Gen Xers want enhanced flexibility to care for family members or to pursue outside interests. This desire for flexibility may reach beyond the ability to work from home periodically. Moreover, some may want to take on a part-time role or become an independent contractor supporting their current team. Some workers may simply want more vacation days. One size does not fit all when it comes to flexibility. People have different motivators, so ask about them.

Mentoring Others. Every organization is engaged in succession planning as the lifeline for business continuity.  Gen X is an irreplaceable asset of industry knowledge and expertise.  Many want to mentor, teach and help the next generation succeed in their careers. They have a command of workplace dynamics and want to impart their skills and coach new leaders to excel in the organization.

The Generation X Influence

As pivotal members of corporate work teams, Gen X is 53 million strong in the US labor force. This group is often described as autonomous but driven to make a difference and have an impact. By using different methods to engage Gen X, we can align to their values and retain them for decades.

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How Do You Retain Talent in a Tight Labor Market?

starmanHow Do You Retain Talent In A Tight Labor Market? 

There are approximately 10 million open jobs in the US – and the lowest labor participation rate in decades. A Korn Ferry survey of 1,100 professionals in September cited the top reasons people are leaving their jobs: 30% are re-evaluating their priorities in the midst of the pandemic, another 24% lamented no clear advancement path in their job and 23% wanted better pay and benefits.

Skilled workers have the power to select their employer of choice. A successful retention strategy starts with acknowledging that you won’t solve your current challenges by applying the solutions of the past. This is the time to revisit underlying assumptions and test each one. So how do you keep employees?

Advancement Pathway. Do you have a defined roadmap for employees to excel and receive promotions within the organization? If not, work to create an advancement plan for workers in all areas of the company. People want to understand that if they achieve results there is a structure in place to get to the next level. Map out the steps for them.

Create a Culture. We have all worked for leaders that made an impact on our career. Conversely, there are leaders that failed to support us, and we merely punched a clock to deliver the performance needed. Are you listening to your team? What is important to them? Do you genuinely care about their success, and are you vested in helping them achieve?  Don’t go through the motions – consider their ideas.

Tuition and Education Assistance. Professionals in many industries consider learning a lifelong journey.  The cost of certifications, licenses and enhanced degrees is steep. Consider offering a stipend for education and certification reimbursement.  There are a myriad of ways to structure it to minimize the organization’s exposure.

Upskilling and Reskilling. Similar to tuition and education assistance, no worker wants to do the same task for decades and not enhance their skill set.  Korn Ferry cites that 37% of organizations are combatting the labor shortage by upskilling and reskilling their existing workforce.  This also can take the form of leadership and development programs as well as online classes to upskill employees. Education has many different forms.

Mentor Programs. In the hybrid work from home model, many newer employees struggle to receive the needed coaching required to be successful in their role. We learn through hands-on experience, and mentors that can teach us on the spot.  Consider establishing a mentor/mentee program in your organization to foster a sense of community among workers and help individuals get the personalized attention they need.

Flexible Schedules. Many companies in the defense industry successfully implemented the 9/80 work schedule years ago, wherein workers log a nine-hour day and have every other Friday off. While this may not work for all employers, consider flexible schedules that allow employees to start and end their day outside of the 9 to 5 schedule. Flex time creates satisfaction and enables people to balance their work/ life responsibilities.

Better Benefits. It is no secret that healthcare cost a small fortune.  Whether it is copays, deductibles or out of pocket expenses, it is a concern for workers. If you have not evaluated your company medical benefits in a while, it may pay to shop around and provide a variety of plans.  Offering catastrophic plan healthcare with a high deductible won’t make you competitive, and employees may look elsewhere to offset this cost.

Pay Increases and Bonuses. Inflation is alive and well, and if you have not adjusted salaries in several years, you aren’t competitive.  If increases are not fiscally possible, consider bonuses. This is a variable cost and can be managed more easily than increasing salaries. For example, bonuses can be paid quarterly, annually, or as a spot award. The ways and frequency to deliver a bonus are almost endless. Do what works best for your organization and employees.

Vacation and Holidays. Like salaries and benefits, these policies need to be reviewed annually.  What do peers in your industry offer? Can your organization gain an edge by offering more?

Your Brand. How is your brand among current workers? Employees are your brand ambassadors – everywhere they go, they’re advertising your company. Is it viewed as a great place to work? Consider surveying your workforce to determine what is working and what needs improvement.

How will you refine your retention strategy?

4 tips to get hourly workers to show up to interviews

starman4 tips to get hourly workers to show up to interviews 

There is nothing more frustrating than when an applicant doesn’t show up for an interview. Learn how small businesses can improve interview show rates for hourly workers.

Business owners and managers face many problems, including finding and retaining the best employees. A problem within this problem is potential employees not showing up for job interviews. While a nuisance for larger businesses, for a small business, no-shows can mean a significant drain on precious time and resources.

In a recent Accurate survey, 54% of responding employers said their current interview show rate was less than 25%. So, why is this number so low, and what can you do about it?  

Why are show rates important?

As cliche as it sounds, time is money. In our survey, nearly 50% of respondents said they spend 2-5 hours a week reviewing applications, and 24% spend more than 5 hours per week. A survey from Yello found in their recent interview-scheduling survey that most respondents spend between 30-120 minutes to schedule a single interview. With this significant time commitment, increasing show rates is essential to the productivity of your business.  

Why do people not show up?

For the purposes of this guide, we’ll assume positive intent among most applicants and will focus on the reasons for interview no-shows within your control (i.e. not trying to convince applicants who may have never had any real intention of showing up). 

The reasons most people don’t show up for an interview include: 

  • Feeling nervous/anxious about the process
  • Feeling unprepared
  • Confusion around meeting time/location
  • Scheduling conflicts
  • Changes to work schedule/unable to get away from work
  • Unexpected circumstances – childcare, family emergency, etc

What to do about it?

Knowing why people don’t show up is a great first step, and it can guide your adjustments. Here are 4 easy ways to improve show rates. 

  1. Appealing job description

Perhaps the most important, you need to create an appealing job description. Tell the candidate why your company is great and why they’d enjoy working there. Go beyond the paycheck and discuss company culture and, if applicable, flexible hours, strong benefits, a family-like atmosphere and other factors that make your business stand out from the competition.

  1. Clear pre-interview communication

Many interviews fall through, unfortunately, because of poor communication. The interviewee may have been mixed up on time, place or even the interview format—in person, video or phone. Create a process for thorough, meticulous communication so nothing is misunderstood.

  1. Use video interviews for the first round

Video interviews are faster, more convenient, easier to schedule and attend, and therefore have higher show rates. Video interviews can be especially useful as a first-round, get-to-know-you type of interview.

  1. Flexible interview times

People are busy. Fitting a job interview around work, school, parenting, family obligations and everything else can feel like an impossible game of Tetris. Give job candidates plenty of flexibility, and be available for early, late and even weekend interviews. Allow them to choose a time that works best and you’ll likely find more candidates showing up for your next opening. 

Career Opportunities: Getting To Know Accurate Staffing

starmanGetting To Know Accurate Staffing 

Accurate Staffing was founded in 2008 by Todd Kennedy, company president, who brings over 30 years of industry experience in staffing. Accurate Staffing specializes in recruiting and staffing for the following industries:

  • Manufacturing
  • Distribution
  • Warehouse
  • Clerical
  • Call Center
  • Medical
  • Technical
  • And other professional placements

Accurate Staffing does this by offering staffing solutions centered around:

  • Temporary
  • Temp-to-hire
  • Onsite staffing
  • Contract staffing
  • Direct hires
  • Referral employee programs
  • Payrolling
  • Onboarding

Accurate Staffing organically grew from the greater Akron area, that is where our roots are placed. We’ve opened offices in Canton, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Falls, as well as state-wide offices in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Additionally, we work with several companies abroad to give us an International presence.

Currently, Accurate Staffing has 45 internal employees, and we’ve employed over 20,000 different candidates across the various industries we serve leaving an impressive footprint in the Northeast Ohio area. We attend many career fairs throughout the area, think of us as “Ambassadors” to local universities.

Accurate Staffing has tremendous opportunities to offer – our Entry Level Recruiter is a position that we are always looking for and requires no previous experience. We are looking for people with a strong work ethic, ability to speak professionally, a willingness to learn, and the tenacity to achieve results. We will train you on how to do everything! We have a two week training course for our entry level positions providing all the knowledge you will need to be successful. Additionally, we offer internships year round where you exposed to different parts of our industry such as sales, human resources, recruiting, and much more.

What will Accurate Staffing bring to you? We will show you how to learn a full-cycle recruiting process. This is done by using job boards such as Indeed, LinkedIn, Zip Recruiter, etc. Part of this process involves learning “Boolean” search language to allow you really tailor in the skill sets you are looking for in a candidate. Furthermore, you are going to learn skills in human resources, how to onboard employees, payroll, workers compensation, and unemployment. You will learn professional sales tactics including the ability to sell our services to new clients.

Accurate Staffing offers excellent growth opportunities for our employees. Our leadership teams have all risen through the ranks organically from inside the company. We believe the people that know how to lead are the people that know our industry best; we hold this as a cornerstone of our approach to our hiring and training.

Our office incorporates a “bull pen” setting where ideas and exchanges happen openly so that all team members can benefit from the lessons and knowledge.

Accurate Staffing looks forward to meeting interested candidates. You can email your resume to etaylor@accuratestaffinginc.com.