“To win customers — and a bigger share of the marketplace — companies must first win the hearts and minds of their employees.”

– The Gallup Employee Engagement Study

Employee engagement is a critical predictor of organisational success. When employees stop feeling engaged, the focus shifts from thriving to merely surviving. Energy gets diverted from what can be done to make the most of the workday to just getting the workday over with.

Studies including Gallup’s indicate that the usual ‘pain points’ – pay and employee perks – weigh less than we suspect. They matter, but when it comes to what makes employees want to and be able to be at their most engaged, the same factors that affect most human relationships come into play: appreciation, growth, and communication.

1. Acknowledge and Celebrate Everyday Wins– It’s human nature to want to feel valued and successful. Many companies, particularly those with sales teams, have an annual event recognising top performers. But victories of all sizes are won all the time, and while many managers and executives think it’s not a big deal, it is for the employees. Whether it’s completing a big project, winning a bid, making a suggestion that saves the company some time and money, or even a first or sixth anniversary (we tend to recognize ‘rounded’ numbers like the fifth or tenth anniversaries), celebrate it out loud.

2. Enable Growth and Enrichment– No matter what our age or where we are in our careers, any opportunity to grow, learn more skills and, yes, earn more, is a great motivator. With the employment outlook getting sunnier each month, it’s important to have these opportunities in place – and to make sure that your employees know about them and how they can be accessed or attained. We need to refocus our efforts on learning, development, and career advancement for our current employees.

3. Keep Conversations Flowing– We are in the golden age of feedback, and immediate feedback at that. From deciding where to eat using ‘Just Eat’ to choosing a laptop based on online reviews, we are becoming increasingly conditioned to put more credence in casual, real-time perspectives. And it’s not just the Gen-Y people. Many people prefer ‘real’ interactions, which might explain why executives dress down when making announcements… being friendly and approachable is an effective way to keep ongoing constructive conversations going. Rather than wait until scheduled employee reviews or an Outlook-announced meeting, when an opportune moment for a quick team meeting or giving feedback comes up, take it. Giving frequent and timely feedback keeps the team personally invested and on track with both short and long-term goals. Conversely, maintaining an open-door policy invites employees to come in for a quick conversation about concerns, questions, or ideas.

Going the extra mile for your customers is easier when your employees are in step with your goals as a company.

• Our ethical recruitment results in 99.7% fill rates, which mean that operational lines operate at maximum operational efficiency levels.
• Because we have happy workers we have a lower churn rate than most recruitment businesses thereby improving quality and retention for clients.
• Through our lean approach we can help balance operational lines thereby improving operational efficiency. This focus on bottom line improvement measures has led to a 20% increase in profit for many organisations we have worked with.
• Our skills matrix software also means that Health and Safety and quality compliance can be audited quickly, thereby minimising risk.

Our proven recruitment strategy and meticulous approach to practical delivery has made us a leading HR supplier and specialist business consultancy. We are now routinely being asked to provide business improvement support with the help of our sister brand Nicholas Associates. Here are my three key questions to see if you can get any better;

1. Does your team know where the organisation is going?
2. Are your Key Performance Indicators measuring the correct areas of your operation?
3. Is the culture in your business such that you over achieve in everything that you do?

Therefore if you want to become more profitable, sustainable or just plain better, a discussion with one of our team may be time worth spending.

At Stafforce we take an ethical approach to business and it’s something that we feel strongly about and I’m proud of that. As we promoted in our recent campaign, “Our ethical approach and compliance protects employers and candidates alike” is one of the 5 things that make us way better. It seems that not all recruitment firms take that same ethical approach as ourselves.

Never the less, I was concerned that the wrong message was being communicated about our business and we decided that the best response was a positive response…to issue a story about what a great year 2013 was for us and that business is booming for Stafforce Bradford. This was a story that was already in the pipeline – it’s actually part one of a two part story – but we issued it a little quicker than originally planned! And today I’m so pleased to see that it’s made front page news in the Telegraph and Argus.

What a fantastic outcome and Stafforce Bradford is looking forward to an equally successful 2014!

View our Bradford story in full on our website.

With a client base of over 20 manufacturing, production and distribution companies across West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, and over 120 candidates working across these sites, we know that each and every person who works hard for us each day, makes us who we are. Whilst our robust systems and stringent validation and selection processes mean we can confidently promise and deliver quality workers to our clients, we also understand the importance of offering the same level of service to our candidates too.

As a business, Stafforce has made a commitment to making 2014 our best year ever – and as we are planning for how to make this happen, we’ve asked our candidates for their opinion too…and the results have given us reason to smile!

100% of the candidates surveyed told us that they thought we were great, or in some cases excellent, at paying them accurately, on time, and providing all the information they needed. Now, whilst we all enjoy work and the challenges and opportunities it offers us, no one can argue that without pay, we would be quite so happy. Since Stafforce have got that bit right, we’re in a great place to build on our successes come January.

It offers our vast client base piece of mind to hear this information too. One client commented “With our previous supplier we were inundated with pay queries from our temporary workers – with Stafforce this simply doesn’t happen”

We are in the business of supplying workers to companies who produce food and beverage products for major brands across the country. We know that each and every member of the supply chain has to get it right, or risk the very public consequences we’ve seen some brands suffer in the media this year.

The Gangmasters Licencing Authority (GLA) gives a clear outline of legislative requirements for paying workers and providing information to workers about pay. With a 100% success rate from our workers and a 100% pass rate from external auditors of BRC (British retail consortium) regulation, Stafforce can prove to our clients that we’re doing things the right way for their benefit too.

Stafforce…Committed to delivering excellence to help make our customers be more successful!

Here at Stafforce, we love a good celebration at this time of year and ‘Have fun’ is one of our core values as a business… so we’re determined to do our very best to ensure that everyone else has a wonderful time too!

Stafforce makes sure that the essentials you need to make your Christmas day special are on hand. Thousands of Stafforce elves are busy working exceptionally hard on production lines and in warehouses up and down the country to help make sure your day is perfect.

What is your Christmas without a meal with a prawn cocktail for starters, or a big turkey that lasts for a few days after; or even the good old Yorkshire puds that make your dish complete? How would you share your season’s greetings without a Christmas card? And what would you do if there were no sparkly outfits delivered for you to wear over the festive period? It just wouldn’t be a proper Christmas!

We work with big well-known brands, who are there to provide your Christmas dinner, the cards you send and those special seasonal outfits that you bought for the occasion. Our hand-picked, quality trained workers work in the retail, food manufacturing and commercial industries, day and night to guarantee everything you need is in the shops or online to buy through this busy period.

So relax, have fun and enjoy the festive season because we know how much it means to have a perfect Christmas!

Recent figures show that 85% of the world’s population now shop online and only 15% are shopping on the high street to buy fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) such as clothes, gifts and even food. Consumers are expecting the same great gift wrapped shopping experience ordering online as they do when walking into a shop.

This means that competition between retailers is getting higher and brands are fighting to be the ones who are relied upon for fast, efficient service, allowing customers to place an order at 10pm for delivery first thing the next morning. Stafforce Recruitment is there to make sure this happens!

Stafforce started working in the retail distribution sector in 2006, providing hand-picked, high quality workers to a new premium online fashion retailer. Through our support, it is now the biggest of its kind in the world. As our reputation in the market grew, we began working with another big UK brand in 2010 to help them cope with their demanding summer sales. We now supply 250-300 workers a day to six of their sites.

So when you open the door to your early morning delivery of a present that will bring a smile to the face of someone special in your life…remember that it might well have been a Stafforce worker that packed and dispatched your order the night before!

The city is now rated as one of the best places to invest in the UK over the next  5 years, taking 1^st place for Industrial Investment viability and improving the potential for socio-economic stability for the region.  A recent Noomis report cited Derby as having a place within the Top 10 locations for overall economic performance, innovation, productivity and growth in business stock.

Much of Derbys growth and investment is centred round our three major employers; Rolls Royce, Bombardier and Toyota.  These companies alone, having secured multimillion pound contracts, have boosted the local economy through the direct effect this has had on their supply chain throughout the region.

This is fantastic news for us here in Derby as our strategy for 2013 was always to target the Automotive and Aerospace sectors, initially targeting the supply chain of Toyota and Rolls Royce to augment our credibility and reputation within these industry areas before infiltrating the major employers themselves.  We adopted a well thought out strategy, using both the Nicholas Associates and Stafforce Recruitment brands to offer a holistic approach to employer recruitment needs.  To date this strategy has resulted in a 52% increase our business, generated from the Aerospace and Automotive sector. In addition, there are further promising signs on the horizon and consequently we are confident that business from these sectors will provide solid foundations for the  Derby operation to deliver our targeted growth plan for 2014 and beyond.

A city of Regeneration, Investment, Innovation and Growth – Derby holds an exciting future!

Further information on the above can be found at www.marketingderby.co.uk

To ensure that we’re leading the way and improving our business is the key to our success and your success, so here are some of the things we’ve done over the last couple of years that have helped us to deliver a better service.

Improving technology

We’re always investing in technology to improve our business and the client and worker experience… it underpins everything we do. So far we’ve invested over £350,000 in technology since 2011 to protect and improve the experience of our clients and candidates. This has involved introducing a new recruitment CRM that can manage Agency Workers Regulations and there are now online time and attendance records and a new efficient payroll system.

To help us stay on the cutting edge and drive through changes, we have our own software development team that helps us to put key changes into place- quickly, so we can provide a better online experience for both our clients and candidates.

This is part of our strategy for growth, which brings me to  another reason why Stafforce is continuing to change and grow…

Strategic hubs

We’re starting to move branches off the high streets into strategic hubs which makes good sense for our business, our clients and our workers. By bringing teams together we’re pooling resources and candidates for the benefit of everyone.

It means that we’re able to deal with client “peaks and troughs” of demand, moving workers from one employer in the local area to another. For workers, this means continuity of work, improved income security and that they are able to maintain and enhance skills across a portfolio of hirers.

And for clients, well it enables labour sharing and an effective approach to managing the AWR. We will have a monopoly on the best people in the market as we witness improved loyalty, commitment and productivity of local workers allowing us to cherry pick the very best.

We’re always improving our business to deliver a better service… 

1.    Stafforce and its employees knows where they are going

Stafforce is a growing business with a £60M turnover and it knows where it is going and the journey it needs to take. As employees we have a common purpose, a shared vision and we’re all part of the culture… we work hard to achieve our goals but we also have a lot of good times and fun along the way.

Stafforce people are working together to achieve shared goals and objectives that are clearly set out in strategic and operational plans. Not all recruiters have a shared vision or strategic plan to get there but Stafforce definitely does and is always looking to improve the way that it does business to ensure that it is able to always deliver measurable success for both clients and candidates.

2.    Stafforce is committed to developing its people

Stafforce is committed to investing in the development of its own people and has launched the Stafforce Academy to support this, which has seen many staff across the business – including me – being involved in a bespoke management development programme. Over 50 employees are also now on track to have completed our own “Licence to Operate” by the end of 2013, an accredited Level 3 Apprenticeship that makes sure we’re all up to scratch! This isn’t a course that ‘happens’ to our employees, everybody is involved in delivery and learning… meaning that the team is fully engaged with the Licence to Operate and as well as learning, everyone plays a part in its development for future learners.

We are given the best opportunity to achieve our career potential and are well equipped to help our candidates and clients achieve their potential and success.

3.    Stafforce is always leading the way and improving

Other recruiters might say this, but It’s certainly true… Stafforce is way ahead of the game and improving the way that it does business… and it’s great to feel a part of that.

We’ve got great systems in place to ensure that management information is at our fingertips for reporting to clients and to offer clients the confidence that they sometimes need. Over the last couple of years I believe we’ve invested somewhere in the region of £350,000. This means that we as recruiters work smarter and by embracing technology we are able to support our clients’ reporting needs and ensure legislative rules and changes are managed in the right way.

We’re also supported in doing things cost effectively… i.e. not living in a car driving for hours up and down the motorway to see colleagues, but communicating more and more internally by webinar, conference call and picking up the phone to one another. This means that we’re a Lean business that can deliver a more focussed, efficient service for clients and candidates. Being a Lean organisation genuinely means that we are able to deliver a fantastic value added service to our clients more efficiently and effectively than our competitors.

Stafforce leads the way for an ethical, quality assured, honest service to all of our customers.

Whether we’re recruiting for a temporary placement or a permanent job role, whether it’s an industrial, commercial or engineering role, or whether it’s for a new apprentice for your business or new head of a business area… everything starts in the same place.

Professional recruitment consultants begin by writing adverts and then promoting them, using paid for job boards, online advertising, the Stafforce website and social media channels, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The next stage is to sift through applications – which can be hundreds per advert – before registering and validating applicants. Then it’s on to interviewing, skills profiling and assessing a qualified shortlist… and sometimes that’s only at the beginning.

If we’re recruiting temporary workers then we induct candidates into “The Stafforce Way” as our own employees before inducting them into client placements and doing factory tours and in some cases delivering sector specific training.

So to give you a feel for the responses that we sometimes deal with, here are some ‘real life’ statistics relating to a recruitment campaign for an international automotive company based in Yorkshire. You’ll see it’s a lot of work before someone walks through the factory door for a working day!

We had 5373 website hits in response to advertising the roles on our website, social media and various paid for job boards… we then received 535 applications, so 1 in 10 people that hit our site then applied… we then went through the process of pre-screening 335 of the applicants – validating applicants, testing and assessing their skills. This reduced the number of people down to 89 for factory tours stage… with 71 making interview….and 41 being employed.

Bear in mind that we have up to 4000 workers out in the world on any working day and then you start to get a feel for how much we invest in selecting and providing the best people in the market.