The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the ongoing Great Resignation, have made retaining talent and maintaining peak performance difficult in recent years. Moreover, relying on traditional approaches for getting hourly workers has proven to be an increasingly inefficient way to manage these problems. As a result, workforce flexibility has become a priority for businesses.
With all that in mind, let's take a closer look into the elastic workforce and how employing an improved workforce management strategy can benefit your business moving forward.
What is an elastic workforce?
Companies are quickly embracing the idea of an elastic workforce, but if you’re not familiar with the term, you might be wondering what exactly it means. In regard to your employee management, elasticity refers to the ability to quickly scale your workforce depending on the short- and long-term needs of your business.
Essentially, an elastic workforce is transforming the idea of traditional hourly workers into a more simple, transparent, and accessible process. Workforce-as-a-service providers can give your business access to the right workers and guarantee you can always meet demand, and with advanced technology, you can rest assured that management will be simple and effective throughout the process.
The growing need for flexibility in the workplace
Flexibility has become a key factor in navigating times of uncertainty in the workplace. In fact, a major consequence of the pandemic was the need for workforce elasticity, as businesses have found it difficult to manage variable demand. While recent years have generally seen increasing demand and inadequate supply, a report from the Peterson Institute For International Economics found the overall numbers for consumer spending in the last few years concealed considerable variation. This continued instability across industries is making elasticity, resiliency, and agility critical.
However, while organizations are working to implement greater flexibility, many are still facing staffing issues as a result of the Great Resignation. According to the World Economic Forum, 4.53 million Americans left their jobs in November 2021 alone, and this trend is only expected to continue. This is quickly increasing the need for flexible workforce strategies.
Not only does an elastic workforce provide your organization with access to top talent as needed, but it also gives your business the flexibility it needs to scale up or down to manage fluctuating demand. This is an effective way to mitigate the issues associated with the Great Resignation while ensuring your organization maintains productivity and keeps pace with demand.
The benefits of utilizing an elastic workforce for your organization
If your business is considering a workforce-as-a-service solution, you’re not alone. An elastic workforce is growing across industries, from manufacturing to customer support to almost everything in between. This advanced workforce management strategy can also help your organization realize a host of benefits as a result.
The main benefits an elastic workforce can provide to your business include:
- Quickly scaling your workforce as needed: In times of uncertainty, it can be difficult to determine how many workers you need to maintain efficiency and keep pace with demand. Utilizing a scalable hourly workforce gives your organization agility in terms of employing talent or contingent workers on an as-needed basis.
- Gaining access to qualified workers: with advanced platforms like Bluecrew, you have access to candidates that are pre-screened, reliable, and well-qualified. Your organization can take advantage of a vast pool of talent that they might not have explored previously.
- Saving time and money associated with recruiting: Recruiting is typically a more expensive and time-consuming process than organizations may realize. In fact, a report from Zippia found the average cost per hire is $4,425. New platforms and software act as a source of talent that your business can pull from — so you can avoid the costly aspects of finding and recruiting completely new hires.
- Improving your control over the process: These solutions mean you have access to everything you need for flexible workforce management at your fingertips. You can easily scale your workers and manage your daily operations, all with improved observability throughout the process.
- Saving on labor costs: Employing a scalable workforce is a beneficial way to reduce your operational and labor costs as well. This helps you eliminate overhead on salaries, health insurance coverage, and employee benefits that a full-time employee requires.
- Increasing loyalty and productivity: As your operations grow, you will likely have longer working hours to keep up with demand. Increasing working hours can quickly translate into employee burnout for full-time employees who are being overworked — which is detrimental to your productivity and bottom line. A flexible workforce can help you scale your teams up to ensure suitable workloads, while simultaneously improving retention, morale, and long-term loyalty.
With all of these advantages in mind, it might be a good time to consider how your business can benefit from employing workforce flexibility. Remember that while implementing a new strategy might seem overwhelming, advanced platforms and solutions mean this isn’t necessarily the case. Bluecrew can help your company quickly and conveniently navigate the elastic workforce process — so you can improve your management, increase productivity, and reach your business objectives with ease.
How Bluecrew can help you activate an elastic workforce
It’s clear: the traditional approach to finding hourly workers is no longer the simplest or most efficient option. With Bluecrew, your business has access to an elastic hourly workforce to help you address the challenges of variable demand in the most efficient way possible. Your business can scale teams up or down on an as-needed basis with qualified W-2 Crew Members, while our advanced platform allows you to streamline your management along the way.
If you’re ready to upgrade your process, avoid the traditional costs of recruiting and hiring, and ensure your business stays at peak performance, contact Bluecrew and start working with our Crew Members today!
