New Nashville Office to Better Serve Middle Tennessee Clients
Chattanooga, TN, November 22, 2019–
Flexicrew Staffing announces that it opens office in Nashville, TN.
With 10 locations in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Flexicrew commenced Nashville operations November 4, 2019 and is supported by offices in eastern Tennessee. The office is situated at 3538 Murfreesboro Pike, Ste. 306, Antioch, TN 37013. This unique office space features areas for recruiting, interviewing and skill assessments and is ideally suited for client-specific orientations.
“This site will support firms needing both skilled and unskilled labor in metro Nashville, and surrounding, areas,” says Flexicrew’s Tennessee Area Manager, Tricia Bratton, who has an extensive background serving staffing clients in the Tennessee market for over 15 years. “We’re excited to bring our custom approach of cost-effective, efficient, rapid response staffing solutions to this market.”
According to Misty Brennan, Flexicrew Executive Vice President, “The Nashville office will satisfy the rapidly growing needs current and future organizations in middle Tennessee in the manufacturing, distribution, administrative and custom placements.”
About Flexicrew Staffing
Flexicrew is an industry-leading staffing agency. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, Flexicrew is focused on fast, quality recruitment and employee placement. It has been rated the 4th Fastest Growing Staffing business in 2015, is a recipient of the 2019 Client Satisfaction Award.
Our employment agency strives to bring a highly efficient, cost-effective staffing solution and can have qualified candidates job-ready within a very tight timeframe.
Flexicrew is family-owned and run and brings together the best complementary management and support team, resulting in over 95% customer satisfaction. * Certified survey by Clearly Rated.
If you would like more information about Flexicrew Staffing, please contact Tricia Bratton at 423.803.2739 or tricia@flexicrew.com.
We’re very excited to launch Flexicrew’s Employer Advocate. We will post on many issues – from using a staffing agency to using seasonal workers, from risk of law violation in hiring, to retention of quality talent.
Talent acquisition and workforce management are difficult, so we will provide tips and shortcuts from our experience.
The tone will be serious and conservative – meaning factual – but with a light touch to make dry subjects readable.
Employer Advocate Feedback
Periodically, we will ask for your feedback by having a periodic survey or poll on the blog.
We hope you ask questions about what interests you because the Employer Advocate must be a useful tool for you. In other words, we plan to blog what you want to read.
Employer Advocate Content
How will we achieve this?
In the first place, the blog will offer content in several categories:
Staffing agency
Temporary employees
Industry trends
Best safety practices
Useful resources from the web
Flexicrew Company
News
Valuable insights from human resource articles
So, welcome to Employer Advocate blog, the online magazine devoted to:
• Helping you take the next steps in managing your workforce.
• Getting the most productivity out of your workplace
• Enhancing your career
• Meeting your goals.
Explore content focusing on important aspects related to achieving your ambitions and balancing your personal life on your path to career success.
Your Turn
In fact, please give us your feedback and pass along any topics you would like us to address.
Flexicrew Disaster Recovery Recruitment Team Delivered Speech at Business Continuance Expo
Flexicrew executives, Lillian Stanley and Katie Blish, had the opportunity to present to a range of emergency response managers and disaster recovery professionals at the 2018 Business Continuance Conference held at Las Vegas Mandarin Chinese Hotel April 12 – 13, 2018.
Stanley and Blish offered essentialinsights for quickly resourcing necessary staff to support disaster recovery. They also reviewed crisis management strategies and tools for success. Their audience gained practical tools to achieve faster results in disaster recovery.
“We were excited that Lillian and Katie attended this event as prominent speakers,” said Flexicrew CEO, Bill Brennan. “They jump-started a post-lunch crowd with ideas and expertise that got attendees thinking.”
The presentation was open to all registered conference attendees. If you missed it, Lillian will share disaster recovery insights on partnering with an experienced staffing agency to quickly deploy the necessary qualified staff. Call her at 251.943.0777.
About The Flexicrew Companies
Flexicrew Staffing’s expertise in multiple phases of emergency management— response, recovery, and mitigation— enables them to provide critical aid to clients in times of greatest need.
The staffing agency has rich history in supplying the fastest disaster recovery management, resources and tools to complex situations. It has experience across a wide range of aviary virus, hurricanes, floods, spills and other crises.
Staffing Industry Analysts in 2015 recognized Flexicrew as the 4th fastest-growing staffing agency in the U.S. over a 5-year period. Flexicrew was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama. It uses technology and industry best-practices to deliver qualified industrial, technical, and clerical talent to most major industries. Flexicrew has a presence in 25 markets with over 2,000 contractors placed in companies throughout the U.S. To learn more, visit https://www.flexicrew.com
If you would like more information about Flexicrew Staffing or any of our hiring initiatives, please contact us today.
Then there are two main factors in hiring through a staffing agency: choosing the best staffing agency and making sure you hire qualified candidates. Easy!
The first will not be an issue if you have ongoing positive relationships with a staffing agency. Without such relationships, the experience may add challenges to your project.
There are other basics to know, so let’s discuss three hiring tips to make your next project a success.
#1 Understand Your Company Culture
First of all, you probably have worked with people who did not fit well with the culture in your business. The ideal fit is not there and it causes problems. So naturally you want every qualified candidate for your project to blend-in and work well with your culture. Take a minute to think about the essential ingredients of your company’s culture and think about changing your hiring process to find these fits.
All workplaces have their own unique personality and this is part of culture. The ability for project members to succeed with minimal friction is important to the success of your project. Consider that any project forces team members to work closely with each other. If you are hiring, your team may be new, they do not know each other. They will still have to hit the ground running.
#2 Hire Industry Expertise
A new project may involve areas where your company has little to no experience. To ensure your staffing agency finds qualified candidates, extend the interview process to include in-house screening. This will help eliminate mistakes.
Have an open mind about qualifications and experience levels of the candidates your staffing agency sends you. One of the basic errors when evaluating candidates is looking for too wide a range of skill sets.
The key is identifying the most critical knowledge and skills. In the end, you may be better off hiring extra staff if it results in the expert knowledge you need.
#3 Leadership and Project Management
The final two key elements relates to leadership. First, any large project should have an experienced project manager. Second, you need a primary stakeholder from your company to provide supervision and management. Industry experience has shown that a project manager can make or break the outcome. These two team leaders will work closely together and the project manager should report directly to the primary management stakeholder.
Successful projects need careful planning based on the best analysis of your situation. Plan well in advance of your ideal project start date and allow time for finding the most qualified candidates for your team. A focus on consistent communications will give your project the oil it needs to run smoothly.
Need Help?
So, for your next project, if you need help hiring qualified candidates, a project manager with the right experience and skill set, or if you’re looking for a professional staffing agency, give us a call.
Could you benefit from a temporary workforce this year
The first quarter of 2018 just ended. It is probably time for you to take another look at your workforce needs for the full year.
Do you have upcoming projects or seasonal peaks that might benefit from additional talent?
You may be worried about adding new employees to your company, but you can pass that commitment to a staffing agency and let them bear that risk.
And…
Using a temporary workforce is a successful tactic for your firm if you’re using it the right way. Before connecting with a staffing agency, there are several considerations:
How Flexible is Your Workforce?
For many employees, having a flexible lifestyle is their norm. That’s what attracts them to becoming and remaining part of the temporary workforce. They are looking for short-term jobs or flexible contractor schedules to fit into their way of life. And they are dependable workers. So why not take advantage of that resource? Especially when you’re looking to bring someone on board for only a short period of time?
Consider Your Labor Expenses?
While your company will pay the staffing agency a fee for the services of your temporary employees, all other costs are absorbed by the agency. They will handle all of the sourcing and pre-screening processes. Your temporary workforce will be covered by our worker’s comp, medical insurance plans, unemployment, and other required hiring costs. Wouldn’t that be nice to remove those variable expenses from your business?
What’s the Risk Your Project will be Late?
You will be able to add qualified workers quickly if you have a working relationship with a staffing agency. If you see a project is in need of additional hours to ensure its success, there may be a significant benefit to working with a staffing agency rather than hiring more internal employees or expecting your current staff to put in the overtime.
Would Specialized Skills Benefit You?
Your organization may have situations where you require specialized skills during peak seasons. Your staffing agency can recruit an employee with just the right skill set who can take on the function rapidly and help your company accomplish what’s required – and do it for as little or as long as you need.
Will You Find High-Potential Permanent Talent (HIPOs)?
During a temporary assignment you could uncover talent, skills and temperament that are a good permanent fit with your organization. Then you can make arrangements with the staffing firm to convert those employees to a full time position with your company.
Recommendations
So now that you’ve thought about your specific situation and how a temporary workforce could benefit your business…
Call Flexicrew to get our complimentary views on ways to best use a temporary workforce aligned with your permanent employees.
So much office productivity is lost during March Madness basketball season. And it isn’t going away anytime soon. So why not make the best of the situation? Who knows? You might even win it all and get bragging rights for the remainder of the year!
9 Tips to Increase Productivity During March Madness
Refs review the rules.
Supervisors should review the company rules with all staff concerning work breaks and use of the internet for non-work related activities. So everyone is clear on what’s acceptable when it comes to March Madness.
Lead the fast break.
Set the example by not getting sidelined from duties. If you complete assignments before talking hoops, team members will likely follow your lead.
Diagram the play.
Set goals and make sure work activities are scheduled for each day. Having them write down a daily to-do list helps them stay engaged.
Team jerseys.
Let workers wear their favorite team’s apparel or decorate their work areas to get in the mood.
Bring on the competition.
Think about forming a competition where members can pick their favorites individually or in small groups and winners can rib their work-mates about their success in a friendly way. Your company could even award small prizes to winners.
Stay out of foul trouble.
Make sure workers put away their cell phones. This helps minimize the impulse to keep sneaking a peek for scores, texts from friends or social media updates that can distract them from their activities.
Grant timeouts. Staying productive doesn’t mean nose to the grindstone 8 hours a day – That’s unrealistic. It’s okay to allow employees 5-minute breaks to review scores, check their brackets, or chat with co-workers about the tourney to re-energize and refocus.
Save it for halftime. Suggest workers schedule lunch times with other March Madness fans. Within a defined time, they can discuss the results and scores to their heart’s content to get it out of their systems during off-company hours
Bring in your bench players. If your team wants to request time off to watch the tournament, have them put in for it in advance so you’re not caught short-handed. That way you can manage workloads and determine if temporary help is to meet required deadlines. If you need, we know a good temp staffing firm (www.flexicew.com) who can help you meet your temporary short-time employment needs.
Flexicrew has a solid gameplan for maintaining March Madness productivity. Just give us a call and pass the ball into our court.
A JSA – Job Safety Analysis – is the most common type of general safety preparation employers can take against health and safety hazards on the job. It is usually a simple form that structures a quick hazard analysis that field supervision can use every day.
A JSA should be done before you start a task, after an accident or near miss, and if a new condition or hazard presents on the job.
How Do I use a JSA?
Step back and examine the job you’re about to perform with fresh eyes, unclouded by routine and alert to potential hazards related to the scope of work. Be the detective and look for clues that you wouldn’t normally look for when performing your task.
Look closely at how a job is done and what sort of tools and machinery people are working with.
Notice any obvious hazards, then look deeper to see if you can uncover any hidden hazards. These are usually not intentionally hidden, they just might need a new set of objective eyes on them to notice the hazard.
Are there controls in place already to prevent injury around the workplace hazards you have discovered? Discuss all hazards with the crew. Also discuss any controls that are in place to eliminate or mitigate them. Any hazards that have not been addressed should be documented and either mitigated or eliminated prior to starting work.
If you’re working with a temp service or an employment agency, be sure to inform them of any hazards that employees need to be aware of.
Everyone on the crew participates in the JSA. The people doing the job everyday are the best detectives!
Fill out the document and get this paperwork in the hands of the Safety and Risk department or management ASAP.
Good detective work! You may have just saved a life.
Usually, an employment agency offering a temp service to their clients have a range of experience with clients who have diverse work processes and office cultures. We thought an employment agency may be a good source to suggest some good tips for becoming a best place to work.
We know we must have boring old rules in the workplace for efficiency and safety. But employees also need to feel satisfied and fulfilled to stay with that company. Comfortable, satisfied employees lead to reduced turnover, reducing costs.
6 Tips for turning your company into a Best Place to Work
Don’t micromanage
An ideal workplace should not micromanage every detail of the work day. Good leadership will encourage all employees to practice quality independent work habits. These habits shouldn’t interfere with the results of others and result in goals being met. Everyone should be encouraged to respect and learn from the style of the others.
Even contractual or part-time workers, provided by a temp service or an employment agency, can and should be given autonomy if they demonstrate good work habits.
Managers should be welcoming and open
All new hires should be recognized as important parts of the company and be introduced as such. If done well, they will feel themselves to be an integrated part of their organization and give their best from the beginning.
New employees should not feel scared of approaching their supervisors or managers in case of any difficulty in doing their work. All team members should receive equal guidance and professional support from company managers.
Give Recognition
Employees crave recognition. Some studies show it is more important than pay or rank. Newer employees should be recognized for even nominal achievements so that they know they are fitting in and growing into the position.
Sometimes the process of giving some inexpensive token, like a pen or a T-shirt, can also enhance the enthusiasm of employees. If employees have suggestions for changes in the existing system, hear them out. If the suggestion is worth being adopted, great! Give them a shout out for the idea. If not, explain why but encourage them to continue to come to you with new ideas.
Provide Regular Training
Trained employees are better employees. Employees given access to training feel supported in their roles. Also, corporate goals can be regularly reinforced with the latest research and methods related to company processes.
Other added benefits are that well trained employees will be able to deliver better service to clients. Also, these more well-rounded employees are better prepare to move up the corporate ladder when needed.
Point out weaknesses privately
Employees who make mistakes in their work should not be reprimanded in front of others. This can lead to demoralization and animosity among the team.
Rather, call the employee aside and speak privately. Weaknesses can be pointed out quietly and the processes redirected to improve work habits or attitude.
Another effect of increased workload is the risk of accidents. Give every employee an amount of work which he/she will be able to complete successfully without error or injury.
Don’t be a workhouse, but a place where everyone comes ready and willing to work and each has a degree of flexibility that they individually control.
Help create happiness and be a Best Place to Work.
By Will Brennan, Oldest Intern in the Staffing Industry
Halloween was my second favorite holiday, just behind Christmas.
Each year I’d chart out the neighborhoods and plan where I would trick-or-treat. With a few years of experience under my belt, I knew which houses passed out the best candy.
My friends and I moved in a pack because it was more fun, but mostly for protection from the bigger kids who would try to steal our candy.
The key for us was to visit the most houses so we could to fill the biggest bag of candy. That gave us better odds of getting candy that we liked. Because for every 6 Starbursts I received (not my favorite) I also got a Snickers (yum). I just hated those stale popcorn balls that were supposed to be ‘healthier.’ Whose idea was that anyway?
That’s just the beginning of a recruiting strategy
In retrospect, I was using good recruiting strategies in search of maximum ‘good’ candies. My strategy to maximize the amount of ‘good’ candy is similar to the goal of recruiters to uncover and hire ‘good’ qualified candidates.
But that’s just the beginning of the recruiting strategy. Here are a number of parallels that you can use in your recruitment strategy…
Wider range, more candy
My primary Halloween strategy was to reach the greatest number of houses possible. Then I would go where I knew the houses gave ‘good’ candy. Also, this meant not wasting time walking to neighborhoods with few houses or didn’t give out candy. The only restriction was our time curfew and/or how inclement the weather was while we were trick-or-treating.
In recruiting, the goals are the same. You want to use as many ‘good’ sources as possible to get as many qualified candidates as possible – the ones that give the best candidates.
In order to do this, you must look at your past successes and failures in recruiting, analyze which recruitment methods worked or didn’t, then decide what route is best for your team. Our restrictions may still be time. Maybe you’re on a tight deadline. But the primary concern is usually money – the hiring budget. You need to decide where is the best place to spend those dollars.
Combing through your Halloween bag
One of the most fun times during the night was seeing what kind of candy I received. I’d empty my bag (always an old pillow case) and review what I had, sorting the good candy from the candy I wouldn’t eat. I would put the candy I liked back in my bag for later and then I’d try to trade with friends for candy more to my taste.
Once you have collected a quantity of candidates from your recruiting efforts, start screening through resumes & candidates. Much like splitting the candy, you need your recruiting team to sort candidates into qualified and unqualified for the position. You want to collect as many qualified candidates as possible to give you a candidate pool with more alternatives and choice.
Don’t forget to look out for candidates whose qualifications don’t fit the position you are recruiting for but may fit another position that needs to be filled.
Making the candy hang in there
After returning home with all my candy, I tried to make it last as long as possible. I squirreled away my candy in the pantry and when my friends had run out after Halloween, I still was hanging in with candy for snacks.
Similarly, you should keep in touch with the ‘good’ candidates that your efforts have dug up. Don’t abandon any. All qualified candidates should be interviewed for the current position and also placed into your database for consideration for future assignments. Some ‘good’ candidates just aren’t right for the current spot, but may be perfect for a future position.
Just like a kid on Halloween, you need to make sure you are able to optimize the amount of candy or candidates you get from your efforts. If you use the best recruiting techniques and effectively screen the candidates you have found, you may just have sweet success!
Business is always changing. Flexicrew supports you as your business strategy and recruiting challenges evolve – so you always stay ahead.
If you would like to discuss our strategic recruiting programs, please contact us – we are a treat to deal with.
