Countless companies are turning to on-demand staff, a cost-effective and flexible solution that can prevent understaffing and keep customers happy without straining their bottom line.
If you’re thinking about joining them and hiring some on-demand workers through GravyWork, keep the following strategies in mind to protect your profits.
Use Qualified, Vetted Employers
The most important step you can take to reduce risk when hiring temporary staff is to only contract experienced, qualified professionals who have been fully checked and vetted. It can be a headache, but it’s a key step that will save you time and money down the line.
All of the professionals on GravyWork are fully qualified and vetted. They are also insured. It takes some of the burden off your hands and makes it easier to find competent professionals who you can trust to do a good job.
Set Clear Accountability Systems
There are many upsides to hiring on-demand workers, but one of the challenges of choosing emergency staff overfull-time employees is that the former may feel more accountable for their actions. They have more to lose, so they work hard to keep what they have.
However, on-demand workers also have responsibilities and accountabilities. They have a reputation to uphold. They might not be fighting to stay within your company, but they are definitely giving their all to impress you, make more of a mark in the industry, and ensure future employment.
To cement that accountability, consider the following strategies:
- Define Your Brand Ethos: Make it clear who you are, what your goals are, and how you position yourself to your customers. They’re an employee, so they are expected to adhere to your message and represent your brand to your guests/customers.
- Clarify Their Role: On-demand staff are flexible because you can hire them when you need them, not because they are a jack-of-all-trades who can adapt to any role within your company. Every employee should have a clear goal with defined and measurable objectives.
- Keep a Record: Make a note of their objectives, record their progression, and give them constructive criticism if they fail. Conversely, if they do a good job and hit all of those goals, let them know!
- Encourage Communication: Let your on-demand staff know that they can receive help and support if they need it. Give them a mentor on the job and keep the boss’s door open to deal with any issues that arise.
- Create Accountability Agreements: Ask temporary employees to create an accountability agreement where they outline their objectives for the business. You can then check in regularly to see how they are progressing, using their own goals to encourage them.
Cash Handling Procedures
Every business should implement strict cash handling procedures to protect themselves. It’s not a matter of distrust—it’s about protecting your business, stakeholders, and employers against all eventualities:
- All cash should be stored securely on the premises and be fully accounted for.
- Don’t give safe numbers, codes, or keys to new employees.
- Every transaction should be recorded.
- Train your staff on handling cash and dealing with customers.
- Make sure your employees are familiar with your policies.
- Give every customer a receipt.
- Move to cashless transactions where possible.
- Consider placing cameras near transaction points to protect yourself and your employees against theft and costly errors.
- Conduct regular audits to look for oversights.
- If you do notice an issue, approach staff members diplomatically and don’t assume the worst. Mistakes happen.
Security Best Practices
Walk all on-demand staff members through your security protocols, including:
- How you protect your interests and those of your customers
- How you protect customer data
- Which systems you use to safeguard the business
- Why it’s important to remain diligent
Responsibilities must also be assessed regularly.
You don’t need to give everyone in your organization access to all of your assets.
Their level of access should align with their specific job roles.
In other words, if they don’t need the code to the safe or the key to private rooms to perform their duties, they shouldn’t have it.
In this manner, not only will you reduce the risk of theft and loss, but it’ll be easier to investigate if anything untoward happens.
Document everything.
Whether it’s a customer purchase, a new hire, or someone checking a specific item out of the stock room, it should be recorded in a log.
That way, if there are any issues, you can trace them back to a specific employee and speak with them directly.
Keep extensive records on all temporary staff members, including documents such as:
- A Contract: Defining what their role is, how long they will be working for the company, and how much they will be compensated for their time.
- Personal Information: Keep their contact details so you can reach them if they fail to appear, and note down their emergency contacts.
- Qualifications: Record their skills and qualifications. It helps when determining the best role for them now and in the future.
- Training and Courses: An extension of the above, this should include any training that they complete while at the company.
- Performance Reviews: Essential for monitoring performance and maintaining accountability.
- Notes and Complaints: Whether it’s positive feedback received from customers, complaints from other staff members, or a record of your own thoughts.
- Attendance: Track their attendance record.
- Incidents: Including accidents, arguments with employees/customers, and anything else that raises safety or competency concerns.
Technology Solutions for Tracking
We’ve come a long way since the days of paper timesheets and clunky security cameras.
Modern businesses can employ a variety of technological solutions to protect their interests.
Employee monitoring software is a prime example.
Used across various industries, this software can track everything from the time that an employee spends on specific computer tasks to the times they enter and leave the workplace.
Hubstaff, for instance, includes GPS tracking features to monitor an employee’s location at all times, along with real-time work monitoring and screenshots to see what they’re doing on the computer.
RescueTime encourages productivity by tracking the time that employees spend on specific apps and websites, presenting detailed reports, and providing progress tracking.
There is also a feature that removes all distractions and lets them focus on the task at hand.
In many states, you need to inform employees that they are being tracked.
It’s also good practice to keep them in the loop.
