In recent months, headlines about layoffs in big tech, media and finance have dominated the news cycle. Coupled with continued uncertainty surrounding the global economy, it would be easy to assume that hiring could slow to a halt across industries in 2023.

In reality, the labor market has only cooled. And, while some industries may be forced to tighten operations, 2023 will not be a repeat of 2008.

This year, organizations will have to contend with many of the same staffing challenges that dominated 2022, like high attrition rates, demands for increased work flexibility, and gaps in soft skills and talent. Job seekers and employees will continue to have the upper hand in negotiations.

In the face of those challenges—mixed with high inflation, elevated interest rates and predicted stunted global economic growth—organizations must prioritize the retention of top talent.

For companies looking to scale this year, decisions surrounding staffing strategies and the allocation of resources should follow a careful strategy. Bad hires in this environment will carry more than their usual share of drag and disruption.

One of the most effective ways businesses can avoid hiring mistakes is by nurturing relationships with their staffing firms that are symbiotic – not transactional. The importance of a strong alliance between the two cannot be understated when it comes to hiring best-fit candidates.

As players with the same aim, both staffing agencies and hiring companies should adopt a unified mindset to navigate the labor market this year.

While adoption may look different in practice for the two parties, there are four habits that anyone in the business of hiring can adopt or hone for a smooth and successful 2023.

We all know by now that jobs seekers and workers demand more from the people who sign their paychecks. Chief among those demands is greater flexibility. A recent Deloitte survey found 94% of respondents believe they would benefit from increased work flexibility. A 2022 McKinsey survey found that, given the opportunity to work flexibly, 87% of respondents would take it.

In order to survive in a market where employees often walk if their work/life balance isn’t prioritized, employers and staffing agencies must be willing to break with the status quo. What might have worked three years ago is likely to seem outdated or out-of-touch today.

For employers, that means doubling down on or expanding benefits like flexible hours, remote and hybrid schedules, and the shortened work weeks that have become the norm in the past three years.

Staffing firms may want to approach the concept of flexibility from a slightly different angle. To remain competitive and appeal to different sectors of the market, agencies may want to consider diversifying their lines of business and investing in them. Instead of specializing in one area of expertise, they may want to explore making in-roads into contingency staffing, retained search, and recruiting process outsourcing (RPO).

If the past few years have made us collective experts in anything, it’s the ability to maintain (or even increase) productivity amid continuous calls for belt-tightening that are unlikely to ease anytime soon.

Employers and staffing firms alike will need to continue to devise creative solutions that will allow them to produce consistent work amid fluctuations in staff.

One of the easiest ways to “do more with less” is by automating processes. When automation is prudently employed, both employers and employees benefit: workforces that aren’t bogged down in admin minutiae have more time to focus on producing high-value work.

Employed appropriately, automation can alleviate the burnout crisis, make data and reporting more accurate, and allow organizations to scale.

However, processes should not be automated to the point where they are drained of humanity.

Professionals looking to incorporate automation into their hiring practices should be mindful not to automate the human touch out of the candidate vetting process. Technology should be used to streamline processes so more time can be spent nurturing relationships with candidates.

Cobbling together a patchwork of unintegrated apps and platforms is not the solution; we are already living in an era of app overload.

Organizations and their partners should focus on standardizing how information is traded so it becomes universal. When all stakeholders refer to the same, single source of truth (in the form of communication, data or reporting), decisions are better informed and made more efficiently.

In short, look for an integrated suite of software solutions that gets everyone on the same page.

Staffing vendor management software (VMS) and staffing agency software can help employers and staffing agencies, respectively, adhere to the above practices.

Functions of each include: 

Timekeeping & Payroll Software

Job Order Management Software

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

WurkNow offers integrated VMS and SSM software that fosters streamlined communication between hiring organizations and staffing agencies. Our platforms allow organizations and the staffing agencies they work with to collaborate with more precision and ease than ever before.

To learn more about our software solutions, contact us to speak to an expert.