What Is Staffing? Explanation and Further Definitions

Staffing is the process of finding, screening, hiring, and evaluating workers for a company. Through effective staffing, a professional working relationship is developed and maintained over time.

Different businesses approach the staffing process in unique ways. While some might handle hiring internally, others choose to work with staffing agencies that manage the process for them.

This article will walk you through what staffing is and how your company might find the talent it needs to fill open positions.

• What are the functions of staffing?
• A staffing example
• What is staffing management?
• What are staffing agencies?

What are the functions of staffing?

As a $144 billion industry, staffing and recruitment is a fast-growing field in the business-to-business (B2B) sector. If your company doesn’t have a team dedicated to hiring, you might opt to work with staffing or recruiting agencies, which match businesses that are hiring with the talent they need to succeed.

Every business should establish a staffing plan. How many workers do you need to function properly? What skills should these workers have for their roles?

Staffing can make or break a company. Your business can accomplish its goals by hiring the right talent and keeping them happy.

Staffing has five core functions, which you can read about below.

Internal recruitment

Filling a position internally means you’re promoting someone from within the ranks of your current workers into a new role. Internal recruitment is almost always less costly and faster than looking outside your company. It can also be a great motivator for your staff and promote loyalty to the company.

Internal recruits are already knowledgeable about your business and its operations, generally making them easier to train. About 75% of internal recruits are successful in their new roles, and about 47% stay in these roles for at least three years.

There are some disadvantages, of course. If you promote someone, you’ll have to fill their former position—so it doesn’t eliminate the need for additional recruiting. And by focusing internally, you might miss out on an innovative candidate from outside your company.

External recruitment

External recruitment involves seeking qualified candidates from outside your company. These positions might be filled by using a staffing agency, online job boards, networking, worker referrals, or job hiring events.

This type of recruiting and hiring costs more, and the process usually takes longer than moving an internal candidate into a new position. These outside hires also come in with less knowledge about your brand and company culture.

However, external recruiting gives you the opportunity to choose from a wider pool of talent and bring a fresh perspective to the role. This feature is especially valuable if you’re looking for specialized skills. Outside recruiting can also help improve workforce diversity.

Selection

The selection process starts after resumes, cover letters, and applications for an open position are received. All materials submitted by candidates are reviewed to determine whether they are a good fit for the job.

A staffing agency or internal team member might do a screening interview to narrow the list of candidates. From there, you’ll decide whether each individual should get a more structured, formal interview with a hiring manager or someone else on your team. During this step, the candidate is asked specific questions.

If you have several promising candidates, your company might conduct several rounds of interviews or even assessment tests for specific skills. You might have a policy of requiring reference checks, drug tests, or medical exams to narrow the list of candidates.

Employment

Start the process of employment once you’ve made your selection. This means making a formal job offer that includes a start date, compensation offered, expected working hours, and any benefits provided. If the position is a short-term assignment, you’ll also include the duration of the contract.

Meanwhile, your company should prepare for the new worker’s start date. On that day, ensure that you have everything they need, from uniforms and company security badges to computers, software, and other technology requirements.

Training

The new team member’s first few days or even weeks with your company should focus on training. This training is about much more than simply learning the skills and operational procedures needed to do their new job. Content should also include onboarding, organizational policies and procedures, laws and compliance, workplace culture, and company history and mission.

Training is critical for new hires to get a sense of your business and ensure a good fit for both parties. Companies with a strong onboarding and training process can increase worker retention by 82%.

Retaining

A worker might leave a company for a number of reasons. To decrease turnover, businesses should listen to the concerns from staff members and address any issues. After all, one-third of new workers have quit a job within just six months of being hired. The best way to retain workers is by making them feel valued.

Companies can tap into various retention methods, such as:

• Ongoing training
• Building a positive and supportive culture
• Offering growth opportunities within the company
• Providing a lower-stress work environment, with options including working from home and flexible hours

A staffing example

When an organization needs additional support for its workforce for any reason—perhaps seasonal workload, skill shortages, business growth, or a special project—the company might turn to a staffing firm to help find a solution. These staffing companies can help provide qualified candidates for the job or jobs needing to be filled.

Let’s say your company manufactures TVs with the most up-to-date technology. TVs are highly desired gifts during the holiday season. Months before Christmas, your company needs to ramp up production to have enough inventory for the holidays. After this peak, you’ll return to normal production levels.

Working with a staffing agency can help you hire a high quantity of talented workers during your peak season. The staffing firm will handle hiring for you, simplifying the process so you can train a number of new workers at once and help your company meet its goals.

What is staffing management?

Staffing management refers to the processes and strategies used by your company to hire and keep workers. Many companies have a human resources management team dedicated to overseeing team members and practices used to recruit and retain qualified staff.

Even when a business works with an outside recruiting company for hiring, the company will have internal staff members who handle onboarding, training, retention, benefits, and other worker-related issues.

What are staffing agencies?

Staffing agencies act as a liaison or middle person, connecting companies with the talent they need to grow their businesses successfully. They work with clients to fill open positions and address their growing needs. They oversee the hiring process, handle candidate recruitment, and narrow the list of superior candidates through assessments of their resumes, cover letters, and short phone screenings.

What are staffing plans?

A staffing plan takes all of your company’s hiring needs into consideration. While the recruitment process focuses on one job opening or project need, the staffing plan assesses the employment needs across all departments and levels of your business.

Your staffing management plan looks at each department and determines how many and what types of workers and skills are needed to get required work done. A plan like this can help your business address its workload and prepare for growth or seasonal demands. Putting a staffing plan in place early provides time to bring workers on and get them trained before needs become critical.

Find staffing solutions to manage top talent

Staffing is an integral part of your business as you find, screen, hire, train, and retain talent. Your company is only as strong as the workers you welcome to your team.

Find and engage experienced professionals with more than 10,000 skills on Talent Marketplace™ to help your team scale up and down while reducing costs compared to traditional sourcing channels.

If you’ve already identified workers you’d like to hire, Any Hire can help you hire, onboard, and manage payroll and benefits for professionals around the world, while maintaining compliance with local employment laws—all in one seamless self-service portal. Get started with Any Hire today.