Staffing shortages are challenging businesses, and snow and ice operations are not immune. So, it is time to rethink your staffing options. You must find opportunities to gain increased productivity from our existing workforce and alternatives for completing the work. Here are some keys to maximize the staff you have and negate your hiring woes.
Prioritize Employees Who Interact With Customers
The foundation of business success is based upon your revenue and the stability of your revenue streams. Customer loyalty and retention depends on their satisfaction. Prospects rely on their ability to access the information they need to make informed decisions and gain a comfort level with their options. Organizations with a history of sales success often rely on operational delivery to keep them going when they are short staffed. Yet it is your customer facing staff who are the most valuable to sustaining enterprise revenue.
Identify staff who interact with customers along the entire range of their journey. Their success in meeting customer needs, satisfaction and prospect demands determine if you can satisfy and keep them. If they have the bandwidth to provide exceptional service, they can keep your customers and expand your prospect pool.
Streamline your team’s workload by creating tools and resources to quickly get them the answers they want and need. Ensure they have the tools to be more efficient. Clarify what helps them deliver a better customer experience.
Outsource When Necessary
The gig economy is here to stay. Leveraging external relationships with outsourced resources can help you flex your staffing and is a valuable way to get work done. While not as optimal as building your own team, the pressure relief you experience when critical work is being completed can give you the breathing room needed to determine if this role really needs a full-time hire or if can be permanently outsourced.
For small projects, online resources like Fiverr and Upwork provide you with access to workers with specific skills who are needed for short duration work.
Staffing agencies bring in talent to your organization for a project that is going to take a bit longer. While it will be more expensive, keep in mind, you are not paying any benefits and you will not get hit with an unemployment claim when you no longer need them. Agencies vet the staff who work with you and will help you find the right talent you need.
Outside vendors can provide key services for you and do bookkeeping, administrative work, sales support, social media, website management, etc. Long-term vendors have deep insight about your history, team, and culture. Outside vendors are exceptionally valuable safety valves when you cannot find permanent talent.
Consider Technology
Technology use is exploding as companies seek opportunities to invest in devices and software to provide options to leverage their staff and enhance productivity. Autonomous devices include robots, drones, and more.
While robotics as a field is advancing, they are not truly autonomous of human interaction. They still need people involved to use them. This includes programming, monitoring, and servicing as they perform. At best this is now “co-botics” and people will never be fully eliminated from the equation.
There is growing interest in how data and analytics is used to manage productivity and service delivery. Most technology devices are already collecting data. When combined with artificial intelligence, the possibilities for data analytics are endless. When the data is combined with AI interpretation, this can provide valuable insight to help streamline your processes and maximize staff efficiency.
Evaluate how you are using software and technology within your snow and ice management business to see how you can maximize their value. The return on the investment (ROI) should be very carefully evaluated to identify any efficiencies achieved or productivity enhancements.
Explore the September 2022 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find you next story to read.
Latest from Snow Magazine
- NOTEBOOK: Go With The Flow
- NOTEBOOK: Winter Equipment Offers the RoadMAXX System
- NOTEBOOK: Yanmar Unveils Compact Loader Lineup
- NOTEBOOK: Schill Expands in Southwest Ohio
- October Cover Story: Achieving Wet Pavement
- August 2022 Cover Story: Beat The Odds
- May 2022 Cover Story: Bullish on Snow & Ice
- 2022 Top 100