Importance of Short-Term Restructuring - Flexible Staffing Offerings

Posted on: 20th January 2021

IT Jobs and Recruitment Insights

I can’t remember the last time I went through a day without reading somewhere about the current K-shaped recession that’s being caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic. How half the country basks in riches and the other half struggle to keep the lights on.

Our government is tasked with making impossible decisions almost on a daily basis, as we all look into the unknown while waiting for the vaccines as our only ray of hope out of this.

What type of company restructuring are we seeing?

As a direct result of the pandemic many people have been left unemployed with uncertain futures. Companies from all industries are facing one of two situations- either feast or famine. This has driven them all to face similar challenges leading to some form of restructuring.

Some companies are looking to exploit the current climate and make money and others downsizing to stay afloat. Both these challenges can be solved with short-term restructuring strategies, without major investment or risk.

How can contingent staffing help?

Let’s start with how contingent staffing models can assist those in hyper growth mode. It’s well reported that huge change has taken place over the last 12 months. People's shift to online has seen a meteoric rise, years ahead of itself.

Those once fearful of technology now embrace it. Training has been ramped up and we all are now well adapted. Using video technology to meet our next sales prospect or team member instead of a coffee in person, has become the norm. Along with this, a lot of companies have now updated their infrastructure to allow their teams work from home. 

Now those companies need to find an interim solution that might be more cost effective then using the Managed Services company that set it up. So, to get an effective short-term plan, you need to look into the following steps:

Step 1: Evaluate your short-term company goals 

A starting point is to assess your current project load and goals you want to achieve over the coming months. 

Taking into consideration our K-shaped recession dilemma, priorities will hugely differ depending on what part of the K your company is on. This is a great opportunity to speak with company leadership to assess what goals should be prioritised and what can be put on the long finger. 

Now assess what projects should be prioritised, do you need to pivot the product or service in the short term for long term stability. 

Once these restrictions lift, where will that leave you? Will you be positioned to take advantage of the market and for your longer-term growth plans? Staffing plans should always support these goals and objectives. 

Step 2: Conduct skill analysis – What skills are available in the company & how is the workload?

When you have your plans in place, you need to assess if you have the skills in the business to execute your objectives.

What are the priority skills sets needed to carry out the day's tasks and what is needed to innovate and future proof your business for years to come? Striking a balance between this is important.

The key steps a skill analysis should cover include:

• Identify core skills: What skills do employees need to ensure business stability, change and growth? Use your knowledge of goals, processes and innovations the company is planning in the coming months.

• What skills are needed: Build a competency framework for each role that defines the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to perform the job. Think about today's challenges around the current restrictions and the future, post the vaccine. What’s your company's new normal going to look like and plan accordingly. 

• Communication: When assessing a skills audit, ensure you take the time to reach out to each member of your team/company. Be transparent and show them the importance in identifying areas in which they could enhance their skills and future proof their jobs.

Assess how they can meet their daily work and career goals. Assess how they perceive their role and responsibilities. This will provide valuable information that you can integrate into your skill gap analysis.

Step 3: Create a recruitment plan to address these skill gaps 

Once you have an understanding of the current skills within the team, now align those skills with your goals and objectives. Plan a range of situations, project delays, expanding projects, exploiting the market, etc. and plan your staffing requirements around these strategies.  

You need to assess which roles are essential? Who are your core staff members and what are your plans if any essential employees/skills become sick or leave the company? 

Consider how to upskill non-critical employees where possible and what those requirements look like. With companies on the wrong end of the K curve, i.e. having to reduce team sizes, would have led to many of the remaining employees taking on extra responsibilities.

Always important to ask yourself the following questions before mapping out your recruitment plan:

• Can they undertake these responsibilities with the training programs currently in place? Should this become a priority? 

• Are they being mentored effectively? 

• Are those training programs that shifted to virtual environments, effective? Do you need to determine the configuration of content? 

• Do you need external training or assistance, or can it be handled in-house?

• What are the roles you need to hire for? If you don’t have the right people and the right skills you will not be able to meet your business objectives. 

• Can those not suitable for future goals be trained?  How long would it take to get the skills trained?

• Do you need to consider redundancies? 

All very hard questions to answer but extremely important for you to move forward with a hiring plan and obtain the skills needed for the company's new normal.

Next you need to think of that hiring plan. We know what skills we need. 

• Now do we need them long term or would a contingent staffing model work? 

• When do we want them to start? 

• Are the skills available in the local market, does it matter considering the remote working environment? 

• Is there a risk to our network if we allow a fully remote staff? 

• How will it impact culture? 

• What is the competition in the market and what levels of compensation is required? (If you need some guidance regarding market rates, you can download our 2021 IT Salary Guide)

These are all questions you have to start asking yourself and planning out how to survive and thrive in this new business ecosystem.

Step 4: Engaging a temporary solution and partnering with a recruitment business 

What I have found over the last 6 months from both, talent and leadership professionals is that, COVID-19 has made it more challenging for them to hire according to plan.

If you find yourself in this situation, consider turning to temporary and contract personnel to cover any critical skill gaps. Engaging in a temporary solution can be quicker and a cheaper way to secure the short-term skills you might need.  

 This approach allows you to staff up and down both quickly and cost-effectively, which will be an important capability as we face these unpredictable recruitment challenges since 2020 and through 2021.

Recruitment advice

I’d always recommended that you set aside part of your hiring budgets for unplanned hiring needs, be prepared for the unexpected. What will you do if an employee becomes sick? Being prepared and understanding your staffing capabilities both now and long term gives you a foundation for business' success and survival during these unexpected and unprecedented times.

It will allow you to survive where you need to and exploit the market conditions if you are in a position to do so. Some of GemPool’s service offerings might interest you, you can find them here.