Staffing software is widely used in staffing agencies to better facilitate and track the interviewing and hiring of candidates for open job orders as well as produce payroll for it’s employees. It is also used to control and quality assure that job orders are filled accurately and on-time. Ultimately this information will feed over to the back office payroll software for billing purposes so that your agency can bill the client and your agency can be paid in a reasonable amount of time. And since cash flow decides whether a business will live or die, it is reasonable to assume that anything that makes this process easier, faster and more accurate will be advantageous for your staffing company’s bottom line. So therefore, to answer the question of whether or not your agency needs staffing software succinctly, I would simply say without a doubt, yes.
So, why does your agency need good staffing software anyway? Good software is truly invaluable to most staffing agency owners and managers for many reasons not the least of which include the ability to track and submit applicants to specific jobs (sometimes called an applicant tracking system and is handy if you fill for more than one job order) and also to completely automate the process of payroll and employee tax and wage information. This information is so vital to have organized as many agencies have gone bankrupt trying to either track their jobs by hand or on an Excel spreadsheet. Additionally, some agencies may be using outdated software that doesn’t exactly fit their business model or flow of their business operations. Either of these mentioned scenarios are certainly not optimal for productivity or the bottom line and they present many issues for the staffing agency manager.
One of the most powerful aspects of staffing software falls on the front office software. Without a job order from a client you don’t have any reasonable expectation of generating revenue so it is common for agencies to have many many orders open at one time further complicated by the many customers that have to be managed. In order to be competitive, it is extremely important to be able to access information about your jobs quickly. It might just be the lifeblood of your staffing business. Furthermore, it is likely that your customer has put the job order out to several agencies to fill so it is very important that the staffing agency is able to quickly submit and track applicants that have been sent to jobs. Even if your agency is the exclusive provider for a client it is still no guarantee that your company is going to be able to fill the order properly or on time. Good front office software for staffing companies makes this challenge a little easier by keeping track of jobs orders, clients and finally the applicants and candidates. It’s nearly impossible to dream of handling multiple jobs on a spreadsheet and it’s a lesson in frustration to enter the information over and over again in an outdated database.
When it comes time to pay employees, there is nearly nothing as important as getting the deductions right and ensuring that government payroll taxes are paid on time everytime to avoid the steep penalties that a lot of agencies pay because they can’t file their payroll information on time. Good staffing software is going to provide a simple and effective way for you to track all of the various types of employees that most staffing agencies employ. Be sure to look for editions of software that are specific to your industry. For example, The Fackler Group Staffing Software offers editions for front office staffing software for weekly pay staffing agencies, another for daily pay staffing software, another for medical staffing software and yet another specifically designed for PEO software or employee leasing software. Staffing software really should be specific to your business because in the end, the software will be the basis of your company’s profitability and operations and therefore should be as close to your specific business model as possible.
About the author:
Since 1998, Mark Cross has been involved in technical staffing and marketing to the SMB market space. He is currently the marketing manager and technical adviser for TheFacklerGroup.com where he helps develop and market the world’s best staffing software platform. Mark is a certified technical professional in the areas of computer and communications consulting as well as media and branding video production. Joe welcomes your questions to: joe@thefacklergroup.com.