It’s no secret that the pandemic has left its mark on many industries, including the staffing and recruitment sector, stalling the once projected growth for this market. The staffing and recruiting industry consists of organizations that aid other companies in finding and hiring employees, while also assisting with back-end essentials such as workers compensation and payroll funding. The U.S. staffing industry, now at roughly $119 billion since the COVID-19 outbreak, has taken some recent hits. However, staffing clients in the legal, healthcare and education markets are experiencing better growth. While overall the market has decreased as a result of the pandemic, hope still remains for a return to expansion once we reach the other side of the pandemic. This return to normalcy that fosters profitability is going to take some ingenuity on behalf of those leading in the market, taking a closer look at procedures and strategies to apply to a post-COVID workforce.
The shrink in the sector’s market size is a result of the far-reaching scale of the pandemic’s impact on businesses across the board. As businesses were forced to lay off employees or close their doors, the staffing and recruitment sector felt the squeeze. However, we are seeing signs now that more companies are emerging from the pandemic, ready to do business. They will need quality employees to do that. This means that companies will need to re-focus their attention on hiring and recruitment and will turn to a staffing agency to fill that need.
Three Most Notable Effects the Pandemic has had On the Staffing Industry
- An Altered Job Market – Hiring freezes and remote working have changed the playing field.
- Changing Hiring Needs – Some businesses, like delivery services, have seen an exponential increase in their hiring needs.
- New Recruitment Practices – Recruiters had to change how they assess new candidates, using technology like never before.
Through these shifts in the staffing sector, market leaders like Employers Logic have used this time wisely to adapt and plan, and now welcome the opportunity to fuel the market’s recovery. Companies that have fought to survive during the pandemic have likely learned the important role a staffing company provides them when it comes to helping them drive down their costs for hiring and recruitment.
Here are some of the ways the staffing industry has changed post-COVID:
- Digital Recruitment and Onboarding
- Remote Hiring
- Virtual Interviewing Technology
- Improved Candidate Screening Criteria
- Applicant Tracking Systems
- Remote Working
The fluctuating employment market will continue to charge staffing companies with the tak of hiring exceptionally skilled employees beyond geographies who can work remotely. The barriers that once may have prevented this shift are no longer. An increasing number of businesses are looking to take full advantage of this emerging work culture trend.
Talented workers are flooding the global market, looking for work opportunities. Companies will need staffing help to hire and retain the best employees. The industry has already begun to see this, with many clients looking to hire independent workers for short-term, project-based commitments. This trend has been mutually beneficial, helping staffing firms build back their business while also enabling their clients to manage the costs to once again grow their business.
The growing importance of the digitalization and automation of various staffing processes such as timesheets, hiring, onboarding, etc., will only strengthen over time and become the norm. Such technological solutions have historically provided staffing companies with a digital edge and will be playing a pivotal role post-COVID.
The pandemic brought significant societal changes, and that’s perhaps most evident when we look at hiring practices. The staffing industry is evolving, which is a good thing. The staffing industry has had to rethink its operational processes, altering and adapting them as the pandemic unfolds. Due in large part to this quick thinking and resiliency at adapting, staffing companies are set to emerge in many ways stronger than they were before the pandemic. Developing strategies during COVID-19 has served as the catalyst for functional, structural, and operational transformations across sectors that have resulted in extensive staffing data management, robust communication, and contingent worker expansion. These enhancements are here to stay.
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