Ask any successful entrepreneur or business leader, and they will tell you that their human resources are the most important component of their organisation. That’s because the success or failure of any business highly depends on the quality of labour available to it.
Every organisation needs a skilled workforce. So many industries are becoming more and more competitive, and big changes are occurring on a daily basis. Having access to staff who are well-trained, able to adapt and knowledgeable in their roles ensures you can maintain high levels of performance, no matter what the current challenges of your industry may be.
Why you need to have a skilled workforce
There’re numerous reasons why having a skilled workforce for your organisation is crucial. Here we shall look at five of the most important. They are:
- Increased productivity. For an organisation to produce its maximum output, you need the people manning the different workstations to have the skills needed to do their job. This way, workers won’t waste hours fumbling around trying to figure out processes that they should already know. The more skilled your employees are, the more efficient they will be and the more they will be able to produce.
- Improved innovation and creativity. Workers who have the skills to carry out the task they have been assigned to will spend less time worrying about how they will do it. This, in turn, frees up their minds to think about better ways of getting the job done. As a result, a skilled workforce will be able to come up with innovative and creative solutions even for new problems due to the confidence they have from possessing the skill to work in a certain field rightfully.
- It saves you money. This might sound more like a paradox since skilled workers generally command higher salaries than their unskilled counterparts, but in fact, it’s not. Workers who have very little knowledge about what they are doing will generally make a lot of errors. No matter which industry your company is in, you can agree that errors and mistakes in the workplace cost money – and could even hurt customer relations if they are not detected and remedied in time. Having a skilled workforce, although it will cost more at face value, will help reduce the amount of errors and even help you keep your customers satisfied by extension. Hence, saving you a lot of money.
- Increased profitability and stronger growth. All businesses want to maximise their profitability and have sustained robust growth. Having a skilled workforce instead of an unskilled one means that you can get more output with the same number of employees – sometimes even less. This will help boost your productivity and as a result your bottom line. With a bigger profit margin, you will have more money to invest back in your business by acquiring modern equipment, expanding or buying infrastructure, spending more on advertising, and negotiating better deals with suppliers since you’re buying more from them.
- Improved health and wellness in the workplace. If you have ever tried doing something you’re not proficient or knowledgeable at, then you know how stressful it can be. Unskilled workers will struggle to perform tasks (more so challenging tasks) on a daily basis which can stress them out. Your workers will constantly feel drained, worried, and generally overwhelmed. Eventually, the stress will surpass their ability to cope and start causing damage to their minds and bodies. As a result, employees will ask for more sick days, and employee turnover could increase as well – both eventualities will further increase the stress levels in the workplace.
So how do you create a skilled workforce for your business?
There’re two ways to create a skilled workforce for your business; you can either hire skilled workers or train your current workers for the skills you need.
Hiring right helps you acquire skilled staff
Hiring, although a complicated and often unpleasant process, is one of the ways you can create a skilled workforce for your operation. For you to hire effectively and acquire the type of skilled workers your business will need to succeed, you need to have a robust recruitment process that is able to source, sort and select the best workers available.
Because of the lengthy nature of recruiting, it can be quite difficult to acquire quality skilled employees when you’re in a hurry. It’s for this reason that you find many organisations hiring temporary employees who are unskilled for that particular role to cover for absent workers or employee shortages as the business looks for or considers a permanent solution. This, however, is not ideal and could hurt the performance of the business in the meanwhile.
Training staff is a costly but necessary exercise
Training is necessary and ongoing. Those employees who are given the opportunity to refresh their skills and stretch themselves are far more motivated than those who remain stagnant in their roles. You’ll also find that productivity and efficiency levels are significantly higher in organisations where staff are regularly up-skilled. It can be a costly exercise to invest in training, but when your employees are arguably the most important assets in your company, they are well worth the investment.
Even though training your staff for the skills your business needs to operate has many advantages, you’re bound to face challenges when you need a certain skill on short notice or on a temporary basis. Training takes time, and in cases where time is limited (such as when you need a certain skill for an upcoming project), time is a luxury you simply can’t afford. As a result, training is not the best way to go when you need to acquire a particular skill set quickly or for a short while.
Employees with a specialised skill set are essential
Both methods of creating a skilled workforce are effective, but limited when you need to acquire a certain skill within a limited amount of time or only need a particular skill set for a short amount of time.
When temporary workers have specialised training or a skill set that they can bring to the workplace, they are able to perform without delay, which means far less downtime for the organization. Being cross skilled in a variety of roles will also be of significant benefit. But hiring temporary skilled workers takes time and effort; that is if you decide to go at it by yourself.
A talented pool of skilled employees to help grow your business
When the need arises to hire staff for permanent or casual work, leveraging off the expertise of a specialist recruitment company will ensure that you will always get quality staff that have the exact skills you need.
Blue Collar People not only screen applicants for suitability but also take a vested interest in your success.
We provide quality, skilled, temporary and permanent employees to your business to help you acquire the skill sets you require with minimum delay.
Don’t trust your business with anyone else. Blue Collar People have a skilled workforce ready to work for you today
