Just like other initiatives you’re focusing on right now require introspective, working with a staffing and recruiting agency requires you to look inward and ask yourself if their services are helping your business grow. But how do you know if a staffing and recruiting agency is helping?
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution like there are for a lot of performance evaluations, but there are a handful of things you can look to get a pretty good sense of whether or not things are working: employee retention, satisfaction, and revenue (or revenue-related metrics).
How to Know if a Staffing and Recruiting Agency is Helping
Employee Retention
Retaining employees is arguably more challenging now than ever before. In fact, 65% of employees think they can find a better position elsewhere. Furthermore, 80% of all employee turnover is a result of bad hiring decisions. So, yeah, employee retention is a pretty telling sign whether or not the staffing and recruiting agency is fulfilling its promise.
How do you know if your retention and turnover rates are hitting the mark? This will vary, but generally, look for a retention rate of 90%, and thus, a turnover rate of 10%. If you do not see good retention and turnover rates, sit down with them and have a conversation. Remember that the primary reason you’re working with them is to gain access to right-fit candidates who’ll fit in with your business, culture, and goals. So if new hires are walking out faster than they walk in, you need to reevaluate.
Employee Satisfaction
If you’re not familiar with the Great Resignation, you should be. In short, people are leaving their jobs at an alarming rate. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, between April and June of 2021, 11.5 million people quit their jobs. A survey of more than 30,000 people found that 41% of them are thinking about quitting. The reasons behind this vary, but happiness has a lot to do with it. If someone is happy, they’re less likely to leave; this is human nature.
To measure this, send out an employee satisfaction survey and compare it to the results of surveys before working with the agency. If most of your employees are satisfied, the agency is likely hiring the right people.
Revenue
Whatever way you look at it, your employees—permanent or temporary—greatly influence your bottom line. No game-changing product feature or world-class marketing campaign can change it. They help, sure, but employees are the driving force behind any successful company. Good employees lead to more revenue, while poor ones lead to declines or stagnation.
When evaluating your staffing and recruiting agency, look at revenue before and after its involvement. If you want to go a layer deeper, look at revenue-related metrics. For example, a technology or software company could look at product adoption and customer retention. If you’re working with the agency to hire for a specific team, like product, look at metrics they use to measure their team’s success. Again, this could be product adoption, usage, or churn.
Hiring the Right People: Final Thoughts
A staffing and recruiting agency wears many hats, but if you drill down into all of their responsibilities, a common thread emerges: They help you hire good people; people who’ll help you grow. Knowing whether or not it’s doing this is fundamental to a mutually beneficial relationship. So whenever working with one, frequently take a look at the above metrics to see if you’re getting value.