5 Tips for Engaging and Retaining Contract Labor—Without Raising Wages
Select Force Group’s Chief Revenue Officer, Matt Gorman, was recently invited to a Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) roundtable event where he shared results from our most recent survey about what contract workers really want.
As he explained, there are many things that employers can do to retain their contract workers, without having to increase wages.
(In fact, some of them are free and so simple you can start today!)
We’ve extracted the top 5 takeaways from that presentation for you below.
<span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">Our subject matter expert for this CSCMP presentation was Matt Gorman. With over 16 years of experience in staffing and recruiting for contract labor, Matt serves as the Chief Revenue Officer for Select Force Group and Upshift. Matt specializes in workforce management strategies, designing labor platforms for enhanced candidate engagement and experience.
Tip 1: Include the answers to basic questions in your job descriptions
Contract workers won’t take a job without these answers upfront:
Who’s their supervisor? Where do they report? Which door should they use? They’re looking for the practical information.
Temporary workers have more options than ever before. If they sign up for Uber or Instacart, they know exactly what to expect.
They won’t pick up a shift working in hospitality or light industrial if they don’t have this information beforehand too—so make it part of your job description!
Tip 2: Treat contract workers like you treat your internal staff
“You shouldn’t waste time engaging the workers who unload your trucks.”
We disagree.
Is getting those trucks unloaded an important part of your business? Do you care about what’s on the trucks? Then investing a little in the people involved will go a long way.
Your company isn’t the only option available to contract workers. To keep them coming back (which will lower your training costs), apply best practices for your internal staff to your temporary workforce as well.
Tip 3: Let contract workers know when they’ve been successful
There’s a critical aspect of training that often gets overlooked:
Are you teaching your contract workers how to recognize a successful shift? And are you letting them know how they did?
Most companies train workers on the tasks they’re supposed to do, and they leave it at that.
But training should also tell workers what a successful day on the job looks like. And at the end of the day, workers want to hear from you about how they did.
If you incorporate this kind of feedback into your contract worker training, you can expect a more satisfied workforce that comes back to work for you again and again.
Tip 4: Expect the best from everyone who works for you
“Nobody wants to work anymore.”
“Anyone can do this job.”
Actually, the best contract workers want to be around other people that want to work.
And your attitude here is everything.
If you’re creating an environment where you view contract workers as interchangeable, and your expectations of them are low, you won’t be able to retain the best workers.
So you’ll be faced with a revolving door of new people and personnel issues.
Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy, right?
Build an environment of people who want to be there, who work hard, and who care, and you’ll be able to attract and retain the top talent.
Tip 5: Adjust your mindset and wow your contract workers
Contract workers aren’t trying to prove themselves to you.
They’re evaluating your company to decide if they want to come back.
It wasn’t always like this. Pre-COVID, workers approached shifts as an opportunity to show employers that they were worth employing.
But there has been a shift.
Workers today know that they’re worth it, and when they work for you, it’s an opportunity for you to make them want to come back.
Businesses who have changed their approach along with this shift are the ones retaining their contract workers. Join them… or your contract workers will!