It’s no secret that staffing shortages facing most businesses today are extremely challenging. It is also highly unlikely that these challenges are going to resolve in the near term. So, what do you do now when you just cannot find the talent you need? It is time to rethink all of your staffing options. The key is to make the most of the staff you have and to augment them with outside resources and technology.

1. Prioritize frontline, customer-facing employees

The foundation of business success is based upon your revenue and the stability of your revenue streams. Customer loyalty and retention depends on their satisfaction. Prospects rely on their ability to access the information they need to make informed decisions and gain a comfort level with their options. Organizations with a history of sales success often rely on operational delivery to keep them going when they are short staffed. Yet it is your customer-facing staff who are the most valuable to sustaining revenue.

Identify staff who interact with your customers from the phone call order for septic service to the technician’s visit to invoicing for the work performed. Their success in meeting customer needs, satisfaction and prospect demands determine if you can satisfy and keep them. If frontline workers have the bandwidth to provide exceptional service, they can keep your customers and expand your prospect pool.

Today’s consumers are looking for faster information. Many prefer to get information via video or audio. Adjust to how they want to consume information. Streamline your team’s workload by creating tools and resources to quickly get them the answers they want and need. Ensure they have the tools and resources to be more efficient. Clarify what can help them deliver a better customer experience. Remove the roadblocks to their success.

2. Outsource when necessary

The gig economy is here to stay, and that may be true in the wastewater industry as it is in the technology sector, for instance. Leveraging external relationships with outsourced resources — say for day laborers or retired or other independent contractors — can help you flex your staffing and can be a valuable way to get the work done. While not as optimal as building your own team, the pressure relief you experience can give you the breathing room needed to determine if you really need more full-time technicians or some of your work can be routinely outsourced.

For small projects — especially for office tasks like IT, website development or marketing — online resources like Fiverr and Upwork provide you with worldwide access to gig workers with specific skills that are needed in the short term. Most of these online sites have filters allowing you to clarify what service you need, information ahead of time on the potential cost, control over where your talent comes from and what languages they speak.

Staffing agencies can bring workers for large, sporadic projects requiring more hands. While it will be more expensive, keep in mind, you are not paying any benefits and you will not get hit with an unemployment claim when you no longer need them. Agencies vet the staff who work with you and will help you find the right workers you need.

Outside vendors can provide key services for you and do bookkeeping, administrative work, sales support and social media. Long-term vendors have deep insight about your history, your team and your company’s culture. They know your preferred communication methods and how you like to work. Outside vendors are an exceptionally valuable safety valve when you cannot find the right permanent talent.

Do not try to manage too many different outside resources. Focus on the most critical work they can provide for you and engage in short-duration tests to see if you have chemistry and if they provide you with value.

3. Consider the potential of technology

Technology and automation use is exploding as companies seek opportunities to invest in devices and software that provide options to leverage the staff they already have and enhance productivity. Autonomous devices include robots, drones, vehicles, floor cleaners and more. These devices can sense the environment around them and operate without human involvement. Other devices such as exoskeletons are able to support a worker’s body and provide augmented biological capabilities such as safely lifting heavy objects.

While robotics as a field is advancing, they are not truly autonomous of human interaction. They still need people involved in the process to use them. This includes programming, monitoring them and changing batteries as they perform their service. At best this is now “co-botics” and people will never be fully eliminated from the equation and they will work in tandem. As these options expand, you can take advantage of them too, even if you are a small business.

There is growing interest in how data and analytics can be used to manage staff productivity and service delivery. Most technology devices are already collecting data. When combined in the future with artificial intelligence, the possibilities for data analytics appear to be endless. When the data is combined with AI interpretation, this can provide valuable insight to help streamline your processes and maximize staff efficiency.

Evaluate how you are using the software and technology currently deployed in your business to see how you can maximize their value. The return on the investment should be carefully evaluated to identify any efficiencies achieved or productivity enhancements. Get your team any needed training so they can effectively work with advanced technologies. You might need a different skill set in your workforce to work with the technology and this may expand your workforce to pull from a broader pool of potential talent.

IN CONCLUSION

It is clear that staffing shortages are not going away. We have to find opportunities to gain increased productivity from our existing workforce and alternatives for completing the work we need done. Focusing on the needs of our customer-facing team members, making smart use of outside resources and maximizing technology use provide viable options for addressing the issue. When you expand your potential for getting the job done, you are more likely to find the resources you need.