Temporary workers can be effective tool as market rebounds but preparation is key to avoid ‘productivity leakage’
As the economy continues to improve, temporary workers can play an important role in an organization’s recovery plan. But to get the most benefit, employers need to properly prepare for their arrival.
Doing some legwork upfront, in the form of planning and preparation, can result in significant cost savings. One trap employers want to avoid is “productivity leakage” — especially when it comes to temporary knowledge workers.
‘Productivity leakage’
Productivity leaks occur when knowledge workers are forced to engage in non-productive activities during the course of a normal set of work activities, such as: searching for documents, references, procedures, templates or files; asking a co-worker how or what is needed to do something that should be part of a documented process; and new employees who are slow in becoming productive because they quickly forget what they learned in training or the training doesn’t align well with operational processes.
In the case of the temporary knowledge workers, a big driver of non-productive activities is the need to be “in the loop” for meetings and correspondence that pertain to their work assignments. Full-time staff can rely on their knowledge of the history of a program when questions arise. Not knowing the history or not having access to meetings and ongoing correspondence can cause a temporary worker to engage in productivity-leaking activities.
This can be further compounded by the unintended consequences of “out of the loop” decision choices made by a temporary worker, such as taking a guess, asking questions or making false assumptions. They might get lucky with one of these choices but a more likely result will be rework. Rework and lost productivity have the same cost implications, whether done by full-time employees or temporary workers.
Most of the analysis techniques used in building a business case for permanent staff can be used when planning to use temporary workers.
In looking at the cost of employee turnover, William G. Bliss, president of the consulting firm Bliss & Associates in Wayne, N.J., found the first two to four weeks a new worker is on the job, she is only 25 per cent productive. During the next five to 12 weeks, productivity increases to 50 per cent and by 20 weeks, it’s at 75 per cent.
There is also productivity leakage with full-time staff and supervisors because of time spent bringing a new worker up to speed and searching for and providing things such as documents, references, procedures, templates and files the temporary worker needs to perform assigned tasks, finds Bliss.
In addition, a new worker will make mistakes during the 20-week period, which equals rework — by the new worker or other staff.
Reducing productivity leakage
To effectively use temporary workers, plan and prepare for: the expected duration of the engagement or project that will utilize temporary workers; the scope of the work or project; and how the information is to be clearly and succinctly provided to someone unfamiliar with your company.
Policy and procedure should also outline who will give the temporary worker direction, work assignments and feedback. It should also include details of work process and procedures, examples and who to contact. Employers should also determine, and plan for, the extent to which temporary workers can and need to be integrated into meetings and normal routines. If an organization has documented standard operating procedures, determine if they can be used as is or if they need to be tailored for a temporary worker. If these don’t exist, where appropriate, consider developing them as part of the preparation.
These productivity concepts can and should be applied anytime. Actions that are effective in reducing productivity leakage for an incoming temporary worker can also be applied to new hires of permanent staff. Looking for and implementing opportunities to eliminate non-productive activities standing between knowledge workers and business objectives shouldn’t be just a recession recovery or post-recession program. If a company isn’t already in the habit of doing this on a routine basis, it may want to consider adding this business practice.
Rich Stewart is a managing partner at First Wave Consulting in Mechanicsburg, Pa., developer of Wingman Knowledge Capture. For more information, visit firstwaveconsulting.com or wingmankc.com.
