safety managers in the U.S. and Canada. We work with
groups whose job is to go out and win business by, for
example, reading an RFP (request for proposal) so we have
a clear understanding of when health and safety is involved
and what responsibilities our team may or may not have.
It’s our job to understand the services agreement and contract requirements for health and safety, and to get out to
those sites and review what’s happening there. I am also
involved in our government services area, where we provide
human capital solutions to government and to prime contractors and subcontractors, and in our managed services
provider offering. In the latter, when a large company does
business with multiple staffing companies and doesn’t have
time to work with each directly, it will often go to a managed services provider and ask [it] to take over management
of all the staffing providers.
I’m also the legislative and governmental affairs person
for the industry association California
Staffing Professionals. In that role, I
make sure the staffing industry is getting
in front of legislators so they understand
how a law affecting temporary staffing in
industries such as retail could impact the
constituents in their districts.
QTell us about the American Staffing Association (ASA) alliance with
OSHA on that agency’s Temporary
Worker Initiative.
AASA and OSHA have joined forces to develop and execute a strategic
plan focused on protecting the health
and safety of temporary workers in the
U.S. The Temporary Worker Initiative has two goals:
first, to reduce and prevent temporary workers’ exposure
to safety and health hazards at the client’s worksite, and
second, to educate staffing companies and their clients
and temp workers about their rights and responsibilities
under OSHA regulations. Additionally, the alliance has
worked to educate federal and state-run OSHA programs
about the relationship between staffing companies and
their clients. Through the alliance, ASA has also worked
with OSHA to publish seven Temporary Worker Initiative
bulletins; the last one was about powered industrial
truck training. We’re currently working on two additional
bulletins.
ASA also worked with the National Safety Council to
create the Safety Standard of Excellence program, which
encourages staffing firms to adopt workplace-safety best
practices and standards. Under that program, staffing firms’
workplace-safety programs and practices are assessed.
Maintaining the Safety Standard of Excellence designation
requires an audit every two years. Aerotek is one of perhaps
20 staffing agencies that have earned this designation.
Q What kinds of temp positions are warehouses and DCs looking to fill these days?
AThere are the usual positions like lift truck operators, loaders and unloaders, shipping and receiving, pick
and pack, dispatchers, and inventory clerks. But with the
growth of e-commerce, we realized the need ... to attract
new talent to support seasonal warehouse demand. One
of the top positions warehouses are looking for are PLC
(programmable logic controller) programmers. Those positions are hot, as is anything involving computers used in
operations. We’re also seeing a lot of demand for facility
engineers as well as industrial and manufacturing engineers
to keep all the material handling equipment and machinery
up and running. Engineers with quality
assurance and process management skills
are in demand as temporary employees
for projects.
QDo most facilities find temporary laborthroughanagency?
ASome try to go it alone if they have their own internal recruiting teams,
but a lot of companies don’t have the
resources to take that on. If there’s a
specific project or a seasonal need, it can
make sense to use temporary staffing
companies and take advantage of an
agency’s established recruiting process
and resources. Once that’s off their plate,
they won’t have to worry about payroll, time keeping, or
almost any of the HR functions that would be involved with
an internal hire; those become the recruiting company’s
responsibilities.
QHow do temp agencies find appropriate applicants for warehouse positions?
A Every staffing company will be different, but as an example, my company has a five-step process. The first
step is to understand what a client is looking for. You have
to get a good description of the job requirement; if you
don’t, you’re not going to be able to provide it with the best
candidate. Once we know that, we can start by checking
our internal database of potential employees. After that
comes screening, which includes at least two reference
checks. We’ll also match the candidate’s skills to the client’s
requirement. Depending on the client, we may also need to
conduct drug screening or conduct a background investi-
