Staffing is a constant area of concern for business managers, and turnover can be one of the highest ongoing costs for a business. Although calculations differ, estimates suggest that it costs a business around 6-9 months’ worth of salary for every departing employee on average. For a manager on a salary of £40k a year, this represents a £20-£30k business spend for recruitment and training, every time that role needs to be re-recruited for due to turnover. Multiply this across a full staff base during a year, and the HR bill suddenly starts looking quite frightening indeed!

As a result, the recruitment function is always needed – but the question of how best to resource it becomes critical. When it comes to solutions for recruitment, it may seem initially that an in-house function will suffice – or that line managers can take on recruitment as part of their everyday functions, with support from HR. But the reality is that in-house expertise is expensive to maintain, hard to keep at the forefront of the industry, and it tends to detract from the vital operational functions of the business itself. By forcing your own existing managers to take on recruitment, the danger is that your business delivery starts to suffer and your recruitment outcomes are still poor.

As with other specialist functions, there is real value in outsourcing your recruitment. Agencies that specialise in solutions for recruitment will offer a range of measurable business benefits.

Resources and Expertise

HR agencies that specialise in recruitment will have specialist staff who work only in that field, working on your account. This means that you will have a dedicated recruitment professional who knows your industry, the specific roles within it, and the requirements that you have. Furthermore, they will know where to find the quality candidates that you need, and will have the expertise to source those who really would be a good fit for your business – reducing that risk of high turnover and associated cost.

Access to a Broader Service Package

Many recruitment agencies are also parts of larger national or global groups, meaning that they can offer value-add and enhanced add-on services such as resourcing strategy, bulk-recruitment for seasonal contracts, overseas recruitment for new sites, executive search and even employee relocation. They will also be able to use expensive means of advertising for clients because they can obtain dramatic efficiencies of scale through bulk-purchase – something that a business would never be able to obtain directly. 

Value for Money

Because businesses can buy in flexible and targeted recruitment services as they need them, or organise a retainer that matches their needs, they will find that the costs of using a professional recruiter tend to be far less than maintaining an in-house resource, offering access to cutting edge skills and expertise, at an excellent rate.

To find out more about how a professional recruitment agency can help your business to thrive and grow with the right staffing solutions, contact us.