Why Flexibility Is Essential to Business Health in 2021
Have you ever heard of the term “VUCA”?
It’s a business acronym for an environment that is:
- Volatile: Things change rapidly but not predictably.
- Uncertain: The past is not an accurate predictor of the future, making planning extremely difficult.
- Complex: Myriad causes and mitigating factors complicate problems.
- Ambiguous: The causes behind events are often unclear.
The term has been around for years, but it’s more relevant now than ever. The key to operating in conditions like these? You guessed it: Flexibility.
Why is flexibility essential to your business in 2021?
The more responsive your business is to changing conditions, the more resilient and successful you’ll be. Here are four reasons increasing your flexibility can help you thrive in a VUCA environment:
You’re better equipped for what’s next.
Experts are never short on predictions, but 2020 showed us that even the best-laid plans could go awry. Your business is operating in extraordinary times, where forecasting your workforce needs is tougher than ever.
Building flexibility into your business makes you more agile. If demand suddenly surges, you can quickly scale your team to capitalize on the upturn. And if you need to pivot your strategy, a qualified staffing partner can provide the skilled people you need to change direction.
You save time and money.
Flexible staffing reduces fixed expenses (i.e., labor costs), time wasted on non-critical activities, and overtime. Running leaner in uncertain times makes it easier to stay profitable even if your business volume drops, without compromising your ability to ramp up operations or hit critical deadlines.
You can more easily support employees’ changing needs.
Working from home, caring for others who are ill, supervising virtual learning, and more have dramatically increased employees’ stress levels. They may feel overwhelmed, burned out, or conflicted.
A flexible staffing plan enables you to grant your core staff’s requests for time off while remaining adequately staffed. Over the long-term, giving employees the break they need pays off for your business – driving engagement, productivity, and retention.
You’re prepared, not surprised.
Building flexibility into your workforce plan transforms your staffing function from a reactive, “vacancy-filling” role to one that continually aligns your business’s human capital with its strategic goals. A disciplined, systematic approach to using employees can dramatically improve your company’s ability to respond to changing conditions. In other words, a flexible workforce plan can help ensure that you’re prepared – and not surprised.
Free Workforce Planning Consultation
In today’s operating environment, flexibility essential. Whether your company wants to: operate more cost-effectively in the current economy; seize every opportunity as conditions continue to improve; or simply forecast talent needs more accurately, PrideStaff is here to help. Contact us to schedule a free workforce consultation, in which our employment experts will:
- forecast your talent needs
- examine your talent supply
- help HR align the two by providing flexible staffing and support services
- prepare your business to “explode out of the box” when the upturn hits
