6 Benefits of Outsourcing Safety Staffing for Your Construction Projects 

Correctly staffing your construction project is one of the most important — and most difficult — parts of the process. Needing specialized professionals, especially if your project is in a more rural area, can make the task even more challenging. 

Rather than handling all the tasks that go along with hiring your safety professionals, outsourcing your safety staffing can make the process smoother and more productive. Here are six benefits of outsourcing your safety staffing. 

You Save Time 

Hiring employees at any level and job type is one of the most time-consuming tasks. You must advertise for the position, comb through resumes, interview candidates and negotiate offers. This process can take even more time if you’re looking to fill a specialized role such as quality control managers or site safety and health officers (SSHOs), as you must cast a wider net to find qualified candidates. 

Surveys show that the average time it takes to fill an open position is 44 days, and it’s an even longer process for positions that require specific qualifications or training. If your project needs a safety professional quickly to be able to continue, a long hiring timeline could quickly put you far behind schedule. 

By trusting an experienced safety staffing team to find, vet and hire your safety professionals, you free up your schedule to manage other aspects of your construction project. Additionally, because safety staffing professionals have networks of experienced team members looking for opportunities, they can find someone who fits your requirements more quickly than if you were to advertise for the position yourself. 

This gets you the team members your project requires much more quickly, keeping you on schedule. 

You Save Money 

In addition to being a time-consuming process, hiring is expensive. There’s all the hours you’ll spend combing through resumes and interviewing candidates, as well as the cost of advertising your position. On average, companies can expect to pay $4,700 to hire a new candidate, according to data from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Other estimates go much higher than that, with some clocking the cost of hiring at three to four times the position’s salary. 

When you work with a safety staffing specialist, however, you can feel confident that the amount you are quoted is what you’ll pay. The cost of advertising, interviewing and even managing salary and benefits for the new hire is all wrapped into the fee. This saves you a great deal of money over the course of an employee’s tenure, helping your project stay on budget while still getting the quality team you require. 

You Get Better Workers 

Finding the right people to fill your specialty positions can be difficult. If you’re drawing from the area surrounding your project, it can be like finding a needle in a haystack, especially if you need a very specific skillset. This can leave you either spending lots of time and money to hire the right person or compromising and hiring someone who isn’t as well-qualified. 

Safety staffing specialists, however, have access to professionals all over the country. They already have records of their experience and training, giving them confidence they are hiring individuals who will be well-suited for your project. You won’t have to worry that you’re hiring someone who doesn’t fully understand the responsibilities of their role; you’re getting a trained professional who has already done the job you need and is committed to ensuring safety on your jobsite. 

You Can Find Specialized Professionals 

While some positions may be easy to find candidates for, such as project superintendents or construction managers, others will be more challenging. And the more specialized your project’s needs, the more difficult it can be to source potential workers. 

A safety staffing team has connections in the safety industry in a variety of locations, and if they don’t directly know of someone who can fit your role, they likely know someone who does. This can help you get a qualified individual hired for your job with little downtime, no matter what specific skills you need.  

Your Process Is Streamlined 

The traditional hiring process can feel very scattered, especially if you aren’t able to secure a candidate in the first round of interviews. You may even work with specialized recruiters on a start-stop basis, getting conflicting input and advice that may be confusing. 

Working with a specialized safety staffing team from the start gives you a smooth, streamlined process. You’ll be able to express to the team the factors that are most important in your candidate search, and they handle the rest. You are presented with the candidates that best fit your needs, so you don’t have to wade through piles of resumes. 

You Get Immediate Starters 

Hiring a candidate is just one part of the equation, especially if you require a subject matter expert but can’t find one. Once you hire a safety professional, you must train them before they can truly be released to do the job on their own, a process that could take weeks or even months. That’s valuable time lost on your project. 

When you use safety staffing to help you find candidates, you’re able to find those individuals who are ready to start right away. They may need a tour and some orientation to get to know the unique characteristics of your project, worksite and team, but they’re able to jump into the job with both feet and get started. That helps you stay on schedule and boosts the confidence of all your workers. 

Your Safety Staffing Partners 

Medcor is committed to helping you get the right person for whatever construction safety job you require with our safety staffing service. We have a vast network of experienced safety professionals in a variety of industries, and we can help you find someone to cover all shifts across the country. Speak with an advocate today.