As we are knee deep in quarter 4, there is no better time than the present to monitor how you are going to finish the year. By the time quarterly financial reports are reviewed, it’s often too late to influence the outcome. The most successful staffing companies don’t wait until the quarter ends to understand their performance. Instead, they track KPIs that reveal whether they’re on pace for growth or if an adjustment needs to be made to end the quarter strong. When you focus on the right KPIs, staffing leaders can make proactive decisions that keep growth on track and avoid costly surprises.
In this article, see the 5 KPI’s all staffing companies should monitor in order to predict a good quarter or a painful one.
New Job Orders Trend Report
A new job orders trend report monitors the weekly volume of new job orders compared to previous periods. For example, if orders decline over several weeks, then that could be an indicator of a painful quarter coming.
How You Can Use It:
If job order volume is declining week over week, it signals to staffing leaders that a greater focus needs to be put on business development efforts. If the report is broken out by industry and clients, you can identify top-performing industries and clients. Depending on the time of year, there may be certain industries that have greater demand and you can focus your efforts on those industries. The report can also help you identify areas that may need additional attention and outreach.
With clear visibility into changes to job order volume, staffing firms can make proactive decisions that drive growth and maximize revenue opportunities.
Turnover Rate
Your turnover rate is the percentage of workers who leave over a set period. The period could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. A high turnover rate is bad for a staffing company’s bottom line because it turns costly needing to find a replacement. It also prevents recruiters from focusing on new placement opportunities and new revenue. Besides this, it also hurts the relationship with your customer.
How You Can Use It:
If you calculate a high turnover rate for the quarter, it’s an opportunity to identify why there is a high turnover rate. Try to find out why each employee leaves and if there is a common trend. If you can identify a trend, this will help you going forward in providing more value for each employee. How can you improve the employee experience and keep them engaged? Are the roles the right fit? Are there compensation concerns or onboarding challenges? As soon as you can identify why employees are leaving, you can decrease turnover rate, increase client satisfaction, and drive more revenue.
Average Time to Fill
The average time to fill identifies the time it takes to fill a job order. This can help reveal insights into recruiting efficiency and potential lost revenue if jobs are going unfilled.
How You Can Use it:
If your average time to fill is too long, this gives you an opportunity to pinpoint bottlenecks in your hiring process and take action before delays impact revenue for that quarter. Is the team having trouble finding candidates? Are clients slow to respond? Is the process taking too long between the candidate submission and the interview? With insights into bottlenecks, staffing companies can optimize recruiting strategies, set realistic client expectations, and allocate resources more effectively to fill positions faster.
Cost Per Hire
A cost per hire report helps identify if payroll costs/expenses are rising compared with previous periods. If the cost per hire is increasing, then it can be a red flag that you may need to find other sources of income to make up for higher costs.
How You Can Use It:
Staffing companies can use a cost per hire report to first identify where costs are rising in the hiring process, such as job board costs, sourcing tools, marketing costs, onboarding costs, and more. If there are any areas that can be eliminated in the hiring process, this can be a good place to start. For example, if you aren’t getting qualified candidates through a certain job board, perhaps you can eliminate that job board from your recruiting efforts. On the other hand, if costs are naturally increasing and they can’t be eliminated, this will help you know to focus on new revenue streams or increase quarterly goals.
New Starts vs. Assignments Ending
When you take the difference between assignment starts and ending, it will help you identify if business is growing or shrinking. For example, if there are more assignments ending than starting over a given period, that would signal a red flag that business is shrinking.
How You Can Use It:
This reports helps leaders quickly determine whether the business is gaining momentum, maintaining stability, or at risk of declining revenue that quarter. If assignment endings are consistently outpacing new assignment starts, it will signal future revenue loss. This means there needs to be a greater focus on recruiting and sales activity. Another area to look at is the assignments that are ending. Are candidates being reassigned to new opportunities? This is a great way to retain employees and keep them working for your staffing agency.
Will it be a Good Quarter or Bad Quarter?
With these top 5 KPI reports at your side, you can better gauge if it will be a good or a painful quarter. If business is trending downward, it’s never too late to pivot and re-evaluate strategy. These KPI reports can be a powerful tool to help you get ahead of any downturn in business and help ensure you have a good quarter or at least a stable one. The sooner you can identify problems; the sooner you can stay ahead of it to drive greater revenue each quarter.
Questions about building the KPI reports in this article? Schedule a Demo of Ultra-Staff EDGE Staffing Software to see how you can stay ahead each quarter!
