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Attract Candidates with Socially Responsible Company Policies

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

As a hiring manager, you could see more of the top candidates for positions flock to your business by updating your current company policies to be more “socially conscious”. Why’s that?

It comes down to one simple fact. If you want to compete for the best talent, one of the must-do steps is to show that you care about being socially responsible as a business – for both your community and your employees’ benefits. Put aside your business bottom line for a moment and really consider what this means to you.

Know the Facts

Consider a few important facts about being socially conscious as a company as well as what it means to your business’s ability to draw in the best talent.

  • About 66 percent of workers will take a lower salary if this means they will work with a company with more sustainable business practices (according to a study done by Bain and Co.)
  • Social responsibility is the 3rd most important employee engagement driver (according to Towers Perrin).
  • When it comes to your company’s commitment to the community, according to Deloite , a whopping 70 percent of people say that’s important to their decision to work with one company or another.

People want to work for companies that show they care. They don’t want to work for a money-grubbing business that has power suits at the head.

How to Change Your Company Policies

How can you change your company policies, then, to attract these highly talented workers? There are a variety of steps you can take, including the following.

  • Make a commitment to going green. From reducing paper use to installing new lighting fixtures, taking every step you can to reduce the impact on the environment is critical.
  • Become active in your community in some way.  It’s more than just donating something. Do something that makes a difference and impacts those who you work for – the community and customers.
  • Put in place a volunteer program. Find a way to help someone or something in your community and engage your employees in the process.

Perhaps even more important is to put in place a transparent culture. This means ensuring that rather than having the boss locked in the upper offices, he or she is on the floor, interacting. This shows that the boss is not just a number crunching person, but rather someone that the employee can work with, get to know and go into battle with on a regular basis. By putting policies like these in place, the business becomes more socially aware and capable.

Is your business doing everything it can to be socially conscious? If not, put in place new policies that encourage this. When you do, and let the world know about it, you will begin to draw in better talent. Additionally, work with a staffing agency, like Advance Staffing Solutions, to source great candidates and develop a solid recruitment strategy. In many cases, you’ll bring in even better talent than you have had in the past. That can make a big difference in your productivity and bottom line.

Ways Teams are Built for Long Term Success

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

Success is the name of the game in the world of business today. It’s more important than ever that companies do their hiring with serious team building in mind. However, companies that are just beginning to embrace a team building atmosphere have to work with the tools they have on hand. It is up to team leaders to pull their teams together and help them realize their potential. Here are a few critical steps that can make your efforts to build a stellar team infinitely more successful.

Take the Time to get to Know the Players

You have to know the players on your team in order to figure out how to motivate them, encourage them, challenge them, and play to the strengths while minimizing the weaknesses of each individual on the team. You also need to know the areas wear a little additional attention and guidance may be needed so that you can give it to them. Don’t rush in and start making plans and setting goals until after you’ve taken a moment to find out what kind of players you’re dealing with—and you know that you’re all playing the same game.

Understand How You Work Best

The most important person on the team for you to understand is yourself. You have to figure out how to do all the things to motivate, cajole, and, sometimes, castigate yourself just as you do for all the members of your team. But you also have to understand how you lead best too. Here are a few of the things you need to know about yourself and your role as the team leader before you even think about trying to lead your team.

  • How well is your team likely to accept your leadership attempts?
  • How qualified are you to lead this team?
  • How do you plan to hold yourself accountable for any problems that may arise with your team?
  • What do you plan to do to correct these problems?

It might not look like much in black and white but these questions can mean a lot as you’re working to build a stronger team and become the leader you need to be to keep them motivated.

Motivate and Reward

Even small praise can mean a lot to the team members that are working so hard under your leadership. It doesn’t take much to let them know they’re appreciated and the reward for doing so is well worth any effort you might have to expend. Acknowledge their contributions, praise their good work, and keep them motivated to continue their successes.

Building a team that will enjoy long term success isn’t always easy. There are tough decisions that will need to be made along the way. However, if you do these things you’re doing your part to make your team work as a formidable and effective unit within the company.

Ready to start improving your team structure with augmented talent? Have a need to build a new and effective team? Advance Staffing Solutions has highly-skilled contract professionals in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan ready to improve your long term team success.

Improving Company Culture – Helpful Tips

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

It used to be that businesses were filled with employees who were grateful just to have employment. Now, even amid the ups and downs of an unstable economy, employees are looking for more than just a paycheck. The best talent is looking for opportunities to work for organizations that have superior corporate cultures and work values that can help them grow as professionals in their chosen fields.

Making the Corporate Culture Better

While some companies “get this”, others struggle to improve the corporate culture. Yet, there are ways to make the overall culture of any workplace better through a variety of efforts that honor a central values core.

Re-launch the corporate mission and values statement. If your corporate culture is drifting from the organization’s original mission as set forth by the founders, it’s time to send a clear message to all about what the company stands for. Take the time to hold an educational session, market your mission and value statements with some good press, and give employees a reason to uphold your foundational values.

Tone things down with a casual, flexible work environment. All too often, workplaces become overly concerned with fashion shows, politics and strict rules. This can make any corporate culture turn negative over time. Instead, allow employees to dress in appropriate business casual, improve meeting spaces with informal seating arrangements, and give staff the option to use flextime.

Hire the candidates who fit in with your improved culture. You can greatly enhance your corporate culture by bringing on new hires who closely match your company culture. Look for pre-screened candidates who have the right personalities, skill sets, and attitudes the do their assignments well. Make sure you honor diversity and interview candidates several times to make sure they will successfully bring your corporate culture up.

Give employees a reason why they need to be part of the corporate culture’s success. When employees are regularly recognized and rewarded for their contribution to the company, the culture becomes a more pleasant thing. Take the time to celebrate achievements and let your staff know you value them every time you can. Your corporate culture will become legendary.

Improve your corporate culture with highly skilled, pre-screened candidates who have the right personalities and attitudes for your organization. Advance Staffing Solutions can help! Choose contract and temporary employees in multiple industries to support your business growth.

Managing in this Slow Economy

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

A slow economy affects everyone, include managers who have to deal with employee shortages and low staffing budgets. With a still-high unemployment rate and economies around the world struggling to maintain any growth, it is no wonder that today’s average business is struggling to keep the balance between having enough staff and having too many.

As a business, what can you do to ensure you have the right number of people when you need them and not too many that you are busting your budget? Here are some tips.

  • Don’t just focus on cutting, but also use staffing that you have to find ways to new opportunities. This means looking at ways to improve productivity, improve technology or even improve distribution. If you focus on no-growth as your frame of mind, you are missing key opportunities.
  • Don’t over hire or under hire. That’s tricky to do, but if you focus instead on hiring the right staff and then adding to it through the aid of a staffing agency when you need help, you’ll be far better off. Put your core in place and then buffer this with staffing help from Advance Staffing Solutions when you need more people.
  • Manage your capital wisely. Another step to take is simply to put your money into what’s going to make you more. Before any investment decision, consider what will happen to the company if the investment fails. Can the company risk not getting involved in the investment, though?
  • Learn to let go. Let’s face the music here. There are going to be times when your good idea or master plan did not work. You can keep putting time and money into it or you can back out now and conserve resources. Mangers need to be able to notice areas that hold no promise and to get out of them.
  • Don’t cut off your arm. In some cases, companies are downsizing so much so that they are unable to grow and develop at all. If you think that cutting your staff down to the bare bones is going to help your company to do well, think again.

Of course, it is also important for managers and business owners to put the focus on the little guy, too. Though you may still be bringing in the big bucks, that doesn’t mean you can’t ensure your employees are well taken care of. After all, if your core, well-trained staff is out the door, you could be hurting even more than you are now.

We invite you to review some similar posts previously published here at Advance Staffing Solutions, for more information on handling the challenges of managing your staffing needs during uncertain times.

Crisis Management Leadership in Tough Times – Tips for Success

The Secrets to Being a Great Leader

Getting Industrial Employees Off on the Right Foot – Starts on the First Day at Work

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

With your new industrial employee hired and ready to go, you may be ready to throw him or her on the floor and hope that the employee is the type to jump in and figure it out. If you are not giving your new hire all of the information he or she needs from the start, you may be losing a valuable opportunity to set the framework for your relationship with that employee for years to come.

The First Day as a New Manufacturing Employee

What do you do, then, when a new hire is ready for you? In many industrial businesses, we focus a lot of time on the hands-on training but lose focus of some small, key things you need to do with these new hires.

  • Provide some information about the culture in your business. To do this, provide materials like videos, handbooks and other materials that give an idea to the new employee about the culture of the workplace.
  • Provide a mentor. Another step in the right direction is to assign a mentor to the individual right away. This could be a colleague with the goal of showing the new hire around and to handle any questions they may have. This can help the new employee to feel less out of sorts.
  • Put lunch on the schedule. It is a good idea to meet up with your new hire around lunch time and to talk. This is a great opportunity to bring in a few other team members as well. This type of interaction can really make the individual feel at home and comfortable in the environment.
  • Put some goals in place right from the start. If you do this, make sure they are attainable goals, ones the employee can feel good about reaching at the end of the day or the week. You’ll build up their morale in the process.

By getting these simple things in place now, you can help ensure your new hire fits into the workforce better. In an industrial environment, it can be a challenge to ensure that the team fits in. Work has to be done. Tasks need to be completed. However, putting in place this type of help can help to ensure that your team is receptive and that your new hire gets the best opportunity to do well. After all, you’ve already invested the time and money into this person. Make it count.

Here is an interesting post you may want to review again:

Build a Smart Foundation for Manufacturing Productivity

The Secrets to Being a Great Leader

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

Every strong company needs a great leader. No matter what position you are in with a company, striving to be a great leader is always a good goal to have. After all, it can provide you with the tools and resources you need to mold employees into what you need them to be, not to mention help you to achieve the goals of the organization. Being a leader can also help you take your career to a higher level. However, most people do not know what goes into being a fantastic leader.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell, Author and Spiritual Leader

What Traits Do Great Leaders Have?

Do you have the traits that good leaders have? In some cases, you may be lacking some of those basic, good-for-your company traits that can help you to take the company further. Do you have these?

  • Are you the type of person to walk past a problem (no matter how big or small) and not do anything about it? Even at the top of the management chain, you can still stop to pick up trash, handle the small quarrel, or deal with the customer concern. Even if someone else can do it, you still should.
  • Do you allow employees to do what they do best without getting involved? In the industrial workplace, for example, do you tell those operating the machinery how to do their job or do you allow them to do what they know best? The best leaders play to the strengths of the employees and understand their weaknesses.
  • Do you do your own work? Are you accountable to the tasks you are supposed to perform? Delegating tasks is one thing. It is definitely something you can do. However, there’s a difference in delegating the organization of a problem and getting up to get your own coffee. Leaders use people where they fit best not to make their own job easier.
  • Do you shine or do you let your company shine? Even in the biggest companies, the worst thing for the company is for a leader to be an “I” leader. In other words, this person is happy to take the spotlight and run with it. A good leader focuses the spotlight on the people who make the company successful.
  • Do you tackle problems fast? Do you jump as quickly as you can for the offer? In other words, great leaders tackle problems right away as soon as there is one. What if your customer’s lose service for hours, how quickly do you react?

All of these factors are critical when it comes to being the best person for the job. However, not every leader realizes that the role he or she plays directly affects the way the company functions. A great leader leads by example. He or she is accountable, hard working and dedicated to making the company shine. Though it may seem cliché, the fact is, a great leader strives to better the employee.

Advance Staffing Solutions has many opportunities to let your leadership abilities shine in your career. Contract and full time management assignments in Ohio and Michigan can help you become the leader you know you can be. Look for great career opportunities on our Advance job site today, and let your leadership grow.

Crisis Management Leadership in Tough Times – Tips for Success

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

In every business, there will arrive an event that will quickly become a crisis for management to deal with. From PR disasters and employee injuries to consumer lawsuits and financial strife, businesses are not immune to the effects of a crisis. However, being prepared as a business leader can be the difference between surviving a period of crisis or shutting your doors.

When a Crisis Comes – Keeping a Level Head as a Leader

It’s important to have the tools to become a better leader for crisis management. Read on to learn how to manage things well when a crisis situation comes knocking.

Eliminate False Information

Oftentimes, when a crisis happens, the first thing that will happen is that the rumor mill with begin to circulate amongst employees, clients, and the outside world. You’ll need to be on top of this and stop any rumors and false statements immediately. Hold a press conference or send out an email to all employees to let them know in as little information as possible what has happened, what you as a company leader are doing about it, and what to expect. Hire a press officer to handle outside rumors or slanderous comments by the local media.

Communicate Clearly

Being a leader means having the ability to clearly communicate truthful information to others. As soon as you are able to, have an internal staff meeting to discuss the facts and dispel any fears that your employees may have. Confidently deliver your message to others, and make sure they understand you are personally taking responsibility for the crisis management. Leave the emotions out of your communications, but be  honest.

Maintain and Protect the Team

A crisis can cause people to break away from the team structure, and start looking out for number one. This is when people fear being scapegoated for the problems that have arisen, wondering who is getting thrown under the bus for the crisis. As a leader, it’s up to you to keep your team together and communicating how important it is to stick it out for the betterment of the entire company. Communicate well that every member of your team is valuable and needed during this tough time.

Remember, by hiring great people to be part of your team, you stand the chance of surviving even the most challenging of crises. Advance Staffing Solutions can help support your organizational needs for a better team structure, and people who are capable of leadership in troubling times. Let us help you stay on top of your game during a crisis and anytime of the business season.

Why Your Manufacturing Company Should have a Blog

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

Blogging is big business these days. Retail businesses and major corporations fully understand this. Unfortunately, some manufacturing businesses have been slow to understand this trend. Venturing into social media can seem like a scary concept for those who are new to online marketing.

However, blogs aren’t going away and they can actually be important tools for businesses of all shapes and sizes—even manufacturing businesses. Here are just a few reasons why your manufacturing company should have a blog.

Brand Promotion

Your business is a brand. Public perception is almost everything to businesses in the information age. The more information that makes its way onto the World Wide Web, information that is controlled by you, the better it will be for the health and long-term wellbeing of your brand.

Blogs are an excellent resource for providing frequent updates about all the good things going on in your business. More importantly, they are excellent tools for solidifying your brand with existing and potential customers. When you control the information on the Internet, at least a majority of that information, you’re able to have a huge impact on public opinion about your business.

Recruiting Tool

Keeping an active business blog for your manufacturing company is also a great way to recruit top talent in your field. A large percentage of job seekers today do the bulk of their job seeking online. The Internet is a major tool in the job search process these days and that isn’t likely to change.

By posting openings in your company on your blog you’re going to come up with a larger potential pool of knowledgeable and skilled employees than with a random job posting on most job boards. If you need specialized skills, this is the place to let people know about the positions that are available and which specific sets of skills are needed.

People who are reading your blog are likely to be people involved in the industry, first of all, so they’re likely to have the skills you need. Second, these may be people who weren’t necessarily looking for a job, but may be intrigued by the specific jobs you have available. Finally, it’s another way to bring attention to your manufacturing business and establish yourself in the eyes of potential employees and customers as a legitimate force in your particular manufacturing field.

The bottom line is that all businesses in today’s competitive marketplace, whether they are manufacturing businesses or fast food restaurants need blogs to provide a steady stream of data and information to the buying public while building their brands and reputation online. If you’re not controlling the conversation about your business on the Internet, to some degree, it leaves the doors open for people who do not have the best interests of your business in mind to control that information.

For more tips on the use of blogging and other forms of social media marketing in the manufacturing sector, be sure to check out our previous related posts on this topic: 

Treat Every Event as a Networking Opportunity

The Importance of Hiring a Social Candidate – Who Doesn’t Just Look Good on Paper

Social Media Recruiting 101: Make Friends, Not Fans

Build a Smart Foundation for Manufacturing Productivity

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

When it comes to building a smarter manufacturing company, companies need to do what’s important to them – putting together the pieces to make a product. Yet, manufacturing productivity is often a factor. There are some companies now taking steps to make the technology aspect of manufacturing so foolproof and easy to manage that companies can get back to focusing on what they do best – manufacturing without having to figure out where technology comes into place.

Productivity Matters

In nearly all situations, productivity is a big discussion point within the manufacturing industries. As staffing agencies, you know the value of finding team players that can meet productivity goals – it keeps the business going. However, for these companies, it is also important to find a way to get around technology difficulties.

Many manufacturing companies are facing a higher demand for increased productivity. Though some of this comes from staffing the right people, there is much more to the process.

Smarter Manufacturing Systems

Some companies are taking the goal of improving productivity to a new level. They are building smarter manufacturing systems (something your staff may soon see rolling out more frequently in the coming months.) The goal is to allow manufacturing companies to get back to managing what they produce and to leave the technology aspects of putting together manufacturing systems to the experts.

Staffing Agencies and Productivity

Could your staffing agency do something the same? Consider what some companies are doing to enable increased manufacturing productivity. For example, some are developing systems that provide mobile capabilities to keep business managers and operators in constant, instant access of each other no matter where they are. Cloud-based services are making the process secure, reliable, and real-time. This enables far more to be accomplished in a matter of a shorter period of time. This is a clear benefit to increased productivity.

In some cases, manufacturers are facing pressure to see significant productivity gains in a short period of time. Massive demographic changes as well as global competition are encouraging this demand. According to some reports, an estimated 70 million people will be moved out of poverty and will become consumers. Those 70 million people, over the course of the next ten years, will contribute to $8 trillion in spending. As this clearly demonstrates, it is critical for massive improvements in productivity to happen. Realizing it cannot come from just people and staffing enhancements, many companies are pushing for smarter manufacturing systems as a must-have.

Want more productive manufacturng employees in Michigan and Ohio? Advance Staffing Solutions has many temporary and contract manufacturing laborers ready to help your company reach maximum productivity levels.

Motivating Your Employees to be Productivity Machines

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

Motivating employees in the industrial and manufacturing sector is not always easy. The work can be dull and boring. It can be something that people dread doing. However, as an HR manager, you should be fully understanding of the fact that productivity will make or break any business. Without hard working employees, even to the point of having productivity machines in them, you could end up lose valuable profits.

How to Motivate Employees Now

How can you turn uninspired workers into motivated, power-working machines? It all starts in knowing how to get under their skin and ensuring you have the right people on the job.

  1. Hire the right people for the job. The first step is to hire those who are willing to work hard and are detail driven. You also want to ensure that candidates are not over qualified as this can lead to the boredom some suffer from.
  2. Set goals and educate employees on those goals. Nothing is worse than waiting for employees to achieve objectives except finding out that they did not know what needed to be done first. Be clear about goals expected.
  3. Pay a fair rate. If employees believe they are being paid at a fair rate, they are far more likely to hit objectives. Those who feel they are underpaid, on the other hand, are more likely to slack off when they can do so.
  4. Keep productivity high by being around. Walk the floor from time to time, but never the same time every day. When employees see that you are around and that you are monitoring progress, they are more likely to stay on task.
  5. Manage incentives properly. Sometimes, incentives can be a great way to motivate your team to achieve bigger and better things, but you need to use them properly. Don’t let employees become so dependent on them that they do not work when no incentive program is in place. At the same time, do make incentives achievable goals. Who wants to work towards a goal they do not think they can reach?
  6. Manage people as if they are human. Yes, you may want them to work like machines, but you also need to ensure there is a human factor in place. Employers like personal attention. Companies that are able to learn an employee’s true potential, likes and dislikes and skill set and use them wisely will get more out of the employee than those that do not.

Overall, motivating your employees to achieve goals in this industry means you need to be creative and positive. Work hard to set reasonable goals and say thank you when employees accomplish those goals. Build trust with your employee base, too, so they know they are look up to their leaders.

Are You Taking Unnecessary Risks with Your Supply Chain?

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

Risks are a part of managing the supply chain in any business. There are going to be situations where taking risks are a good thing, like launching a new product or replacing one item with another. Yet, in order for a business to maintain success, most of the risk needs to come out of this process. More so, there needs to be steps in place to minimize risk and to realize it is there.

What You Can Do

As a business owner, there are steps you can take to minimize the amount of exposure you have to bad risks. Ultimately, you need a way to measure and control risk in order to run your business successfully.

Visibility

To minimize risk to your supply chain, the first step is to know where your blind spots are. Extended supply chains are constantly growing and changing and this inevitably leads to potential problems associated with areas you cannot see as risky. Improve your ability to handle risk by knowing what risk factors are affecting your business on a regular basis. A good way to do this is to look at events as they are happening rather than just using historical data.

Know and Trust Your Professionals

The next step in minimizing risk is to put trust in your people. You have vetted them. They know their job. Now, it is your job to trust them. Use technology to help enable your team to respond to concerns right away. To mitigate risk, you need to know how well your human assets are able to respond to the situation and handle it. Of course, training and preparation will help here.

Practice

The only way to know the outcome of any what if situation is to practice. If you plan a process to follow for various scenarios that could occur, your people will know how to react and will be able to do so faster. While scenario planning is not a given, it can reduce risk factors significantly.

 Maintain your supply chain with quality staff from Advance Temporary. Get in touch with us today!

Lean Six Sigma- Reasons Your Organization Needs it

HMG Success on October 7, 2026

When it comes to manufacturing and engineering processes, efficiency is the key to success. The Lean Six Sigma strategy applies the best of the Six Sigma concepts within a lean production based environment. While Six Sigma focuses on reducing waste and increasing speed, lean production is focused on cutting costs and improving quality of goods. When combined, a Lean Six Sigma becomes a catalyst for sustainable corporate growth.

Corporate Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

There are several reasons why your organization needs Lean Six Sigma in order to realize this success. Obviously, increased efficiency and quality are important elements of business success, but there are many more reasons to implement a Lean Six Sigma program within your organization. Read on to learn more about Lean Six Sigma’s benefits.

  • Sets the organizational standards. As you begin to implement a Lean Six Sigma program in your organization, you will begin to elevate the processes that occur across all departments and levels. This will help to set organizational standards that are consistent for all. Once you do this, you will establish a clear set of guidelines that all managers can follow as they recruit, onboard, train, and develop employees.
  • Easy to implement knowledge. The beauty of a Lean Six Sigma philosophy is that it makes sense in any business. This means the knowledge of the program can be implemented quickly to produce much faster results than other quality assurance programs. By sticking to the guidelines presented in Six Sigma, a lean production program can be taught to all in the company in a short period of time.
  • Value to customers increases. For any organization, being able to rise above the competition can be the difference between gaining a new client or losing out. By proving that your processes are superior as a result of your Lean Six Sigma practices you can distinguish yourself and get more positive opportunities.
  • Improves business sustainability. Investing in a Lean Six Sigma program can provide a valuable source of business sustainability. Once implemented, the processes in the workplace become more efficient, saving in labor and materials. This can lead to long-term opportunities for growth and expansion.

To learn more about improving your workforce processes and getting more from your human resource strategy, be sure to consider the advantages of using a contract staffing company like Advance Staffing Solutions.

 

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