Fighting The "Status Quo"

When you first heard of Veryable, your first thought was probably “is this just another staffing agency?”.

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This is understandable, because before Veryable there haven’t been any other options for manufacturers and distributors.

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If you couldn’t already tell where we’re going with this, Veryable isn’t a staffing company nor is it even a staffing alternative for that matter - our greatest competition is actually the "status quo". In this article we’ll cover what we mean by this.

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Veryable vs. Staffing: Points of Comparison

Before diving in, let’s briefly compare traditional staffing to Veryable’s on-demand labor model:

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The purpose of these two solutions is very different. To summarize, staffing aims to fill a relatively constant number of positions in a company throughout the term of a contract. Veryable aims to equip companies to scale their headcount up and down in real-time with changes in demand.

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Below is a more in depth comparison:

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Just Because It's “Tradition” Doesn’t Mean Its Effective

As previously mentioned, our greatest competitor is not staffing agencies and their close alternatives, but rather the way things have always been done.

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Traditionally, businesses have staffed to historical averages, relying on OT when demand is higher, and then paying workers to stand around during slower periods. Some businesses may also try to stay slightly overstaffed in preparation for small increases in demand.

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In the manufacturing and distribution space where demand constantly fluctuates, often unpredictably, operating like this makes absolutely zero sense.

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Allow us to demonstrate:

The below graph shows actual demand (light blue line) vs. average (dark blue line) for one of our distribution partners. As you can see, very rarely is demand ever at the “average” threshold, and staffing to averages (dark blue line) would result in being over or understaffed most of the time. Additionally, with the magnitude of the demand spikes shown here, even staying slightly overstaffed in preparation like some businesses do wouldn’t have provided sufficient capacity to meet demand during busy times.

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Obviously, consistently delivering on-time and maintaining short competitive lead times is a huge portion of your success as a manufacturer or distributor, and when relying on this traditional approach you’ll find yourself in an eternal struggle to do so.

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Additionally, having to rely heavily on overtime to keep up is a significant drain on profit margins and also leads to long term issues with retention and morale. Sure, your employees might like working overtime from time to time, but it was never designed to be an added benefit. If you rely on OT too much, your FTEs will start looking elsewhere for a similar position with more predictable hours. This is why many manufacturers and distributors struggle with high turnover.

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A New Labor Paradigm

As more and more experienced workers begin to age out of the workforce, there’s a lack of up-and-coming talent with the required skillsets and experience to replace them.  Manufacturers and distributors are already feeling the impact of this, both in terms of capacity constraints and in difficulties finding workers.  Many look to increased incentives to attract talent, or even capital improvements to reduce the need for workers, but this is unnecessary.

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The reality is, there isn’t really a labor shortage but rather a mismatch between what businesses have been offering and what workers are seeking. The old, rigid model of staffing to averages with only full-time employees has proven itself as an ineffective method that can’t get the job done for numerous reasons, but especially when today's worker desires flexibility and opportunities for skills development.

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Veryable’s on-demand labor marketplace connects businesses with 685k+ skilled and vetted workers at the click of a button, enabling businesses to create a flexible extension of their full-time workforce called a labor pool. A labor pool is a network of independent workers familiar with your operation that can work on an as-needed basis. To use a sports analogy, think of a labor pool like a sideline bench of trained workers who are ready to jump in when needed.

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Here’s What This Looks Like:

After you’ve gone through the process of building your labor pool, you can just keep your FTE headcount at your minimum average volume (purple dashed line). When demand comes in above that minimum threshold (closer to pink dashed line), that’s when you flex up your capacity with your on-demand labor pool.  When your volume is lower, (closer to the purple dashed line), reduce usage accordingly. With the ability to match headcount to demand on a daily basis, you’ll be able to maintain a lower more constant cost per unit and best in-class speed to customer regardless of volume.

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This approach not only benefits businesses by providing flexibility and fast response to demand, but it gives operators ownership of their work by providing them with autonomy over their terms, schedules, and workloads. Click here to read more about why workers love using Veryable.

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More Than a Marketplace For Labor

Veryable isn’t just a marketplace for on-demand labor, but rather an operational strategy developed by those who have experienced firsthand how difficult it is to maintain efficient production and address fluctuating demands.

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Composed of former operations leaders, executives, lean practitioners, industrial engineers, and other operations professionals, the Veryable team has well over 100 years of combined experience in manufacturing and distribution.

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This experience sets us apart in numerous ways, and allows us to offer tailored solutions to our business users in various industry segments.

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What Does This Mean For Me?

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Executives

Veryable does more than just give your team the tools and resources needed to deliver on business objectives at the lowest cost - our team of experts will take the time to understand the intricacies of your operations and advise your team on how to leverage the platform in a way that leads to sustainable growth and increased profit margins. Additionally, the analytics provided by the platform give you a clear picture of the bottom line impacts.

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Check out our case study with PhoLicious for a real world example.

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Operations Leaders

While executives set the vision, it’s you the operations leader who ensures that this vision is executed. Having a labor pool makes this easier in numerous ways -

With the ability to respond in real-time you can reduce your reliance on overstaffing and overtime by maintaining a leaner headcount and bringing in extra help only when needed. This helps you effortlessly meet your service, quality, and productivity goals across all demand scenarios without inflating costs.

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Frontline Supervisors

With Veryable, you’ll have a secret weapon in your back pocket and will no longer be scrambling everytime your forecasts are off or something comes up at the last minute. Instead, you can scale labor up and down in real-time and in lock step with actual daily demand. This helps you consistently meet your objectives without wasting resources or putting the business at risk.

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Human Resources

With Veryable, you’ll no longer have to constantly go through the process of recruiting, screening, hiring, and training new employees. You can also skip the highly inefficient seasonal hiring circus. Instead, your operations team will have the ability to bring in extra workers only when needed with just a few clicks. Not only does this put hours back in your week, but with a lower reliance on overtime and overstaffing, FTE retention and morale will greatly improve. Additionally, by eliminating the costly nature of always being over or understaffed - this frees up money in your budget and allows you to invest further in your valued FTEs.

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To learn more about about how Veryable can help you in your specific role, click here

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Conclusion

Veryable isn’t a staffing agency, nor is it a staffing alternative. Our model is a revolutionary concept that flips the old way of doing things on its head - instead of staffing based on historical averages and seeing unit cost fluctuate with volume, Veryable empowers manufacturers and distributors to instead flex headcount with changes in demand and maintain a lower, more constant cost per unit.

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This approach not only benefits businesses by providing flexibility and enabling quick response to demand, but it gives workers the flexibility and opportunities for skills development that they so badly desire.

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We believe this win-win scenario provided by our on-demand marketplace is the critical catalyst needed to revitalize US Manufacturing.

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To learn more, check out these resources:

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The Pitfalls of Relying Only on Full-Time Employees

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Tradition vs. Tech: How Much The Norm Is Costing You

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Staff Augmentation vs Veryable: What’s the Difference?