7 Reasons to Utilize Supplemental Labor

What if one solution could save your district time and money, relieve administrator and faculty stress, all while bolstering student achievement and providing a better learning environment? Supplemental facility labor programs help relieve many common K-12 district pain points around staffing shortages so educators and campus personnel can focus their attention where it matters most, on student achievement.

Here are 7 reasons why you should consider partnering with a supplemental labor provider like ABM:

1. The hiring market has never been more challenging

Over the past year, monthly national job openings have averaged as high as 9.2 million, and the number of unemployed workers has now reached 10 million. Yet, the majority (over 70%) of employers have been struggling to hire, train, and retain workers. When you use a supplemental labor partner for your district’s facility services, this costly, time-consuming, and often baffling challenge is off your to-do list.

2. Temp labor keeps getting pricier

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that temporary workers cost 2.1 times more than full-time employees. Temporary staffing companies can be unreliable, personnel can be inconsistent, and they typically provide no quality control or oversight. This creates a high level of strain on existing district personnel who must train and retrain new staff due to extremely high turnover.

3. Overtime is an imperfect solution

By federal law, employee overtime runs 1.5 times more than their base hourly rate. Employee overtime hours increase health problems, pose higher safety risks, decrease productivity, increase absenteeism, and worsen turnover rates.

4. Supplemental labor is flexible

Whether your district needs custodians, maintenance technicians, groundskeepers, or food service workers, a supplemental labor program can meet those needs. You have the flexibility to determine where and when you need personnel. Because this is their specialty, your district will enjoy greater responsiveness and deeper expertise without having to take on full-time employees who would otherwise be underutilized or worrying about how to fill critical staffing gaps.

5. A supplemental labor program is a turnkey solution

Utilizing the talent pool of a supplemental labor provider means you have a predetermined number of individuals to deploy every day who are fully background checked, trained by dedicated management to your specific district standards, and ready to deliver world-class service the moment they step on your campuses.

6. When your labor pool shrinks, your staff (and students) suffer

22% of school administrators reported that managing facilities is the most time-consuming part of their job. Large staffing gaps in your non-instructional services departments mean campus administrators have to spend more of their day addressing facilities-related concerns. When your administrators stress out and suffer, your students get less of the attention they need.

7. Supplemental labor complements in-house operations

It used to be that you were forced to choose between keeping your entire district facility maintenance team in-house, outsourcing the entire operation to a third-party provider, or relying on costly and potentially unskilled temp laborers to help fill the gaps. A supplemental labor program lets you enjoy the expertise and reliability that you would enjoy from full outsourcing while keeping your operation in-house. Supplemental labor fills the gaps but keeps the power to govern your district’s learning environments directly in your hands.

ABM’s Supplemental Labor Program can help fill the gaps on your staff. Learn more at ABM.com/K12 or call 866.624.1520