How to overcome uncertainty to continue to grow

Although the recession has been officially over for nearly four years, businesses are still feeling its effects. As a result, many manufacturers are hesitant about expanding their workforce, despite a need to do so, and of planning more than a few months ahead.

However, refusing to hire will hamper your growth, and there are ways to expand your workforce without risking your business.

1. Consider temporary help. Develop a strong supplemental workforce made up of temporary workers. By creating a strong partnership with one or two agencies, your company can bring in temporary workers who are prescreened and pretrained with minimal disruption to quality and productivity. If growth stabilizes at new levels of revenue, the temps can then be hired full time as already-trained workers.

2. Plan for the future. Have a strong process for sales and operations planning, which can can help managers develop strategies to address company growth. By having a view of the future, you can plan labor accordingly to build and ship products in a growth environment. If operations can gain insights to the variations of demand in the near and mid-term, they can help improve productivity and reduce overall labor costs while meeting rising demand.