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Many a time, businesses are left with no option but to rely on a manpower agency to onboard the right people to carry out jobs. Sometimes when they do so, they also embrace benefits like being able to onboard in a better way and onboard people with a 100% skill match.
What Is a Manpower Agency?
A manpower agency is a recruitment and staffing agency that finds suitable candidates for businesses and organizations to fill the vacancies they currently have. Though this is the first and foremost responsibility of a manpower agency, its role in shaping businesses goes beyond this.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Manpower Agency
Let us now look at some of the responsibilities of a manpower agency. It begins with the first two we introduced and goes on to introduce some others, like compliance management and learning and development support for selected candidates.
1. Sourcing and Recruitment
The process of reaching out to candidates who may not be actively looking for jobs through several strategies is called sourcing. It involves several strategies like social media outreach, attending job fairs, and exhibitions, etc. Once the sourcing process is complete, the process of screening and written evaluation, preceded and followed by interviews, is called recruitment.
2. Contract Staffing and Staff Augmentation
In contract staffing, companies hire people temporarily, rather than permanently, to meet some immediate or seasonal requirements. In staff augmentation, which is again a type of staffing, the company hires staff temporarily to ‘augment’ their team with the people and skills necessary to get the job done, usually for a one-off IT project. For this reason, while contract staffing could be for IT or non-IT, staff augmentation is generally in IT only.
3. Manpower Planning
In manpower recruitment and planning, the HR or manpower agency is involved not just in managing how recruitment or staffing must happen but also in resizing and restructuring the workforce to be ready and resilient to meet any challenge. The manpower agency will also ensure that the planning is an ongoing process rather than a one-time job, ensuring that the workforce is well-managed, flexible, and scalable.
4. Building Inclusivity
Diversity, equity, and inclusion must not be an afterthought, especially today, when several Gen Z candidates expect a company to be diverse and inclusive when they pick one for a job.
To make this happen, a manpower agency might provide a consulting service to ensure that the workforce remains diverse or even hire a head of diversity, and better yet, recommend that there be a separate team other than HR to ensure that the company remains diverse and inclusive.
5. Training Support
Manpower agencies also provide training support to ensure that the apprentices or employees brought into the company can carry out their tasks as expected, without any delays or mistakes at work. Both NAPS and NATS training are provided by the manpower agency, ensuring that the apprentice, be it for a technical or non-technical role they have been recruited for, gets to learn while on the job. Through the hire train place and hire train deploy models, they ensure that the employees you onboard for a job role are job-ready too, right from day one.
6. Compliance Management
Businesses of any size need to be assured that they are compliant with the rules and regulations set not only by the center and state but also with those set by regulatory bodies, especially for companies that operate in a specific industry. Any lack of compliance can not only lead to hefty fines but also cause a loss of reputation, which may be difficult to recover.
To ensure compliance in all business processes, right from registration to payroll to other business documentation, a compliance management team from the manpower agency will be with you. Alternatively, they may also hire an in-house compliance management team which would be situated at your business premises or theirs.
Why do Businesses work with Manpower Agencies?
Businesses work with manpower agencies to hire the best candidates for their open roles, while keeping compliance with relevant labour laws and regulations.
1. Industry Expertise
Manpower agencies have extensive recruitment and staffing expertise. They house recruitment experts with rich experience in hiring for various industries and can help you hire the professionals you need.
2. Proven Track Record
If you go for a good, reputable manpower agency with a proven track record of finding the right talent for startups, mid-sized companies, and Fortune 500 companies, then your talent needs are sorted, without a doubt.
3. End-to-End Services
Most manpower agencies offer end-to-end workforce solutions, essentially, a comprehensive range of services to companies, including recruitment and staffing, as well as HR and payroll services.
4. Flexible Hiring models
Temporary staffing, contract staffing, virtual staffing, permanent staffing, human resource consulting, and executive search are among the flexible hiring models that professional manpower agencies offer. Clients can address their needs easily with the right manpower solutions.
5. Compliant hiring
Manpower agencies usually ensure that they are updated about the current hiring practices and keep track of the changing labour laws and regulations. If they hire an individual successfully for your company, then they make sure the hiring practices they follow are compliant with labour laws and regulations.
6. Enhanced brand reputation
When companies consistently hire the right individuals, especially by following compliant hiring practices, they naturally gain a reputation for being a trustworthy and committed company. And this is exactly what a manpower agency can do.
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Manpower Agency?
1. Faster Hiring
With a manpower agency taking care of your hiring needs, you can be sure of a streamlined hiring process and recruit the best individuals for various open roles, ensuring faster onboarding.
2. Reduced Hiring Risks
Your in-house team may not have the experience and expertise to find and hire the most qualified individuals, which can result in bad hires. A professional manpower agency provides comprehensive solutions, from initial screening to onboarding and background checks, to ensure that only the most qualified talent is hired for our clients.
3. Expert Guidance and Tailored Solutions
A professional manpower agency has recruiters who possess the knowledge and capability to recruit highly qualified individuals across various industries. Tailored manpower solutions are provided to companies to address their unique needs.
4. Cost-Effective
Maintaining an in-house recruitment team can increase costs and overhead significantly for most companies. By outsourcing your hiring needs a manpower agency, you will not only get the best recruitment services but also save resources that can be utilised to carry out other core activities, leading to better business outcomes.
5. Access to Wider Talent Pool
A reputed manpower agency has a vast database of skilled professionals ready to be hired in the future whenever businesses need extra manpower or must fill critical roles.
What Are the Challenges or Limitations of Using Manpower Agencies?
Some of the key challenges of using manpower agencies are-
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Higher costs
Most manpower agencies charge the organization a certain fee when they successfully place a candidate in their organization. This could be a small percentage of the hired candidate’s annual fee. This can get expensive, especially for in-demand or crucial roles.
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Mismatched candidates
If the manpower agency doesn’t put enough effort into understanding the specifications of the role or the company culture, it can lead to the hiring of unsuitable candidates. This can lead to higher turnovers.
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Decline in the quality of candidates
Depending on the kind of manpower agency you choose, the quality of candidates you acquire can decline. This can happen as some manpower agencies may like to speed up the process rather than find the right quality of candidates.
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High turnover
This is a concern for contract or temporary roles. However, sometimes, even the permanent hires can leave the company if they aren’t right for the role.
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Legal implications
When you outsource your hiring needs to a third-party manpower agency, you must make sure to choose one that understands the best and legal hiring practices.
How to choose the right manpower agency?
As you can see, a manpower recruitment agency goes well beyond recruitment and staffing to include other aspects of HR as well, such as training support, compliance management, and possibly even payroll if they have the means to do so. When you pick a manpower agency, be sure to pick the one that matches your needs. If your needs are only recruitment and staffing and not payroll or compliance included, you may work better with a recruitment and staffing provider.
But how do you know your choice is the best? There is no guarantee on the web, and the likelihood, if you look for value in a hiring partner, is that you may be disappointed before you land on the right square. What if we told you that you are already on the right square and you just need to make the right call? If you are trying to hire candidates with incredible skill levels, plan your workforce, or seek advice to streamline your hiring process, we can help you. Talk to Alp Consulting, a 25-year-old staffing and recruitment partner of repute, who will help you hire masters of the trade. And as a premier manpower agency, we also help with payroll and compliance management for your company.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a manpower agency?
A manpower agency is a recruitment and staffing agency that finds suitable candidates for businesses and organizations to fill the vacancies they currently have.
2. What are the main responsibilities of a manpower agency?
The main responsibilities of a manpower agency are to understand the client hiring requirements, source and hire the right candidates, and ensure lesser time-to-hire and time-to-fill, as well as ensure legal hiring practices.
3. How do manpower agencies support compliance?
Manpower agencies support compliance by managing legal and regulatory requirements, including staying updated on labor laws, conducting non-discriminatory hiring, verifying candidate credentials, and handling payroll and benefits correctly.
4. What are the benefits of working with manpower agencies?
Some of the main benefits include faster hiring, access to skilled professionals, expert guidance, industry expertise, cost-effective solutions, and compliant hiring practices, avoiding legal implications.
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Rajkumar Shanmugam
Rajkumar Shanmugam is the Head of HR at ALP Consulting, bringing over 19 years of comprehensive HR leadership experience across India and international markets. His expertise spans talent acquisition, employee relations, performance management, compliance, and HR transformation. Rajkumar has a proven track record of driving people-centric initiatives, enhancing workplace culture, and aligning HR strategy with business goals. With extensive experience in US staffing operations and global mobility, he continues to lead organizational excellence through innovation and employee engagement.
