In light of changing workforce dynamics, rising customer expectations, and intensifying competition, field service organizations are facing tremendous pressure to move the needle on key operational metrics, while meeting aggressive customer SLAs. Those leading the pack have been able to maximize high quality field service to better serve customers, reduce service delivery costs, and expand to new markets and new revenue streams.
Finding the right talent to support your field service organization has never been more important. As field service delivery businesses position themselves to succeed in today’s hyper-competitive landscape, these following 6 signs will help you hire the highest quality field service labor force:
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Field technician duties and responsibilities: In order to narrow the scope of your search, you need to delineate your field technician service requirements alongside current market gaps and opportunities. As with any recruitment effort, your field service technician job descriptions should be thorough and clearly define the requisites, from experience level and technical proficiencies to relevant certifications and security clearances. What types of service technicians are you looking for? What types of skills do they need? Are certifications and insurance required? These are some of the key elements you’ll need to think through when evaluating talent needs.
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Compliance controls: Issues of consistency and compliance with regulations are also crucial. It’s your job to ensure your clients receive the highest quality service and performance your firm can deliver. Businesses need to remain cognizant of state and federal labor guidelines. Do you have proper reporting in place? Will you be able to access up-to-audit trails should you need them? You can greatly mitigate your company’s compliance risk by implementing rigorous controls to make sure your workers are properly classified.
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Technical requirements and training: Field service technology platforms are ever evolving -- as such, service executives must grapple with tough mandates from their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners. Companies such as Cisco, HP, Samsung, and IBM are increasingly shifting towards higher margin products while still looking to control the end-user experience as closely as possible. As a result, they set rigorous installation requirements and mandate extensive training from their certified partners. This can be quite the challenge for service providers without the proper tools to administer and validate training certifications.
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Credentials and certifications: Field service leaders want to ensure that their field service contractors have positive reputations and performance track records alongside technical expertise. This often entails establishing rigorous assignment requirements for the contractor to follow, with the ability to screen potential workers on certifications and knowledge specific to your industry. Think technology requirements like Cisco or Dell -EMC certifications; compliance needs like OSHA qualifications, EPA certifications, statewide or local licensing; or vetting for a particular trade like a VMWare virtualization. It’s also possible to administer background checks and require workers to opt into your company’s contract agreement. Smart staffing systems like WorkMarket’s Learning Management System (LMS) enable you to administer prerequisite tests and verify skills in order to ensure optimal job matching.
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On-demand labor clouds: As you build and manage field service labor, an on-demand workforce technology will enable you to tap into networks of elite service providers to improve your market coverage, extend your capabilities and better serve your customers. These systems allow companies to build a bench of trusted, skilled and certified field technicians, managing all of their contractors from a central, consolidated dashboard. Both technicians and organizations have access to dashboards where they can manage the entire relationship. These interfaces look different to each audience, but they pull from a shared data set and are tailored to the separate needs of vendors and clients.
- Team alignment: Success field service means that your team is on board with the project objectives and clearly understands the processes, protocols, reporting schedule, and deadlines to which the team members must adhere. Internal project managers can collaborate with workers in real time through a workforce management system to accelerate assignment completion. Implementing the right technology solution is key. Mobile apps can provide vendor check-in and the ability to upload pictures of a project so the client can see progress and site information as it happens. What new processes will you be creating to facilitate the management of your field service workforce? Dispatching? Payment? Onboarding? You need to determine the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders to ensure proper process alignment.
Field service leaders are finding that on-demand workforce technology is helping them revolutionize every aspect of their field service operation, all the way from recruitment and onboarding to training and dispatching.
To learn more about how companies use WorkMarket to manage their field service labor request a demo here.
