Workforce Enterprises Recruits the Future
In the logistics and transportation fields, the employment market often calls for strong technological skills and flexibility, physical strength, or some other knowledge or talent entirely. But determining which skills are needed for each position—and then recruiting the right talent—take away from these companies’ main focus. Enter Diamond Bar, CA-based Workforce Enterprises, which allows these companies to outsource recruiting and employment functions to an experienced, skilled recruitment and employee management team, says Workforce founder Andrew Hernandez Jr.
Hernandez established the agency in 2011, after working with a global placement firm for a decade in a national capacity. “I had many clients who had been unhappy working with a large firm—there was so much red tape,” he recalled. “It was difficult to be efficient, and many customers didn’t get that prompt, personalized service that their business required.”
Instead, Workforce Enterprises specializes in placing mid-level industrial staff in California, New Jersey, Texas, and Seattle. It uses its insight into its clients to partner with them—and its pool of temporary and permanent job applicants—to solve their problems and help their job applicants grow their careers. The result is a client list that includes RR Donnelley, Network Global Logistics (NGL), West Coast Distribution, Port Logistics Group Samsung, DHL, Dynamic Worldwide, and National Retail Transportation. The clients, mostly large firms, come through referrals.
“As a business struggles with getting people or labor and streamlining their needs, we’re very commonly called on,” Hernandez said.
The agency outsources staffing functions for companies that don’t have, or want, internal infrastructure for substantial human resources functions. Its services comprise both full-time and part-time positions. In addition, clients look to Workforce to help with a number of issues including improving performance, reducing cycling times, and training.
“[These firms] don’t know how to find people, screen people, determine the right fit, and put the right person in the right position,” Hernandez noted. “They don’t know how to make the right match between a person and a position. What they do know how to do is do their business, be it distribution, manufacturing, or apparel. We get paid to take care of our clients’ problems and the ever-changing state and local laws.”
As a full-service agency, Workforce hires the employees, puts them to work, cuts the paychecks, and covers all benefits. While Workforce is largely seeking experienced potential employees, it does offer software-based remedial training for associates at its branches.
“We work with building managers all the way to logistics managers, even to general labor, such as the people who unload containers,” Hernandez said. “We place customer service representatives, admin, and IT.”
One key, he notes, is to educate his corporate clients as to what they can and should expect in an employee pool. “It’s all about educating the customer, guiding them through the trip. People running a distribution firm aren’t interested in paying the most amount of money. They’re trying to get their product out with the most cost-efficient labor,” he said. “One of our jobs is to educate the customer about wages and trends, so they know who’s paying what. We also offer on-site training for our clients, including mandatory sexual harassment training, safety and OSHA training, and e-verifying to help businesses confirm employees are eligible to work in the U.S. That’s a hot topic right now.”
Finding qualified associates can be challenging, but as with most things, you get what you pay for. And pay is a primary motivator for employees. “If you pay good money and you pay top dollar, you’ll get the best,” he claimed.
As a result, the agency has top vendor performance awards from several Fortune 250 companies, many of which are long-term clients. The firm has grown to 80 internal employees, and a pool of 10,000 potential associates (at peak season) for its clients.
He credits a team of highly skilled recruiters who have an eye for matching people with position, and a passion for the industry.
“We make sure the people we hire really love what they do,” he said. “If you love what you do, you’re going to give 110 percent. We run a tight ship. We look for the best. We have very aggressive recruiters, who have a lot of experience, and have the eye. They know when someone walks in if they have the skills needed for a position.”
Workforce plays well into what is becoming known as the “gig economy,” defined as a labor market dominated by short-term contracts or freelance work. “If someone wants to work on assignment for six months in one place, then six months somewhere else, we can do that,” he said. “It’s a huge portion of our associate base: people who want that flexibility.”
However, as many as 50 percent of the temp staffers ultimately find a full-time permanent job with their companies.
Now, Hernandez is looking to expand into the information technology field. Plans call for opening a hub in Southern California solely for IT recruiting this year.
“We just want to diversify,” he stated.
Plans call for more investment in the firm’s own infrastructure, adding to its applications. “We have a very strong business background, and with our database, you have to have strong systems to manage all of the employees. Our goal is to automate our processes more, so our customers can get immediate updates on the status of their recruitment needs on their cell phones and iPads in real time,” he said.
Ultimately, Workforce’s philosophy comes down to that type of readily available, personalized service. “We’re privately owned, we’re hands-on—we’re not going to get unawares. If there’s a problem, we analyze it right away and come up with a solution,” he claimed.
The same is true for the associates he hires, both internally and for his clients.
“A lot of success is due to our aggressive, excellent team. I invest in our infrastructure, because that’s the future of the company,” Hernandez said. “We mentor our team and mold them into professionals. That’s what Workforce does. We give them the opportunity to develop a career.”
Andrew Hernandez
President, Workforce Enterprises
909-718-8915
andrew.hernandez@workforceenterprises.net
workforceenterprises.net
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