It’s crazy to think that we are already at the end of 2020 and the holidays are upon us. It seems like the past 9 months have surprisingly gone fast, despite everything going on. Even though the holidays will probably look a little more like a holi-daze this year, I still look forward to the holiday season and all of the holiday cheer it brings! Overall, I think everyone is probably looking forward to the holiday season a little more this year!! In the mix of all of the holiday cheer though also comes planning for 2021. Many companies may find planning for the new year even more difficult than in years past. How do you plan when there is an unpredictable year ahead? Having the right staffing reports by your side will help you analyze where you are at and forecast for the coming months. 

So, what staffing reports should be on your nice list in 2021? First, we will take a look at a few reports that will help give you an overview of where you are at. Next, we will dive into a series of reports that take a look at the nitty gritty details and will help you forecast. Finally, we will end with 3 bonus reports you should have by your side every day! 

Planning & Forecasting Reports 

First, Review Where You Are At

Before you begin forecasting for the coming year, you will first want to get a handle on where you are at. Where is your revenue coming from? What clients are doing the best? What clients have the most billed hours? What is your client turnover rate? Understanding your business and knowing where the most revenue is coming in from, will help you forecast later on. 

Revenue Trends Report

The first helpful report will be a high-level revenue report that captures the fundamental aspects of revenue trends. Compare 2020 to 2019. You can even compare 2020 to years prior to 2019. A simple comparison could be sales, revenue, and bill hours. How did your company do in comparison to years prior? Has there been a significant drop or is it comparable? Are there any specific months that were more comparable to others, particularly in the past 9 months? If so, what did you do to help keep the revenue comparable?  Try to identify trends that you may see in the coming year. Below is an example report you could make that will help you compare revenue trends from years prior. 

Revenue by Category Report

After the high-level review, you can then dive into revenue by category.  This can include: location, industry, line of business, etc. If you staff both temporary and direct placements, you can create (2) separate reports for each sector. Take a look at where the most revenue is coming from, if there are any trends, if there are any places for improvement, and if there is a way you can further capitalize in the area’s where the most revenue is coming in. Also analyze, why some areas may be performing lower than others—was a specific location and industry hit harder during the pandemic?

On this same report you can even include a summary of your top 10 clients that brought in your most revenue. Some items to compare: bill amount, bill hours, gross margin, avg. gross margin, avg. markup, payroll costs, and % of total billed. This report will help you understand who your best clients are and who is bringing in the most revenue. You will want to keep these clients happy! You may also want to think about any trends you see among these companies. Is there a reason why these companies are your highest performing? If you can find a trend, you can search for similar companies to partner with.  

Another important area to note on your client comparison report, is the percentage of billing. Is there one client that is bringing in a significant amount of revenue? If so, you will want to look into diversifying 

your accounts. You want to avoid a single company bringing in the majority of your revenue, otherwise you won’t be in a good position if you were to lose the account.  

Below is an example of a Revenue by Category Report: 

Customer Ranking Report

Similar to the above report where we list out the top clients bringing in the most revenue, you can build a separate Customer Ranking report that shows a snapshot of all of your clients. Again, identify your top clients bringing in the most revenue and also which clients are bringing in the least revenue. Just like you want to identify ways to capitalize more on the clients bringing in the most revenue, look into the clients that aren’t bringing in as much.  Identify why this may be and see if there could be more opportunities to work more with those companies.  Similar to the above report, good comparisons would be bill amount, bill hours, gross margin, average gross margin, average markup, payroll costs, and % of total bill. 

A useful comparison to this report, would be to pull last year’s Customer Ranking Report. Are the same customers on top or are they different? If they are different, why are they different? In 2021, do you anticipate the top companies on your 2020 report to remain on top?

Next, Dive into the Nitty Gritty

Our revenue and customer ranking reports give us a nice overview of where you are at and a snapshot of where your clients rank. Next, it’s time to dive into a little more detail to help you further identify areas to focus on in 2021. 

Client Billing Reports

Client Billing by Location

If you staff across the country, a client billing by location report would be useful to identify the part of the country that has the most billing. If you staff in one state, you could break this down by county. Identifying areas with high billing could help you focus on these areas in 2021. You can also analyze why they are doing well. Were they not impacted by the pandemic as hard? Were there more opportunities for business in these areas? Also, look at the locations with low billing and identify if these could be locations to focus more on. 

Client Billing by Bill Hours

This report is similar to the customer ranking report, except you can rank the companies that have had the most bill hours. Which companies needed the most help? Which companies didn’t need as much help? Again, you will want to stay close to the companies with the most bill hours and see if you can further grow those bill hours in the new year. Even the companies with the low bill hours you want to stay in touch with and see how you can help. If they don’t have staffing needs, continue to communicate with them by providing resources that could be beneficial, such as sending a relevant article or news story. 

You should also pull a comparison of the Bill Hours from last year. Do the same companies have the most bill hours or is it different? Do the companies that have low bill hours this year, normally have much higher bill hours? If so, this will help you identify companies that aren’t doing well now, but will have staffing needs in the near future again. These are also clients you will want to stay close to.

Client Billing by Customer Reports

If you further want to drill into reports by customer and compare billing from years prior, the below (3) reports are handy ones to have on hand.

Billing by Customer Compared to Years Prior

This report you can pull by customer and compare the last few years (by month) in comparison to 2020. What has changed? Was there billing in 2020 higher or lower compared to years prior?  Did there billing change during the last 9 months compared to years prior? If billing is higher or comparable, they will be a good client to focus on to bring in more billing in 2021. 

Billing by Customer by Highest Billing Month

By customer, you can also look at the highest billing month from the past few years and see if you see a pattern. Have they consistently had a time frame where they billed the most? If so, did that trend continue in 2020? You can use these analytics to help you forecast in 2021 by month. 

Temp Hours Worked by Customer

This is another useful report that you can pull by client to identify if temp hours are going up, down, or staying steady. Particularly, for this report you want to look at the Period End Date. If you see their temp hours have gone up, they would be a good customer to focus on in 2021. You may even find some surprises along the way!

Client Turnover Report by Period End Date

You can also take a look at client turnover by period end date. Have client orders diminished over time? Who is no longer ordering temps? What percent are the orders going up or down?  You can pull this report by client to help you identify companies that have increased hours. These are also companies you want to focus on because you know they will give you the most hours. 

Begin to Forecast

Customer Revenue Forecasting Report

Now that you have taken a look at where you are at and into the finer details, you can begin forecasting customer revenue. First take a look at what you did last year this time and in the coming months. Based on your analysis, which companies will see an increase in revenue? Which companies will see a decrease in revenue? If you expect to see a decrease in revenue, then forecast down. You can simply forecast down by percent. Do you expect a 50% decrease? 30%? 20%?

As you begin to forecast how much revenue your current customers will be bringing in, you can then put an action plan together of how you will make up for that revenue if you anticipate it to be lower. Will you try to capitalize more on the clients doing well? Are there new industries you could dive into? During your analysis, were there particular locations doing well that you could try to do more business in?

If business has been booming and you forecast even higher than last year, then focus on how you can further capitalize on this growth. Where did this increase in revenue come from? Can you further grow revenue in those areas that are high performing?

Everyday Reports

Let’s now flash forward to 2021. You have your forecast. You can now put those reports away until next year, right? Not quite, you will want to continue to use those reports throughout the year. 2020 was unlike any year we have had, but 2021 will be no different. It will continue to be unpredictable so having those reports by your side will be essential to understand how your business is performing and if any changes in your business plan is needed. 

To wrap up our 2020 Staffing Report Nice List, as promised we will go over (3) last bonus reports you may find helpful as you go about your everyday needs in 2021. 

Open Job Order Report 

If you don’t already use an Open Job Order Report, it’s the perfect report to pull every morning to help you and the team plan out the day and the rest of the week. It’s also a handy report for morning status meetings. On the Job Order Report, you can break out open jobs by placement consultant (PC), position, branch, client, and more. Below is an example of an Open Jobs Report. 

Fill % Report

This report looks at the percentage of the job quantity being filled. It will help you identify problems in filling positions and further explore why some positions are left unfilled. You can also use it to detect trends—is there a specific job type that is consistently not being filled? 

This report can be broken out by job order: Were you asked to fill 10 jobs, but only filled 8?  You can also look at the bigger picture over a period of time and break it out by client, branch level, PC, etc. 

Employee Assessment Report 

This is a basic report you can use to track various performance metrics of your internal team members.  Afterall, the success of your company relies heavily on your internal team. The report helps you keep track of which employees are performing well and can be useful when assessing end of year bonuses and raises. It will also help you identify the employees not performing as well and any areas where they may need some additional help or guidance.  

Employee Assessment Reports can be created based on position (i.e. recruiter, sales person, accountant, etc.) Some metrics on a Recruiter Employee Assessment Report can include recruiting calls, interviews, resumes sent, job orders filled, fill %, etc. A Sales Employee Assessment Report can include sales calls, voicemails left, emails sent, client meetings, new sales gained, etc. These are just a couple of assessment reports you can put together for your internal team members, but the options are endless! Any performance metrics that are important for success at your company should be included on each assessment report. 

Conclusion

We covered a lot of reports that should be on your Staffing Report Nice List in 2020. Some of them may even be blending together by now! So, what are the key takeaways?

1. Your company’s data is your best forecasting tool as you plan for 2021.
2. Analytics are extremely important—need to use data analytics to strategize for the coming months.
3. Know your metrics and stay close to your customers—especially the customers bringing in the most revenue.
4. Re-do your business plan as often as needed to adjust to the changing climate and changes in your business.
5. Understand customer buying habits—know what’s normal for your business and how things have changed in the past 9 months. 
6. Start marketing- use your metrics to begin calling key clients doing well to further grow your partnership in 2021.

You have your reports, you have your data, go out and start 2021 off righ