Challenges and Best Practices for Deploying Your Own Employees in External Projects

Skill shortages and economic uncertainty: In a climate like this, many companies are strategically deploying their own employees in external projects. However, there are several key considerations to keep in mind. This article explores the most common challenges and outlines best practices to address them effectively.

Challenges

Sending your own employees to external projects at attractive daily rates can be an excellent business model or a valuable extension of an existing one. However, three major challenges often arise:

• Economic Challenge: Utilization
  The financial viability of the model heavily depends on the utilization rate of your employees. To make the model worthwhile, companies must ensure that they generate enough customers to guarantee a profitable utilization of the workforce.
• Strategic Challenge: Employee turnover
  One of the biggest strategic risks is employee turnover to the client. If an employee spends an extended period on a client project, increase the likelihood of turnoverIf the client is satisfied with the work, hiring them directly may become financially appealing during a long-term project. Additionally, employees in project-based roles often spend a lot of time with the client’s team, fostering social connections that further increase the risk of turnover.
• Legal Challenges: AÜG & Data Protection
  The legal framework for temporary employment is regulated in the German Employee Leasing Act (AÜG). Depending on the situation, compliance can quickly become complex. Potential challenges should be clarified in advance, and contracts must be carefully reviewed to ensure compliance. Data protection can also present additional challenges that require attention.

Fortunately, there are best practices to address these challenges. In this article, we will first focus on strategies to ensure high utilization rates.

Best Practices: Increasing Utilization

To increase utilization, two factors are critical: acquiring new clients and expanding existing relationships. The following best practices can help achieve both:

• Perfect Matches as a Strategy: The best deals are still those that are a “no-brainer” for both sides. To achieve this, companies must have a clear understanding of which skill sets are currently in high demand in the market and, ideally, know which of these skills their employees possess.
• Speed as Competitive Advantage: “The early bird catches the worm” - this old saying holds true in business as well. Being able to respond quickly to requests and proposals is crucial to gaining an advantage over competitors. If companies can send a proposal to their customer within 30 minutes, while competitors take three days, the advantages are significant. Not only does this ensure that the proposal doesn’t get lost in the shuffle, but it also often leads to the proposal being accepted before competitors even submit theirs.
• Professional Presentation to Stand Out: Clients do not have much time to thoroughly review proposals in detail. Therefore, it’s essential to make a strong impression at first glance. A clear and professionally designed employee profile is a must. This makes it easy for the clients to quickly determine if the suggested employee is a good fit for their project. A strong corporate design also helps clients immediately identify the source of the proposal, enhancing success rates, especially with repeat clients.

Conclusion

Implementing these best practices can be time-consuming and effort-intensive – or you can try Profilery, which incorporates all these considerations. With Profilery, you can create employee profiles more easily, quickly, and professionally. Give it a try today!