Driving efficiencies in your business.

COVID-19 has impacted the recruitment market in many ways, and in most sectors we’ve seen a dramatic downturn in job flow. Signs are that it’s coming back, but with the uncertainty surrounding the measures to combat the pandemic the tough times are here for a while.  Certainly you’ll be wanting to look at your processes and find ways to drive efficiencies within your business at this time.

CASHFLOW:

An increase in temp levels post-pandemic will increase cashflow pinch-points. With numerous clients operating 60-day terms alongside construction industry payment pains, the inability to self-fund quickly becomes evident. There are a few ways you can increase efficiency in this area,

• Negotiating more favourable payment terms
• Offering discounts for early repayment
• Automating credit control or employing an experienced credit controller to chase your debts.

Although effective, these can be costly, either financially or from a client relationship perspective.

Invoice factoring is an ideal alternative for your recruitment business, a third-party funds your invoices until the client pays. Most invoice factoring companies offer some form of drawdown facility but here at Quba Solutions we pay you 100% of your profit whilst paying your workers, generating invoices to your clients and having a personal credit controller liaise with those clients. With our 12 month average debtor days down almost 20% (including the spike relating to the lockdown period), you can be sure your debts will be collected in a timely manner.

 PAYROLL & BACK-OFFICE:

Along with an effective credit control department you will also want your payroll processes to be second to none, with staff completing all the necessary chores such as running the weekly payroll, submitting RTI reports, dealing with queries and amendments and so much more.

A good way to improve efficiency in this area is to get top of the range payroll software and staff that know how to use it, this saves time on calculating pay and running the risk of making errors but it won’t be cheap. Outsourcing the payroll is a very viable option, this will come at a cost but is significantly cheaper and less time consuming than getting the required software and training.

On top of providing finance for your recruitment business, Quba Solutions also provides an online portal and back-office functionality, taking away all the payroll chores. We provide all our agency partners with a dedicated credit controller, account manager and payroll team. All of which are regularly working with recruiters just like you and know how the industry works.

Quba’s Financial Director, Paul Tonks, has set up our back office using his extensive knowledge from having worked as Randstad’s FD for a total of 15 years.  Working with a team that understands your business and clients makes all the difference to your business’s efficiency – no repeating conversations, calling into call centres or getting calls from end clients after having received an automated correspondence.

TECHNOLOGY:

Tech is supposed to save time but how many times has a poor IT platform done quite the opposite? Having streamlined and easy to use technology is another way you can make your business more efficient. A good IT platform will also be able to show you all the management information you want to know with just a couple of clicks, this makes it easier to focus on your passion of placing temps rather than trying to calculate how much outstanding debt you’ve got, or drawing up graphs of company growth.

Quba has invested considerable amounts of money into developing the IT platforms we provide to our clients making sure that it is relevant to recruiters and not an incomprehensible finance tool.

Currently our IT platform is made up of two parts – our Dynamiq Dashboard and our agency brandable e-Timesheet app. The app is available for your end clients and contractors alike to download and submit/approve timesheets.  By working with a financier that wants to be at the forefront of its sectors technology you can rest assured that your agency is being provided with the best of the best. Not only that but by having the branded e-Timesheet app this puts your marketing at the forefront of many of your competitors.

Outsourcing your back office to Quba Solutions reduces your business need for support staff as we take care of all back-office functions.

MINIMISE COSTS:

Back-office providers can eliminate the need for additional costs such as support staff, HR, training or covering sickness and holiday.

These aren’t the only additional costs you may face when running your business, there can also be debt protection and legal costs. Some invoice financiers/traditional factoring businesses will sometimes add on an extra % or fee for providing debt protection – at worst others will ask you to source your own debt protection and leave you to negotiate the best price.

Working with a financier that includes debt protection in the fee is a good way of avoiding the unnecessary cost of sourcing your own or ending up paying more in the way of excess for the insurance. Legal costs are avoidable too, by working with your credit controller and good clients, you can have a degree of confidence that your invoices will be paid on time.

GO PAPERLESS:

Going paperless is the ideal scenario for any recruitment agency – no printing costs, saving the trees and on top of that you’re not sat there every Tuesday continually typing in hours from unreadable timesheets. Number 5 is self-explanatory as we all know how going paperless can make an agency that little bit more efficient.

Quba cater for both those that are paperless and those that aren’t – we understand that sometimes an e-timesheet just won’t be suitable. Timesheet functionalities are all included on our DynamiQ dashboard and e-Timesheet app with an easy traffic light system for you to track the status of your timesheets each week

ALL OF THAT, IN ONE PLACE?

With Quba you get all of that under one roof! You won’t have to deal with the stress of having to contact numerous different outsourcing agencies to find out what you want to know but have the pleasure of one dedicated relationship manager to answer any of your queries.

If you would like to learn more about how Quba Solutions can help your business grow and become more efficient, please get in touch with one of our funding professionals on: 01305 233178 or contact us here.