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Staffing for Verification
November 15, 2013 posted by Steve Brownstein
Achieving a state of equilibrium between verification volume and your capacity to process that volume is elusive at best. You can be overstaffed or understaffed on any given day due to absences and sudden changes in volume. Here are three tips to help you manage the match of verification capacity to volume with what I call the “Core Plus” approach.
1.Identify the core staff you need year-round to maintain the integrity of your verifications operation. Cross train that group in verifications, references and as many of your other tasks as possible. By doing this, you create maximum coverage that often has the fringe benefit of stimulating new ideas and excitement among your staff.
2.When hiring anyone who is not dedicated to a core position, make it clear the job is part-time with the understanding that some days they may not be called in at all while on other days they may work a full day. Your state labor laws may affect the way you define this and should be consulted prior to adopting this or any hiring strategy. I am suggesting that you recruit and hire additional part-time labor to support your core staff and that you should be as transparent as possible about the variable nature of the work.
3.Depending on the size of your operation and employee retention, you may need to routinely interview candidates for these part-time positions. The goal is to always maintain a minimum daily staffing posture of Core Plus 2. Invariably someone will be absent and the two part-timers can make up for them. Larger verifications teams need a posture of Core Plus 4 or more. There is no need to cross train the part-timers in everything since they are really there to absorb the spikes in your most labor intensive verifications and reference work.
Being overstaffed when you can send people home early is far superior to being understaffed and paying overtime while turnaround time and quality suffers.
By Craig Caddell
