5 smart ways to optimise staffing costs without sacrificing service

Can you optimise your staffing costs further? Here are some ideas.

96% of businesses that participated in a recent Coople survey expected cost increases following this month’s changes in minimum wage and National Insurance. With high economic uncertainty, inflation and a fear of recession, this is just the latest addition to a long list of topics UK businesses must deal with in 2025.

So, what can you do about it? In a nutshell, the cost per hour worked is going up across the board. Your best strategy is to reduce the number of hours worked, but how do you do this without letting down customers or damaging service levels? Here are a few ideas: 

1. Flexible contracts

Keep as many workers as you can on flexible contracts: It’s important to have permanent staff for continuity and to retain knowledge, but only flexible contracts allow you to scale up and down with demand. There is an ideal mix between the two, depending on how big your demand fluctuations are. 

2. Delay hiring

Delay hiring: Have your applicant list ready for every shift, but only hire once your demand estimate (or the weather forecast!) is as reliable as it can get.

3. Shorter shifts

Shorten your shifts: 6- or 8- hour shifts are often the norm, but do you really need your workers for that long? If your customers all arrive within a short time window, maybe a 4-hour shift would do?

4. Rehire trained workers

(Re-) hire trained workers: The less time your team needs to spend on training and onboarding, the more work they can get done. Having a pool of regular workers ready to go is key. As a rule of thumb, having a pool of roughly 3x the maximum number of people you ever need for a shift means you never miss out on revenue, and you can maintain the level of service your customers require.

5. Use a platform

Hire your workers via a platform: This might seem counterintuitive, as there is a cost to it. However, being registered on a platform means that your best workers can find enough work and stay flexible. By giving them good ratings, you increase their chances of finding jobs to fill the gaps, and will encourage the best ones to keep coming back to you. Using Coople also means that you won’t need to manage all of this yourself, which saves you lots of overhead costs.

We know how hard it is out there at the moment. If you’d like to learn more about how we can support your staffing strategy, reach out to us today!