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Workforce challenges are ever-changing, just like the waste and recycling industry itself. Asking the right questions and carefully reviewing business goals will help determine whether it is time to bring in a recruiting and workforce partner.
By Jeffrey Bailey

The waste and recycling industry faces unique challenges in recruiting, hiring, and retaining a reliable workforce. New technology, sustainability goals, and changing regulations create a dynamic environment. Staying ahead of workforce trends and skill requirements can be challenging.

Hiring needs change across a range of roles, from managers and drivers to operators and general laborers. Many of these positions carry high safety and compliance risks. Additionally, high turnover in general labor roles adds even more strain. Regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and safety are top priorities.

For many companies, limited internal recruiting resources can make it hard to keep up. Sourcing, screening, hiring, and onboarding qualified candidates require a significant amount of time and expertise. These are resources that could otherwise be focused on daily operations and customer service. With labor costs and overhead comprising a considerable portion of an operating budget, every hiring decision has a direct impact on profitability.

Managing operating costs and employee performance is critical to keeping operations running smoothly. At what point does it make sense to keep these activities in-house versus outsourcing them to a recruiting or workforce provider?

What is a Recruiting and Workforce Partner
There are different types of recruiting and workforce partners. Each option provides different services based on business goals, timelines, and the desired level of involvement. Standard services typically include sourcing, screening, hiring, and onboarding. Following is a breakdown of some of the most common providers:

• Traditional Temporary Staffing: Workers are hired through staffing agencies for short-term, seasonal, or temporary roles. This approach offers flexibility and reduces the workload for HR.
• Direct Hire Recruiting: The provider finds and screens candidates for full-time positions, with employees listed on the company鈥檚 payroll. This model is ideal for permanent skilled roles and helps expand the talent pool.
• Outsourced Workforce Solutions: The provider hires and supervises a full-time team. They handle recruiting, onboarding, scheduling, compliance, and retention. This option works well for high-volume, complex, and safety-sensitive roles.

While temporary and direct hire services address immediate staffing needs, each has limitations. Temporary staffing can lead to inconsistent crews and frequent retraining. Direct hire requires significant time and resources to manage after employees are onboarded. Outsourced workforce solutions offer a balanced alternative for companies to attract and manage labor, particularly in environments with high turnover and safety risks.

Understand Hiring Needs
The first step in identifying whether a recruiting and workforce partner makes sense is to evaluate the business鈥檚 current hiring situation. Ask these questions:

• Open Roles: Are critical roles remaining vacant or experiencing hiring delays?
• Turnover: Is employee attrition causing operational strain or service disruptions?
• Workforce Reliability: Is the current team consistent, reliable, and meeting performance goals?
• Recruiting Bandwidth: Are recruiting efforts pulling time and focus away from core business activities?
• Compliance and Safety: Are safety incidents or compliance issues increasing due to rushed hiring or inconsistent training?
• Training and Development: Is there a structured onboarding and ongoing training program in place?
• Industry Awareness: Is there confidence in the current understanding of recruiting and workforce trends within the industry?
• Time to Hire: How long does it take to fill an open position? Is that timeline impacting operations?
• Operational Efficiency: Is work being completed on time, or are labor gaps and inefficiencies affecting productivity and customer service?

Depending on the answers to these questions, it may be time to reconsider how talent is managed. If answers indicate there could be advantages to having a partner who actively manages all aspects of the workforce, an outsourced workforce provider could be the right fit.

Outsourced Workforce Solutions: The Benefits
The role of an outsourced workforce provider has been reviewed, and key questions have been identified to help determine if a company may benefit from such a partnership. But what value do they bring? Let鈥檚 explore some advantages.

• Time savings: An outsourced workforce provider takes full responsibility for managing a team. Providers handle recruiting, training, scheduling, and supervising workers.
• Compliance and safety expertise: Waste and recycling operations are heavily regulated. Safety is a non-negotiable priority. A qualified workforce partner will create a culture of safety and bring expertise in OSHA and industry-specific standards.
• Increased efficiency through a reliable, trained crew: Consistency matters. By focusing on recruiting, training, and retention, an outsourced provider ensures reliable, well-prepared employees who know your routes, equipment, and safety protocols. The result is smoother operations and fewer disruptions.
• Cost control and predictability: Outsourced workforce programs help reduce overtime, lower turnover, and improve efficiency. Clear pricing and a stable workforce provide companies with greater visibility and predictability in labor costs.
• Flexibility and scalability: Workforce needs can change quickly. An outsourced workforce solution makes it easy to scale up or down, providing the right number of trained, dependable workers.

The result? A more efficient operation, effective crew management, better use of internal resources, and a workforce program designed to adapt and grow with the business.

How to Pick the Right Workforce Partner
There are numerous options when selecting a workforce partner. And it is a crucial decision. Labor and payroll are a significant portion of a company鈥檚 operating expenses. A business wants to be confident that its crew is managed effectively and adds value.

• Consider these criteria to help evaluate potential workforce partners:
• Do they have industry experience in waste and recycling and understand its unique workforce challenges?
• Can they show client references and success stories to illustrate successful partnerships and outcomes?
• Do they understand safety standards, compliance regulations, and certification requirements?
• Do they offer comprehensive and ongoing training and onboarding to ensure employees are prepared and remain engaged?
• Can they demonstrate measurable success in fill rates, retention, and improving workforce productivity and performance?
• Are costs and contracts clear, predictable, and easy to understand?
• Do they offer onsite management or dedicated support to oversee day-to-day performance?
• Do they understand the local labor market and have the geographic reach required?

Cost vs. Value: The ROI of a Managed Workforce
One of the first questions most leaders ask is, 鈥淏ut what does this cost?鈥� The real answer goes beyond hourly wages and markups. To see the full picture, one must look at both direct and indirect labor costs. Consideration should be given to the value a workforce provider brings by managing them more effectively.

Direct labor costs are obvious: wages, payroll taxes, workers鈥� compensation insurance and claims, PTO, holiday pay, and benefits. Indirect costs may be more easily overlooked. Recruiting, pre-employment screening, training, onboarding, HR and operations management, and OSHA are all examples of indirect costs. When these factors are considered, the total cost of managing a workforce can be significantly higher.

An outsourced workforce provider takes on the burden of these costs and responsibilities. They absorb much of the administrative, financial, and legal risk while delivering a trained, compliant, and reliable workforce at a comparable price.

The right partnership provides more than just staffing support. Regular communication around headcount, scheduling, and labor forecasting allows an operation to plan, allocate resources efficiently, and maintain a cost-effective workforce program. This level of support frees leaders to focus on core operations and customer service, not the daily challenges of hiring and workforce management.
In a recent financial analysis, we found that a typical customer鈥檚 internal labor costs were often equal to, or even higher than, the cost of partnering with a managed workforce provider. When expenses such as health benefits, PTO, holiday pay, SUI/FUTA taxes, workers鈥� compensation, FICA/Medicare, and PPE, internal labor costs can be over 55 percent above the base hourly wage. For a $15/hour employee, that鈥檚 roughly $23.50/hour in true cost鈥攅xceeding the markup range of most managed workforce programs.1

Moving Forward
Workforce challenges are ever-changing, just like the waste and recycling industry itself. Asking the right questions and carefully reviewing business goals will help determine whether it is time to bring in a recruiting and workforce partner.

An outsourced workforce provider can assist by handling recruiting, hiring, and all aspects of employment, while being responsible for team performance and productivity. A partner should become an extension of the team, freeing up valuable time to concentrate on the core operations that drive the business forward. The key is to select a partner whose goals align with the company and who upholds high standards for safety, service, and productivity. | WA

Case In Point: Stabilizing a High Turnover Workforce

A mid-sized waste hauling company in the Midwest was struggling to maintain staffing for its route helper positions. Frequent shortages, untrained crews, and missed pickups led to rerouting, rising costs, and declining customer service. The company shifted from a traditional temporary staffing agency to an outsourced workforce company, Leadpoint.

Access to pre-screened, safety-trained employees and consistent onsite supervision had a quick, positive impact on operations. All routes were covered, resulting in reduced overtime and better equipment use. Consistent route coverage allowed drivers to be paired with the same helpers. Within one month, 50 percent of drivers were paired with a consistent route helper. After three months, that number increased to around 90 percent.

By staffing crews at 10 to 15 above customer requirements, Leadpoint ensured backup coverage and eliminated labor shortages. The company鈥檚 leadership was able to refocus on service and growth鈥攃onfident that workforce performance and compliance were in capable hands.

Jeffrey Bailey is Vice President of Sales at Leadpoint. He has more than 10 years of experience in municipal government and operations. Jeffrey joined Leadpoint in 2020 as an Onsite Manager and later transitioned to Leadpoint鈥檚 Operations Support Team. He was promoted to Director of Sales in 2023 and his current role, Vice President of Business Development, in 2025. He leads the company鈥檚 business development efforts and works to develop mutually beneficial relationships across the waste and recycling industry. Jeffrey can be reached at (602) 431-0410, e-mail [email protected], or visit .

Note
1. Leadpoint, 2024 Financial Data