BONNEY Staffing Center is a 2014 Best Place to Work!

 
For the third year in a row, BONNEY Staffing Center has been chosen as one of the Best Places To Work in Maine! We are honored to be one of the 70 Maine companies to win this award in 2014. The Best Places to Work in Maine program was created in 2006 and is a project of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) - Maine State Council and Best Companies Group. The program recognizes companies that have created outstanding workplace environments in Maine.

Partners endorsing the program include: the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Maine HR Convention, the Maine Department of Labor, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, Mainebiz magazine, and JobsinME.com

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Maine, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce and businesses. The 2014 Best Places to Work in Maine list is made up of companies in three size categories: Small (15-49 U.S. employees), Medium (50-249 U.S. employees) and Large (250+ U.S. employees).

Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Maine. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, and demographics and the second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience.

BONNEY took part in the Best Places to Work in Maine awards ceremony on October 8 and was profiled in a special publication by Mainebiz!

     

The 2014 Best Places to Work in Maine:

SMALL EMPLOYER CATEGORY (15 - 49 Employees)

Albin, Randall & Bennett, Portland
BONNEY Staffing Center, Portland
Hall Internet Marketing, Portland
Holden Agency, Portland
Kennebec Federal Savings, Waterville
MPX, Portland
Nurse Anesthesia of Maine, Brewer
PeoplesChoice Credit Union, Saco
Pierce, Portland
Plixer International, Inc., Kennebunk
RLC Engineering, LLC, Hallowell
Sage Data Security LLC, Portland
SFX AMERICA, Portland
TruChoice Federal Credit Union, South Portland

MEDIUM EMPLOYER CATEGORY (50 - 249 Employees)

Allagash Brewing Co., Portland
Allen Insurance and Financial, Camden
Androscoggin Bank, Lewiston
Apothecary By Design, Portand
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Bar Harbor
Bath Savings Institution, Bath
Bedard Pharmacy and Medical Supplies, Auburn
BlueTarp Financial, Portland
CashStar, Inc., Portland
Clark Insurance, Portland
Coastal Women's Healthcare, Scarborough
Community Care, Bangor
Connectivity Point, Auburn
Day's Jewelers. Waterville
F.A. Peabody Company, Houlton
FISC Solutions, Lewiston
Good Shepherd Food Bank, Auburn
GreenPages Technology Solutions, Kittery
Harriman, Auburn
Infinity Federal Credit Union, Westbrook
Kepware Technologies, Portland
Machias Savings Bank, Machias
Maine Credit Union League & Synergent, Portland
Maine Savings Federal Credit Union, Augusta
Maine State Credit Union, Augusta
Mechanics Savings Bank, Auburn
Moody's Collision Centers, Inc., Gorham
Patriot Subaru, Saco
Putney, Inc, Portland
SeniorsPlus, Lewiston
Skowhegan Savings Bank, Skowhegan
Systems Engineering, Inc., Portland
Thayer Corporation, Auburn
Tom's of Maine, Kennebunk
Town & Country Federal Credit Union, South Portland
Winxnet, Portland

LARGE EMPLOYER CATEGORY (250+ Employees)

Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, Lewiston
athenahealth, Inc., Belfast
Bangor Savings Bank, Bangor
Barclays, Wilton
Carbonite, Inc., Lewiston
CIANBRO, Pittsfield
Cintas Corporation, Westbrook
Consigli Construction Co., Inc., Portland
Diversified Communications, Portland
Edward Jones, Belfast
Geiger Group, Lewiston
Hancock Lumber Company, Casco
Hollywood Casino Bangor, Bangor
InterMed, P.A., South Portland
Kaplan University Maine Campuses, South Portland
Maine Veterans' Homes, Augusta
New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., Norridgewalk
T-Mobile US, Oakland
Tyler Technologies, Inc., Yarmouth
Unum, Portland

For more information on the Best Places to Work in Maine program, visit www.BestPlacestoWorkinME.com or contact Jackie Miller at 877-455-2159.

Employer Survival Kit

Hiring Challenges? Meet Them Head On

Your staff is the heart of your business. It defines your company culture and is the foundation of productivity, innovation and development. Whether your business is in growth mode or scaling back, hiring and retaining top quality staff is a critical part of its success.

Of course, economic uncertainty only makes hiring decisions more complicated. Even with a job market characterized by slow and steady growth, regional challenges in Maine and New Hampshire, such as a stagnant population, a dearth of younger workers, and a much-publicized skills gap, can plague local employers. And, when jobs are in demand, hiring can feel like looking for one qualified fish in an ocean of applicants, overwhelming and overburdening human resources departments. How do employers make intelligent hiring decisions and cope with limited HR capacity?

Staffing Companies Lighten the Load

Businesses often turn to support to shore up their HR processes and lessen the pressures of hiring and maintaining staff, whether permanent or temporary. Enlisting a staffing company means creating a new partnership, and choosing the right partner can increase productivity, boost a business’ bottom line, and invigorate an organization over the long haul.

Staffing companies take care of many of the resource-sapping processes, such as screening employees, conducting background checks, verifying references, and interviewing. They also have rich resources for tapping the just right skilled worker for a project. Beyond the hiring process, staffing companies also take care of payroll, invoice employers for payment, and because they serve as the employer of record, are responsible for withholding taxes, providing insurance protection, including worker’s compensation and unemployment benefits. They often provide supervisory services as well, taking additional burden off of company employees.

Employer & HR Local Resources 

• When staffing decisions are being made, HR support is paramount. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is organization of human resource professionals with chapters in Maine and New Hampshire that provide information and support on a variety of HR topics HR strategies, best practices, conferences, legal issues and more. Find Maine chapters or find NH chapters.

• Resources for employers including hiring, unemployment insurance and workers compensation, and safety and training resources can be found at Maine.gov.

• For support with financing and growing a business in the state of New Hampshire, visit the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center. In Maine, get the help you need at the Maine Small Business Development Center.

• Maine Career Center provides employer resources including recruiting, labor market information and hiring support. And, if you are a Maine employer looking to hire quality workers with strong leadership and teamwork skills, find a CareerCenter Veterans' Representative.

Adding Value

In addition to basic hiring services, value-added services and specialized programs offered by staffing companies can mean return on investment that extends beyond just HR relief. For companies with challenging needs due to volume, timeframe, or skill set, staffing companies collaborate to find creative solutions. Top-tier agencies offer a variety of staffing options such as temporary workers, direct-hire workers, and engage in strategic hiring when specific skills are necessary. For example, as part of maintaining a valuable partnership with clients, BONNEY Staffing Center offers employers robust skills and assessment training (a great predictor of worker productivity), insurance protection, 24/7 availability for urgent needs, and employees benefits that translate into better quality recruiting and better retention.

Employers can also tap into the latest hiring technologies. BONNEY also offers the latest in job search technology, with their “Say Something Great” video resumes. The ultimate in streamlining the hiring process, BONNEY’S SSG video interview system allow employers to virtually meet candidates from their desk. Learn more about BONNEY’s Say Something Great Video Resumes.

Whether your goal is to take advantage of specialized programs and services, to boost to your bottom line, or simply to find that one fish in Applicant Ocean, consider a brand new partnership – with a staffing company. It’s an investment that can pay dividends far beyond the HR office.

Staffing Company Checklist

Looking for a HR support for your business? Ask your staffing company if they have these value-added services before you commit:

✓ 24/7 Availability. If you have emergency staffing needs or employ shift workers, 9-5 service from your staffing agency could leave you in the lurch when you most need help.

✓ Complete Insurance Protection. If you employ workers in the field, don’t take risks. Make sure your staffing agency offers insurance that is complete, comprehensive and above industry averages. 

✓ Complementary Skills Training.  Have a project requiring specialized on-the-job training? Ask your agency about charges for orientation and training to make sure they are taken into account. 

✓ Geographic reach. If your company has multiple offices, single-locations agencies can be inefficient when it comes to recruiting. And don’t discount local staffing agencies for nation needs – BONNEY Staffing, for example, is part of collective of independently-owned staffing companies across the country, giving them national reach. 

✓ Onsite Management. Some agencies offer services that include complete project coordination and management of temporary staff so you can focus on other core job duties. 

✓ Employee Performance Tracking. Make sure your agency has a solid track record of performance tracking, evaluations and quality control. 

✓ Benefits for Employees. Robust benefits for employees support an agency’s retention and recruitment efforts, ensuring the best employee for your project.

Questions about how staffing companies work with businesses? View FAQs about hiring, staffing and billing, or see if BONNEY’s specialized programs fit your needs.

BONNEY Blog $50 Cash Card Winner: Christopher Flaherty

We asked for your temp and temp-to-hire stories and we heard from you!

Christopher Flaherty, winner of our $50 Cash Card Contest
at work at his temp-to-hire job at Dunkin' Donuts in Bangor.

The Bonney community shared their experiences about temporary work and job placement in response to our call to comment on a recent post about temp and temp-to-hire jobs. We heard from college students, those who were returning to temporary work after time away, and those who turned to temporary work after a long time engaged in job search. It seems our suspicions were confirmed: employees in Maine and New Hampshire are finding temporary work to be a fit for their lifestyle, a way to gain work experience, and an access point for full-time, permanent positions.

Congratulations go, however, to our $50 cash card winner Christopher Flaherty. He shared his experience about working with Bonney in temporary positions that eventually led to full-time work. When we reached out to Christopher, he told us he found Bonney through the Maine Job Bank in Bangor and Central Maine and they provided contacts for businesses that were hiring in the area. That led to him being hired full time by CPL Dunkin' Donuts in Bangor through a temp-to-hire opportunity.

Christopher said he appreciated Bonney for their seamless hiring process and for their simple payment processing. He said he also took advantage of the placement agency’s wealth of information about interviewing and job success, found on the Bonney Staffing Center website and blog and through his staffing supervisor. He reminded us of an excellent point: signing on with a placement agency provides valuable resources that can help employees get and keep a job – something job searchers just don’t have when they go it alone in the job market.

Christopher’s best advice for those starting out with temporary work? “Patience, remaining honest and reliability,” he said.  “When you get hired, remain dedicated and reliable and show you can do the work. It will help you keep the job in the long term.”

Thanks, Christopher, for being a part of the Bonney community! And thanks to all our blog post commenters for participating in the contest. You are all valued members of our local work force.

Congratulations to Runner-Up Tori Russell, winner of a $25 cash card.