Case Study

Ritsema Associates Increases Monthly Hiring by 60%

How Team Engine helped Ritsema Associates exceed their hiring goals, modernize their processes & improve employee communications—all for less than the cost of working with one recruiting agency.

Smart Screening of Applicants

For each new candidate Ritsema Associates receives, Team Engine instantly screens their application to identify potential red flags

Automated Text Outreach

Team Engine's automated text messaging starts the conversation sooner, which saves time in pre-screening and converts applicants at a higher rate.

Text Message Applicants

Employee Messaging Platform

Using Team Engine's text messaging platform has opened the door for two-way communication with HR, leading to a more engaged workforce.

 
 
Ritsema Associates - Indoor Construction
 

Before Team Engine

When Susie started at Ritsema Associates two years ago, there was no HR team at all. Everything was done by paper and pen, including applying for jobs. There wasn’t even a formal recruiting process, which meant when she joined the team she had to start everything from scratch.

She did all the right things—built out their website, added a careers page, got active on social media, advertised jobs on Facebook and Indeed—but she still wasn’t getting the quality applicants she needed. Susie even tried outsourcing to recruiters and staffing agencies, but quickly abandoned that once she realized they could spend tens of thousands of dollars to get just one person in return.

Susie knew she needed to do more to get the Ritsema brand out there as an enticing employer, but she didn’t know what else to do to improve her efforts.

Then she got a call from Team Engine.

 
Ritsema Case Study - Construction Hiring Solutions form Team Engine

Challenges

Manually tracking the hiring funnel

Low volume of qualified candidates

Low response rate on emails & phone calls to applicants for interviews

Employees disengaged with feedback surveys

Ritsema Case Study - Construction Hiring Solutions form Team Engine

Outcomes

60% increase in monthly hiring

55% increase in employee survey responses

Increased HR efficiency through automation of low-level, repetitive tasks

I'll never forget our recruiter’s eyes lighting up and saying, ‘We don’t have to be doing this all on spreadsheets and paper! We can automate applications! We’re coming into the 21st century!’

Susie Olivarez

Ritsema Associates Human Resources Director

 

A Stretch Goal: Double Last Year's Hiring Efforts

 
Ritsema Associates
 

When Susie was given a goal at the beginning of the year to double last year’s hiring efforts, she was nervous about being able to hit it. When she first talked to Team Engine in April, she had hired only 12 people for the year, averaging around 4 people a month. She still had to find 30 qualified new hires to meet her goal of 42 for the year.

But then, from May to August (with the help of Team Engine’s hiring automation software) Susie hired an additional 40+ employees, surpassing her annual goal four months early and bringing her monthly hiring average up to 10!

 
 

She says they couldn’t have done it without that extra boost from Team Engine’s data-driven candidate sourcing and automated communication tools. Moving from paper to digital also helped them make it easier for applicants to complete the form.

"Most people don’t want to go to a computer to fill out an application, but if you send it right to their phone and it’s mobile-friendly, it is so easy for them to do it in that moment," Susie explains. "Then, the Team Engine software vets the applications (who will be a good fit & who won’t) and hands over qualified applicants for us to review. It was such a huge time-saver for us. It was unbelievable. We were so thrilled."

 

Simplifying Employee Referrals

 
Ritsema Associates - Employee Referral
 

Ritsema Associates already had a lucrative employee referral program in place that was yielding great results: $500 for a referral at any level who stays with the company at least 6 months. While the program itself was great, it was difficult to execute. 

The entire system was manual and inefficient—from the paper applications that didn't have enough space for a referral name to tracking in a spreadsheet—often putting the burden of proving the referral bonus on the referring employee themselves!

Now, with just the click of a button, Susie can let her employees know she is looking for referrals. Since employees receive that request via text, it’s fast and easy for them to submit their referral’s contact information right away. All of those submissions are then automatically stored and tracked in the Team Engine software, making it a breeze for Susie to initiate contact with referrals via text message.

Not only are they getting more applicants, they’re getting better culture fits, which is also boosting morale and employees’ sense of belonging.

 

People want to refer people who are like them and have the same type of work ethic. And then we see them staying longer, building that bond together.

Susie Olivarez

Ritsema Associates Human Resources Director

 
 

Tying It All Together:

Automated Employee Communications

 

Two-Way Communication with HR

Susie and her team noticed that opening the door for two-way communication via text has turned previously quiet and unresponsive employees into some of the HR hotline’s biggest users. Employees who had previously been uncomfortable speaking up in meetings now feel empowered to voice concerns, share opinions, and ask questions.

Automated Employee Survey - Team Engine

Automated Employee Surveys

Employees receive vouchers for Ritsema gear on their work anniversaries. How did Susie know this would be a meaningful gift? She used Team Engine’s survey tool to ask for their input.

Ritsema was already sending out employee surveys to collect feedback and ideas, but they’ve seen their response rate jump by over 50% since implementing Team Engine. Susie credits this to the simplicity of receiving and completing the surveys, which all happens over text now, instead of email.

Pre-Scheduled Text Messages

Pre-Scheduled Text Messages

The ability to pre-schedule messages, reminders, and announcements has been the biggest time-saving feature for Susie. 

"When I have a block of time, I schedule out a bunch of reminders and get it done for the next couple of months—things like welcome messages to new team members; surveys for what we can do to improve our orientation and onboarding process; benefits eligibility and performance review reminders. Team Engine has helped us automate so much of that, and those time savings alone pays for the software. It’s a service that is so needed in the HR world, and people don’t even realize they need it until they see it."

Celebrating Birthdays & Work Anniversaries

Celebrating Birthdays & Work Anniversaries

With the assistance of Team Engine’s employee messaging platform and automated reminders, Ritsema managers never misses an opportunity to celebrate with their team members. Team Engine automatically sends birthday and anniversary text messages directly to the employees’ phones, but Ritsema has taken it one step further and also notifies the employee’s manager of their birthday or anniversary so they can keep the excitement up all day at work. 

 
 

An All-In-One HR Communication Package

 
 

At the end of the day, there’s an overwhelming amount of software and tools in the marketplace made for busy HR professionals like Susie. What makes Team Engine different, in her perspective, is how it helped her automate the mundane tasks and freed her up to be more available and engaged with the employees.

"We use it as our ATS for all our recruiting pieces and as our centralized communication platform once they are hired. We add the jobs to the software, and Team Engine pushes it out to all the job boards so we can spend our time actually engaging with great applicants and employees. It's this all-in-one package that, from an HR perspective, checked all the boxes for all the things we need to grow the business." 

She’s also thrilled to have found a solution that makes it easy for her deskless workers and job-seekers to communicate directly with her.

We weren’t where we needed to be on the technology side. Reaching the individuals at their level was exactly what we were looking for. It was a perfect match. Everything we got from Team Engine cost less than working with one recruiting agency and that alone was worth every penny.

Susie Olivarez

Ritsema Associates Human Resources Director

 
 
 

Automate Low-Level Tasks So You Can Focus on the Future

Ready to take your recruiting efforts to the next level like Susie? Looking to offload the tedious, repetitive tasks of your day-to-day, but maintain control and visibility to the hiring process from front to end? Take Susie’s advice and book a demo with Team Engine today!

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