Episode Overview

Episode Recorded May 2024

Welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network! In this episode, our host Bob Pettke had the pleasure of speaking with the esteemed Joanie Bily, Division President at EmployBridge and Chair of the American Staffing Association, offering a deep dive into the staffing industry. Their insightful conversation covered Bily’s impressive career journey and her perspective on the essential work of the ASA in advocacy and education, alongside a thorough analysis of current job market trends, including unexpected shifts across sectors and the stabilization of pay rates. They also explored the significant impact of AI on staffing, emphasizing its potential to boost productivity while underscoring the enduring importance of human relationships and trust within the industry. Bily shared valuable advice for fellow staffing professionals, stressing strategic planning, clear communication, and the need to embrace technological advancements while prioritizing exceptional customer service, and even hinted at exciting future projects. It was a can’t-miss episode packed with knowledge and forward-thinking insights for anyone in the staffing world.

Listen to the Episode:

Episode Transcript:

Bob Pettke: [00:00:00] Coming to you from the Ultra-Staff Studios in Chicago, welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network with your host, Bob Pettke.

Hello, and welcome back to the Staffing Buzz Network. I am your host, Bob Pettke, and we’re glad to come back to you. On a little hiatus, we were at some trade shows and things. We did some things through that over at the SIA Conference, the executive forum in Vegas a couple of weeks we were at the Midwest Staffing Conference, so we are glad to be back and just a little bit of information that I like to always talk about.

So, as part of the Staffing Buzz Network, my name is Bob Pettke. I’m the Chief Sales Officer here for Ultra-Staff EDGE our parent company is called Automated Business Designs. We are a full-service ATS CRM software solution for staffing [00:01:00] companies like the folks that are listening today.

And we bring you the Staffing Buzz Network to really not necessarily talk about who we are and what we do. But after many years in the staffing industry and being connected with a lot of really influential folks, uh, we’re conducting our Staffing Buzz Network forums to be able to bring very vital, critical information to people all over the country that are involved in staffing.

With that said, I’m excited to bring in a former colleague of mine, Joanie Bily.

Joanie Bily: Hello.

Bob Pettke: Joanie, how are you today, my friend?

Joanie Bily: I’m doing great. So glad we could finally find a time to get together.

Bob Pettke: Very appreciative to have you on Joanie. One of the things I want to do for people who may not know who you are, although I think many of our staffing people will, is talk about who you are and give a little bit of your history, this is your life.

I’ll try to be quick, right? I love the fact. [00:02:00] that you are the Duchess of Labor. I think that’s pretty cool, and I think it’s very fitting and suiting for the influence that you bring to our community, and a little bit about Joanie: she is the division president over at EmployBridge, which is the nation’s largest light industrial staffing company.

She’s also the chair of the American Staffing Association, and you’ve wore a lot of hats. You’ve done this for a few minutes, although we wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at you, but with all the different things, all the different roles that you’ve had, different organizations, and being involved in the American Staffing Association, what’s been your most favorite role so far?

Joanie Bily: I love this question, Bob. It has been a joy to be in this industry. And I can’t believe I’ve done it so long, but I’ve loved all my roles, but I have to say my absolute favorite role that I have ever have and still have today is certainly to be a [00:03:00] mom to my two kids, my son, Chase, who I can’t believe is 21.

My daughter, Ashley’s 18 and both in college now. And it’s a really fun time because they’re studying and trying to figure out what to do with their careers. So it’s not only great being a mom, but it’s fun to kind of help them with some career advice, too, right now. So, that’s definitely been my favorite job.

Bob Pettke: Joanie, you’re a jam, and I’ve known you for a little bit. And I didn’t even tell you this story when we talked offline, but one of the first things I remember about you, so I was at EmployBridge and I got a Christmas card from you.

You had just joined the organization. And my wife Lisa is like, “Who’s Joanie?” and it’s like [00:04:00] we, we open up and it’s a picture of you, your beautiful family. Again, they were probably smaller at the time and I’m like, “I don’t know.” And then I just remember thinking, how cool was it that you sent us? I think you were probably coming on either, it was right around that Christmas time.

So you’re either coming on at the end of one year or the beginning of the next year, and, no, I thought that was sweet. So that was before I ever met you. That was our first interaction with you.

Joanie Bily: And I need to be better about that. I always try, it’s a nice time to just also, of course, I love the holidays, and Christmas is certainly one of my favorites, and love to just wish everyone happy holidays and enjoy the season. So I’ve tried for years to do that. Can’t say I’ve done it every year, send all of the employees a card and best wishes, but also really love to wish people a Happy New Year, and so in the past few years, I’ve gotten into sending Happy New Year cards because it really ties in with, it’s a fresh year, think about what are you going to do [00:05:00] this year, setting goals. I know we’re going to talk a little bit about that.

We think about dreaming big and the chapter I wrote in Together We Rise, but thanks for mentioning that. And I’m glad that you remember that. That it makes me think, Oh, I got to start planning for next year.

Bob Pettke: No, I know it. And I’ll be on the lookout for mine. So I’ll Jennifer, who’s my marketing person. I’ll let you know when it comes. In return, that’s the deal, right? People have gone less and less with that.

Joanie Bily: So they have we’ve really let social media, I think, take over, but nothing replaces a handwritten note.

And I think even in business, when someone does a great job, taking time out to just send them a note that they’ve done a great job, and people save those things. That’s great

Bob Pettke: For sure. And as a matter of fact, I think I forgot I was gonna bring it and flash it up on the screen and surprise you, but I think it’s sitting in a basket somewhere at home, so.

Joanie Bily: That’s great.

Bob Pettke: Hey, a little bit more about, you don’t wanna embarrass you, but, or put you on the spot, one of the things that you’ve done through your career as you’ve established yourself, as, as [00:06:00] an industry expert, right? And so you are a regular guest on the Fox Business Network.

I know that you’re on with Maria Bartiromo. You’ve done mornings with Maria. You’re gonna be featured again. As usual, on the jobs report, which will air on June 7th, where you’ll talk about the current month that we’re in, you’ve been on all of the major networks, you’ve been quoted by different publications like the Wall Street Journal.

And one of the things that I recall, and we’re probably going back to somewhere around end of 2019, is you had given a jobs report, and you were really focusing in on the current state of where we were from a job standpoint, and also, we were concluding a decade.

And I remember that you were quoted later that day by President Trump. Can you tell us a little bit about how that all transpired that day and what kind of an impact that had on you?

Joanie Bily: Yeah, absolutely. So it was December of 2019, and I was on Maria Bartiromo’s show, and [00:07:00] we received the job data. That morning, we’re on live television, so it comes out at 8:30 on the first Friday of the month, and it was going to be the last job report that we would receive in 2019. And when the numbers came out, they were extremely strong and they actually had surpassed all the economists’ predictions. So when Maria came to me and said, what do you think of Joanie?

What do you think of these numbers? And I’m like, wow, you know, these much stronger than we expected, really robust job growth. And I said this is the last job report we will receive this year. And I said, What a way to end the year, and What a way to end the decade. Of course, those who follow and most of us see how President Trump is.

He loved, I guess that I said, what a way to end the year and what a way to end the decade. And he actually quoted me and retweeted that video out through [00:08:00] all his social networks. That was fun. And my parents are the ones I think that found it first. So they were very, very excited and proud of their daughter.

Yeah.

Bob Pettke: And I remember I’d seen it as well. And I’m like, “I know her.”

Joanie Bily: It is funny, though, like regardless of what your political beliefs are, to be quoted by the president and then have that video be tweeted out was really pretty cool.

Bob Pettke: No, absolutely. And yeah, I thought it was great, and really, what a difference.

We’ve been through a lot as a country. Stating the obvious with the pandemic and how things have shifted and changed and probably kept people on your toes, right? And because part of what you contribute to our staffing community and just to providing your expert input on the economy and, more specifically, the job situation.

And we gonna talk about that a little bit. I wanna make a quick transition before we do [00:09:00] that, but you’re also known as an author, and I know that you had a book that was that’s come out here, I think probably, maybe a year ago or so, maybe a little longer. It’s your Dive in D.E.E.P book.

Joanie Bily: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: And I wanna talk a little bit about that. What influenced you to get that, to sit down and put that together, and tell me what the impact that you’ve seen on that?

Joanie Bily: Sure. Yeah. And I can’t believe it’s already been a year, but yes, I launched and published the book in May of last year, so right up on the one-year anniversary of diving deep. To be honest with you, Bob, it is, it was something that I had been working on for years. Like I kept writing chapters, and I kept thinking, okay, I’ll save that, and one of these days, I’m actually going to publish a book. And so it was a really a work in progress for many years.

But when COVID hit, I got a bit more serious about it because I had more [00:10:00] time on my hands and started writing a bit more and bringing some stories together. And then, I was fortunate enough during COVID to connect with the lady leaders group, and we actually got together and decided to write a book, Together We Rise.

And I only had to write one chapter. And the truth is, I already had my chapter written. That was one of the chapters that I had written, so I just tweaked it a bit. And knew that I really wanted to, you know, publish and go with that chapter for that book, which was all about goal setting and really achieving your dreams.

But that made me realize, okay, I need to get serious about finishing my book. And then I really put like my head down and worked on it. Took a long time, lots of editing, lots of moving parts. But I wanted a book that would provide kind of career advice, but [00:11:00] also life advice on making sure that you are living your best life, right?

You’re doing what you love because I truly believe that if you are in a career that you enjoy, that you will be more successful. You will achieve more personal satisfaction and happiness, and ultimately live a better life because you love what you do or enjoy what you do. And so that’s really what the book is all about.

Bob Pettke: One of the things I love about, ’cause you’ve got your hands in a lot of different spaces and places, right? is that your message is consistent ’cause one of the things that I have, that I took a note of is that, you’re all about, dreaming big, it’s something that you believe in, you want to encourage others to do the same thing.

You want people to, just like you said, you want people to live their best lives to fulfill their dreams and purpose. And I couldn’t agree with you anymore that when you find your place doing what’s going to serve your purpose and that you have a passion for, you’re fulfilling your dreams and you love it.

[00:12:00] You find yourself in a space and place where it doesn’t necessarily feel like work. It feels the other word that you’ve used here is purpose, right? It’s your purpose.

Joanie Bily: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: And I just love that message.

Joanie Bily: Yeah, no, I do. And I’ve had so many people come to me throughout the years that have asked, Will you mentor me or be my coach and I do try to volunteer and do that as much as I can. But of course, I have a full-time job and other commitments that make this up. But that is the ultimate message, right? It’s really trying to align with work that fulfills you and that you feel you’re making an impact. And I think that’s what’s so wonderful about the staffing industry is that the work that we do in the staffing industry, it impacts lives every single day.

We’re connecting great talent with great companies. We’re helping people, whether it’s [00:13:00] their first job or their last job, earn a paycheck and really maybe connect with something that they’ve never done before. I love what our industry does. I think we really impact lives every single day.

I think there’s more that our industry can do. I think we can provide more training and education to help upskill the workforce, which is going to be very important in many different sectors. But we change lives and make a difference. We’re lucky to be in this industry.

Bob Pettke: I couldn’t agree more.

Let me ask you this question, and it just popped into my head, and I’ve asked this of other people that have been on the podcast, is how did you ever even get into staffing in the first place?

Joanie Bily: I fell into it like most people do. My degree is in human services, which is social work, and I actually answered an ad in the paper, which will tell you how old I [00:14:00] am, right?

Remember the classified ads and circling them with a Sharpie marker, right? There was an ad in the newspaper that said employment counselor. And that was the title of the job, but it really wasn’t a counselor role. It was a recruiter role. It was basically interviewing people and connecting them with jobs.

And at the time, it was my first job right out of college. I had just completed my bachelor’s degree, and I thought, okay, I can take a social work job, which was like working for peanuts. I didn’t think I’d be able to pay my rent or this recruiter job, even though it was an employment counselor, and it did pay a bit more plus commission.

Right.

Bob Pettke: Okay. Yeah.

Joanie Bily: So when I weighed the two, and I’m like, I’ve got to pay for an apartment and car insurance and all those good things, I opted for the job as the employment counselor. I haven’t looked back. That’s what got me into the industry, and I’ve stayed with it. Can’t believe it, but like going on 30 years.

Bob Pettke: So when you were a little [00:15:00] girl, you didn’t live in a world where you played staffing. You didn’t put your friends and family on jobs only to have them maybe not. You didn’t do that, right?

Joanie Bily: No, we played teacher.

Bob Pettke: Teacher. Yeah,

Joanie Bily: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: And that’s the thing, is as I’ve, I’ve realized over the course of time, and I’m repeating myself from prior episodes, but I often find that staffing, you don’t choose staffing somehow.

Staffing chooses you direct or indirect or you have an opportunity like you. I’ve had people that go apply for a job, maybe to be a receptionist, and the next thing you know, they’re a recruiter. I’ll also find out that it takes it’s a very unique Brethren Hood a Fraternal Order, perhaps because staffing is not for everybody, right? It takes a certain person with a certain layer of skin to be able to do it cause if you can’t do it, the industry will let you know.

Joanie Bily: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: If so, when somebody’s been in it for five years or more, I [00:16:00] know I’m working with a very unique person and not to disrespect any other industry or any other person who’s doing anything else, who their vocation or passion, but it’s a very unique group of people that do this because there is oftentimes you’re doing a lot more giving than you’re taking, is one of the things that I’ve seen along the way. Thanks for sharing that.

Joanie Bily: Absolutely.

Bob Pettke: Thanks for sharing that with us. Another thing I wanted to talk about, and it’s funny because I mentioned earlier that you’re the chair of the American Staffing Association, and one of the things that we found out as an organization is that our company name is Automated Business Designs. Our software is called Ultra-Staff EDGE. We’re a woman-owned business, and we’re 40 years in the making, right? But one of the things that we found out during this whole process was that we, if we’re not the longest, we’re one of the longest vendor partners since 1989 with the American Staffing Association.

So I bring that up to recognize our own organization, but more importantly, I bring it [00:17:00] up to recognize the contribution and the importance for companies like ours to be affiliated with the American Staffing Association. You’ve wore many hats there over the years, right? You’ve had different positions there, and now you’re right smack in the middle of your tenure as the chair there. Talk to us a little bit about your passion for what the American Staffing Association has brought to you and to the industry.

Joanie Bily: First, I must say thank you to your company for being such a long-standing member and supporter of the American Staffing Association. We appreciate that. It was great to meet your CEO when we were at Staffing World, and really appreciate that partnership and certainly, I think you’re right, it is one of the longest-standing, so that certainly needs to be applauded.

I think that when I think about the American Staffing Association, I love that the association is protecting and [00:18:00] advocating for our industry. The work that they do helps our industry grow because as there’s so much legislation at the state level that sometimes could be very harmful or impact our industry very negatively. And so I think that the main thing when I look at the advocacy work and the legislative work that the A.S.A. team does is that they do a phenomenal job of really protecting and advocating for our industry.

But in addition to that, and hopefully, the network and the industry knows this, but ASA also offers incredible training and education programs for all different levels, from recruiting to women in leadership, there’s just so many different opportunities to learn what’s happening with technology and leveraging AI.

So ASA also provides some great education and training [00:19:00] that the industry has access to. And then, of course, wonderful events from Staffing World to Executive Vision to Thrive to the Staffing Law and Compliance. Really great events where you can learn a lot, network as we do, as you do.

Joanie Bily: And it’s just very impactful. To sum it up, I think ASA is really helping the overall industry grow, and, to anyone that is not a member, I certainly would encourage them to reach out, connect, and connect with me, connect with Kelly Verberg over at ASA. And find out more because what we’re doing is really powerful.

Bob Pettke: Yeah, again, I, we are on the same page. Thus, that longstanding relationship. And as somebody who spent 16-plus years on your side in the staffing world. There were just so many times where the ASA really just came through. Recently, in Illinois, we had some legislation that actually passed last year that was really gonna [00:20:00] hamstring and handcuff staffing companies.

Joanie Bily: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: And a big part of, we’ve had a reprieve from that, is in part due to the efforts of the American Staffing Association, as an Illinoisan to the ASA, the folks that you work with on a regular basis there.

So thank you for that.

Joanie Bily: Yes, they are the best. The ASA legal team does a phenomenal job. So that’s great to hear. And thanks for the shout-out to them.

Bob Pettke: Absolutely. No, no doubt about it. Let’s talk about, let’s talk about jobs and let’s talk about, you know, what I really wanna know or ask, and I think a lot of people wanna know.

Well, lemme start with this. Is there anything that you’ve seen since the beginning of this year that’s surprised you in the workforce? We’re in an election year. People always start talking about how that makes a difference. Any surprising things that have happened? As far as what we’re seeing as far as the job market.

Joanie Bily: Yeah, I think [00:21:00] obviously in the industry, we all know, you know, like where the jobs are at. We’re on the front lines, right, so we can see what jobs are being created and what industries are adding and what sectors, you know, are coming back. But what’s probably surprised me the most is just how hard our industry has been hit over the last two years. So if you look at temporary health jobs, we’ve been losing jobs since March of 2022, and not everyone digs into the data to see those numbers because the headline number looks like we’re adding 200,000, 300,000 jobs last month, we had 175,000 jobs for the month of April.

But the temporary health sector lost 16,000 jobs for the month. And so when you look at our industry for the last two years, [00:22:00] we have been in a recession. Our industry has been in a recession. We are certainly contracting. And there’s been times where I thought, okay, it’s gonna come back, we’re gonna start to see that turn and see those jobs come back.

And so it surprised me that we actually saw such a large loss. In April, of course, I’ll be watching for the May numbers, which we mentioned, come out on June 7th to see are we starting to see that we’re adding jobs back in the temporary health sector. Are we starting to see it turn?

Because it’s been a rough two years for the industry. But the other thing I would say when it comes to the job market, most of the jobs have been in government. They’ve been in leisure and hospitality, and they’ve been in health care. We’ve also seen a softening in the professional and business service sector.

We thought that manufacturing jobs would have come back sooner. They’re building all these manufacturing plants across the [00:23:00] country. But we’re not there yet. I’m optimistic that the future certainly, looking at 2025, that hopefully things will get a bit better. But I have been surprised that the jobs have been pretty low in many of those sectors.

Bob Pettke: Yeah. And one thing that I’m paying attention to because I’m following and listening to you, it’s just this labor participation rate is just, I just can’t understand how we can have numbers in the 60%, going even deeper. I don’t know what these folks do. I don’t know what these folks do unless they’re working off the book I don’t understand it, but that just seems to be a constant issue, and obviously, we’ve gone through some inflation as a country as well and again, that could maybe cause some, the manufacturing side to be a little stagnant as well.

Joanie Bily: Yeah. Let me give you some good news, though, on labor participation.

Bob Pettke: Please.

Joanie Bily: I do talk about that a lot, and for many years, really looking at [00:24:00] overall labor participation, it’s been very low.

It’s been, like, a 45-year low; however, lately, if you look at just prime-age labor participation, which is really around like 25-year-olds through 55-year-olds, prime-age labor participation is at an all-time high recently, and that is over 83%. So what we’re seeing is, the younger generations are still struggling, maybe it’s part-time work, they’re in school, maybe right now they’re having a hard time getting work, and then we did see many people over 55 kind of opt out of the workforce. But now they’re saying that they’re even coming back. But that prime age labor participation is moving in the right direction. So there’s some good news for you.

Bob Pettke: No, that is good news. And it’s 83%. That’s, that [00:25:00] is fantastic news.

Pay rates, right? One of the things that we saw soon as we went through the process was of going through COVID is, we saw a lot of pay rates come up, right? And part of it was just playing catch-up because pay rates were low as the cost of living continued to rise.

And, we saw some, and especially in our industry, we saw some temporary pay increases to attack the gap, seasonal work. What are we seeing now, or what are you seeing when it comes to pay rates in these different sectors?

Joanie Bily: Yeah. I think pay rates are holding strong. But I don’t think we’re going to continue to see pay rate increases. What we’re seeing right now is at level off. It’s still up, anywhere from 3 to 5 percent on a year-over-year basis. But because we’re starting to see more candidates available in the market and, of course, less jobs, as the employment market has softened a bit, we certainly see that there are more people [00:26:00] available and looking for work and it’s not as competitive, you know as it was a year ago, two years ago when pay rates really were climbing, a dollar, two dollars, even in the industrial space, three dollars an hour, we saw a lot of movement.

So I think we’re at a point right now where we’re going to just see them hold and remain constant, but I wouldn’t expect any big increases.

Bob Pettke: Okay. We’ll go a little bit of a different direction and talk as a company that we provide this ATS CRM solution, front office, back office, all of that in one spot.

One of the things that we were bringing into our software is, uh, AI. We’ve got tools that help with the recruiting process, with creating resumes, with creating job orders based on just having a little bit of information. We’re working on some things where somebody can email you a job just through an email, and we’re going to have a spot eventually where you can click on something, and it’s going to [00:27:00] manufacture the job order, put it in the system, post it to job boards.

So AI, chat, ChatGPT. Big deal. And one of the things that I’ve seen from talking to people in staffing is that there’s a little bit of a concern that they wonder what AI is going to, what kind of impact it’s going to have on them in their career. When we look at it, we don’t necessarily see it as eliminating jobs but making them be able to do things quicker, better, faster, and more efficiently.

What, and I know you’ve spent some time looking over this, what is your take on AI, and what you anticipate, how will it affect the people that we go shoulder to shoulder against or within the branches or in our industry of staffing?

Joanie Bily: Yeah, no, it’s such a great question.

It’s a great topic. And we all know that it’s here and still evolving. But it’s certainly here to stay and will impact our industry as many other industries, greatly, and change the way that we [00:28:00] work. So I would say a few things. Number one, as like advice to recruiters, they need to learn how to work with AI to be more productive because AI should drive productivity levels substantially and in all different roles.

For the organization, whether you’re in recruiting or sales or operations, compliance, we need to leverage AI to help us do our jobs better and to be more productive. My advice always is that recruiters need to learn how to work with the tools to help them be more productive.

I think for companies that don’t embrace it, they’re going to be left in the dust, right? Because they won’t be able to work as fast and efficiently and be as productive. So it’s going to be super important that at a company level that they have a strategy that really is integrating AI into all that they [00:29:00] do.

But I do think it will certainly change our industry. It’ll probably change the way that we manage recruiting and sales in the organizations. Just looking at how much more productive we can be with these tools. Could say we’re going to change our KPIs, maybe we’re going to expect that we do more revenue and gross profit per employee because of the tools that they have and the technology they have access to. So sometimes, those things can cost more.

It will certainly be more of an investment. But we should see that return on investment based on the efficiency and productivity those that I can bring to our industry. Got to embrace it. That’s my advice. Embrace it and invest in it, and figure out how it can help you do more.

Bob Pettke: Yeah, I agree. One of the things that I think about Joanie is that staffing, we can have all these enhancements and [00:30:00] technology and make us quicker, better, faster.

At the end of every day, to be a people person job, you’re going to still need that human touch, it’s the relationships. People work with people they like, people they trust. So if you’re in a staffing office and you’re a recruiter, when people like you and trust you, they’re gonna wanna work with you and for you. If you’re a salesperson and you can build a relationship, people are gonna wanna be your partner because they like you and trust you.

And now all you have is a few more arrows in your quiver to do things right.

Joanie Bily: No, I agree a hundred percent. And you have to look at like the NPS scores of our industry as a whole. They’re not great.

Bob Pettke: Yeah.

Joanie Bily: And there’s been many times that our industry would probably, if you gave it a report card would receive a D or maybe a D+.

And that’s terrible. And it’s based on the quality of the match we’re making, the customer service [00:31:00] we’re giving, the account management. So let’s leverage this technology and advancements in AI so that people have the tools they need that they can spend more time servicing the customer and making sure we’re delivering exceptional service and get an A. That is one of the things you asked me before: what am I most proud of?

And, of course, I said, being a mom, but running the RemX business for EmployBridge, I actually run it today as well, but we’ve gone through a branding where we’re rebranding to EmployBridge. But, ran that business for seven years and absolutely was committed to delivering exceptional service, like we used to call it, like white glove service, to our customers.

And it showed in our NPS scores, and I believe there’s a direct correlation to NPS and driving growth, and the RemX business had [00:32:00] multiple years of double-digit growth, and it all goes together. So, when I look at our industry overall, we have a chance to raise the bar to improve our reputation.

And I do think that technology can help us in many ways. But it comes back to your point, we have to make sure that we don’t take that people equation, that personal touch, that relationship. It is so important, we can’t take that out of the equation. That can help really take our industry and our reputation in the industry to a whole new level,

Bob Pettke: Joanie, you just threw a softball up for me and technology, that’s what we do. And as an organization, one of the things that we do is we made a decision. We’re either gonna do things right, or we’re just gonna not take them on at all.

Which means we’re in the business of providing something to somebody that’s gonna provide, give them a system that’s gonna be the backbone of what they do. So yes, technology’s great. We can talk offline. This is my conversation to have with folks, [00:33:00] but I appreciate you recognizing the value of how technology is gonna impact it, and yeah, we’re both in agreeance in the fact that it’s a people person, it’s a people job, and, by having that, we’re in a good space.

All right, I’ve got one more for you. And thank you so much. This has been such a pleasure and a great conversation, but I’m going to ask you something here. And I don’t expect you to have a crystal ball, but you’ve been doing this enough, and you’re looking at the analytics, and my question or my ask of you is this is,

If you could think of one or two beneficial or ideas or call-to-actions for the staffing community today, that a year from now, they’re gonna if they’re paying attention and they write this down. They’re gonna say thank you. I took this on.

Maybe this is not front and center to them, but it’s front and center for you. What are one, maybe two ideas? Heck, you can give many if you want. What are one or two things that are out there or that you think people should [00:34:00] take on calls to action to help them, between this year and next year, to help them thrive, survive, and grow their business?

Joanie Bily: Yeah. I love that question because none of us know what the future holds. We’re all still guessing, right? Are things going to turn with the economy? Is it going to pick up the second half of 2024? Are we going to wait until 2025? So I could share with you what I’m doing certainly with my teams that I lead.

And I think the most important thing we can do right now is, as leaders in the industry, is to have a clear vision and goal and strategy for the businesses that we’re running, so that we communicate that and cascade that throughout the organization. Make sure that your leadership teams, your managers, your recruiters, your salespeople, your operations teams, that everyone’s on the same [00:35:00] page with what are the current economic conditions that we’re in today, talking about the forecast, talking about the expectations, right now the expectation is things are going to pick up.

Hopefully, in Q4 and into 2025. But the truth is, we really haven’t seen that. But you have to prepare. And the reason I think communication and clarity is so important with your teams is you want to drive engagement. Because through difficult times, and we’ve seen it, we’ve seen it on EmployBridge, we’ve seen it certainly in the industry overall, we’ve all been forced to reduce headcount, maybe reduce expenses, maybe we’re traveling less.

But we have to keep communication and clarity on the strategy of our organizations front and center at all levels of the organization and keep those teams engaged because things are going to turn and you want to be [00:36:00] ready, and you want to be positioned to take advantage of the market when things start to improve. And I do believe that they will start to improve.

We’re even seeing it a little bit. I could say over the past few weeks, I’m feeling more optimism from customers that I speak with, and we’re starting to see things pick up. So, hopefully, that trend will continue.

Bob Pettke: No, I think it’s great. I sometimes as a leader, I repeat a lot of the same things that have worked, and people will often hear me say it’s not my quote.

Joanie Bily: It’s a great one. It’s Benjamin Franklin. When you fail a plan, you plan to fail. And so part of that, and I think that’s great insight, have a plan, get ready. Everybody needs to be on the same page. That’s tremendous.

I think that the basics, right?

Bob Pettke: It is.

Joanie Bily: It’s important. And I, where I see things go off the rails, is that uncertainty sometimes will prohibit people from keeping their plans [00:37:00] front and center and keeping everyone engaged and moving forward.

And then they get off track, and there’s nothing wrong with making adjustments to a plan, tweaking it, but keep it simple and make sure that you do really take the time to plan. Otherwise, we’re back to that Benjamin Franklin quote, which I love as well.

Bob Pettke: Yeah. Hey, lastly, Joanie.

Your group that you’re involved with, a lot of the women leaders, together, we rise. I know that you’re gonna be working on something ’cause you’ve had success and a lot of input where people put their thoughts and together, and you talked about the book. Anything more we can expect for this group in the next coming weeks, months, or years ahead?

Joanie Bily: Since you asked. The lady leaders. First of all, they’re the most amazing group of women. I’m so lucky to have the 14 of them, they’ve really become very close friends of mine. And I absolutely adore all of them. But we are collaborating on a [00:38:00] second book. More details will be coming soon. But we’ve had a lot of success with the first book and nothing to officially announce today, but more to come soon on that.

Bob Pettke: I’m hoping that when you guys are in a position to, that we can put a panel together, and we can have some of your lady leaders on as well on another episode sometime down the road.

Joanie Bily: Yes, we would love that.

Bob Pettke: Joanie, thank you so much. This, like I said, this has been great. We’re so glad that you’re here. And yes, you are welcome to come back anytime. And I look forward to seeing you this fall at Staffing World and potentially talking between now and then. So, thanks for being a guest on the Staffing Buzz Network.

Joanie Bily: Thank you, Bob. Thanks for asking me. It’s a pleasure. So good to connect with you. And yes, to your audience, please join us at Staffing World. We’re going to be in Nashville and in October, late October, and it’s going to be a ton of fun. I’m super excited about this year’s [00:39:00] Staffing World. So, I hope to see your listeners there as well.

Bob Pettke: Thank you, Joanie. Yeah, as well. And we’re promoting it on our end whenever we can.

Joanie Bily: Thank you. Thanks, Joanie.

Bob Pettke: That’s Joanie Bily, a definite influencer in the staffing community. And great to have her on to provide some insight to our fellow staffing folks that are listening and watching. And yeah, if you get a chance, if you’re not a member of ASA, heck, you could reach out and I can help you get on with that.

We’ll have some information in the comments below that can give you some information on Joanie and talk about ASA and some of the other things that we may have mentioned here today. With that said, I just want to remind people that, make sure if you’re catching us for the first time, make sure you subscribe, tell your staffing friends to join us on whatever their favorite platform is, or you get to watch us in living color on our YouTube page.

And also, be sure to connect with me if you want to learn more about automated business designs and our [00:40:00] Ultra-Staff EDGE software, our front office, back office, ATS, CRM solution and how we’re working with AI to make your lives better to be able to do things quicker, better, faster, more efficient, and how to strategize.

With that, thank you again for joining us on the Staffing Buzz Network. My name is Bob Pettke. Until next time. Take care, everybody.