The CODE Group has launched CODE Staffing, a new IT contingent staffing agency with a novel model that offers its employees benefits to rival those of Silicon Valley tech firms and a culture that brings a team of business experts to help client companies succeed.
The Houston-based company was started to address the impersonal relationship between traditional contingent contract employees and the companies they work for. Such employees are often treated differently than the client’s own employees and as a result, are reluctant to commit to long-term relationships, and suffer from job dissatisfaction. CODE Staffing’s model – in which workers are hired and treated as valued employees – is designed to change that for both its employees and clients.
Rather than treating contingent IT staffers as contract employees, CODE Staffing provides a fulfilling work experience for its employees to encourage them to stay with the company and minimize churn for its clients.
“We’re doing things differently. We offer killer benefits – like those offered by Microsoft and Google. That includes 100% healthcare, vision and dental for employees and their families, retirement benefits with a 401(k) match, and 50% of our profits go back to our people so they have a stake in our success,” said CODE Staffing Chief Operating Officer Yair Alan Griver, a serial entrepreneur who worked for nearly 10 years as a manager for numerous Microsoft business products. “We believe that happy employees lead to happy clients.”
On the client side, CODE Staffing focuses on partnering with quality clients, embracing the intricacies of client businesses as a trusted partner. “Our rigorous focus on training and regular meetings with client’s executives ensure that we understand their technological road map and guarantees that we provide the best people for their needs,” Griver said.
Griver noted that traditional contingent staffing companies are generally not responsible for outcomes, only for finding workers and hoping that they are good enough that the client wants to keep them. They also typically only work with the contractors when they are hired, when they are let go, and when they send a 1099 tax form. Because of that, many staffing companies have obtained a bad reputation for not caring about their people. If a project ends, the contractors are laid off, only to be rehired when another project comes along.
CODE Staffing builds strong, long-lasting partnerships by working closely with clients to thoroughly understand the intricacies of their business and to better grasp their goals and objectives. CODE Staffing leaders become a trusted and integral part of their clients’ operations to support their growth and success.
“Our clients want to be able to focus on their business, not on managing multiple vendors for staffing,” Griver said. “Our executive team includes technologists who have owned long-standing, successful businesses, have grown technology teams to thousands of people, and have learned that the only way to succeed is to invest in our own employees.”
Because CODE Staffing is part of The CODE Group, training opportunities are not only offered to CODE Staffing employees, but to clients’ own workers as well. “This allows clients to concentrate on their business operations while we take charge of training everyone in the latest technology,” Griver said.
CODE Staffing’s goal is to make the employee experience so pleasant that attrition stays low and it is easy to attract and retain top talent. “We are looking for a long-term relationship with our clients and we hope that eventually we’ll force other staffing companies to provide similar types of benefits,” Griver said.