Peak production cover without agency risk
Covered a peak production period without agency risk.
A packaging manufacturer needed to scale from 18 to 26 engineers during a 10-week peak production period. Previous years had relied on two agencies who regularly sent engineers unfamiliar with the site equipment, which meant slow fault resolution and two safety incidents in 18 months.
Shift Hero placed eight pre-vetted engineers, each briefed on the specific equipment and site requirements before their first shift rather than on arrival. Placements were structured with IR35 status assessed up front, removing the compliance uncertainty the site had carried with agency cover.
Zero safety incidents across the 10-week period. Four of the eight engineers were re-booked for the following peak, giving the site returning cover who already knew the equipment.
The situation
Peak season meant going from 18 engineers to 26 for ten weeks. The site had done this before, through agencies, and the experience had not been good.
Why agency cover kept failing
Agencies were filling headcount, not capability. An engineer would arrive having never seen the equipment, and spend a meaningful part of a short placement getting up to speed.
The consequences showed up in two places. Fault resolution slowed, because the person nearest the problem often didn’t know the machine. And over eighteen months there had been two safety incidents, both involving cover staff working on equipment they hadn’t been briefed on.
What ECS did
Shift Hero placed eight engineers, with the briefing done before the first shift rather than during it.
Each engineer received the site’s equipment detail, layout and specific requirements in advance. They arrived knowing what they were working on.
IR35 status was assessed up front as part of the placement, which removed a compliance question the site had previously carried on every agency booking.
The result
Ten weeks, zero safety incidents.
The more telling number is the re-booking rate. Four of the eight engineers returned for the following peak, so half the cover arrived already knowing the site, and the briefing burden fell again.
This case study describes a real ECS engagement, anonymised at the customer's request. Figures are as recorded by ECS at the time of delivery. Client name and precise site location are withheld.
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