City Wide Facility Solutions, a prominent third-generation, family-owned building services management company established in 1961, has dramatically enhanced its recruitment capabilities through the strategic implementation of Workable, an advanced Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Operating a vast network of 110 locations across the United States and Canada, City Wide manages a comprehensive suite of services, from janitorial operations and landscaping to maintenance and specialized facility management. This extensive scope is delivered through a unique B2B model that leverages partnerships with independent contractors, necessitating a robust and scalable hiring infrastructure to support its widespread operations. The adoption of Workable has streamlined City Wide’s complex distributed hiring model, yielding an impressive average time-to-fill of just 16 days and ensuring 100% applicant response rates, significantly strengthening its employer brand and operational efficiency.
The Intricate Landscape of City Wide’s Recruitment Challenges
City Wide Facility Solutions stands as a testament to enduring family entrepreneurship and strategic growth. Founded over six decades ago, the company has evolved into a national and international presence, managing a diverse portfolio of facility services. This operational complexity directly translates into a multifaceted hiring requirement. The organization’s recruitment needs span a wide spectrum of roles, from frontline night managers and skilled technicians to sales executives and critical C-suite leadership positions. Each year, the combined efforts of both the franchisor and its numerous franchisees result in 30 to 50 hires, demanding a recruitment system capable of handling high volume, diverse job functions, and geographical dispersion.
Prior to the integration of Workable, City Wide faced the inherent challenges of managing a decentralized hiring process across its vast network. The previous Applicant Tracking System, CareerPlug, while functional, lacked the modern features, scalability, and structural flexibility required to support such a dynamic and distributed enterprise. The fragmented nature of hiring across multiple locations, each potentially with its own departmental needs and user requirements, posed significant logistical hurdles. Recruiters and hiring managers grappled with inconsistencies in candidate experience, varying communication standards, and inefficient manual processes for tasks such as scheduling interviews, conducting assessments, and managing offer letters. The critical need was for a centralized ATS that could offer a unified platform while simultaneously providing distinct user spaces for each location and department, thereby maintaining organizational cohesion without stifling local autonomy.
A Strategic Search for a Modern ATS Solution
Approximately five years ago, City Wide embarked on a comprehensive evaluation to identify a modern ATS that could address these burgeoning challenges. Kelsey Herbig, a pivotal figure in City Wide’s recruitment strategy, spearheaded this critical initiative. The evaluation process was rigorous, involving a comparative analysis of several leading ATS platforms available in the market. Competitors under consideration included industry giants and specialized HR technology providers such as UKG, ADP, BambooHR, and JazzHR. Each platform was assessed against City Wide’s specific requirements for scalability, functionality, user experience, and cost-effectiveness.
The ultimate decision to partner with Workable was primarily driven by its unique pricing model and unparalleled structural flexibility. Herbig articulated the core challenge: "We have 110 locations. We needed each person to not have their own platform, but their own user space… A lot of other places will charge you user fees for everybody. Workable is a one-stop shop." This insight underscored a critical pain point for large, distributed organizations: the prohibitive costs associated with per-user fees when managing hundreds of hiring managers and recruiters across numerous independent entities. Workable’s approach, which allowed for distinct user spaces within a unified platform without escalating costs based on individual user accounts, presented a compelling economic and operational advantage. This flexibility was crucial for City Wide, enabling them to maintain a consistent hiring framework across all franchises while accommodating individual departmental needs.
Beyond the pricing structure, Workable offered a suite of features that aligned perfectly with City Wide’s strategic objectives. These included intuitive user interfaces, robust automation capabilities, comprehensive reporting, and seamless integration with other HR tools, all designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the recruitment lifecycle.
Transformative Outcomes: A Deep Dive into Key Results
The implementation of Workable at City Wide Facility Solutions has delivered a series of rapid and impactful results, fundamentally transforming its hiring operations:
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Hiring Efficiency: An Average Time-to-Fill of 16 Days
The most striking outcome has been the drastic reduction in time-to-fill, averaging an impressive 16 days. This figure significantly outperforms industry benchmarks, where the average time-to-fill across various sectors often ranges from 30 to 45 days. For City Wide, faster hiring cycles across its diverse roles – from operational staff to executive positions – translates directly into substantial business benefits. Reduced vacancy periods mean fewer disruptions to service delivery, quicker onboarding of essential talent, and minimized opportunity costs associated with unfilled roles. In a competitive service industry, the ability to rapidly secure talent provides a distinct operational advantage and contributes to consistent service quality for its B2B clients. -
Unprecedented Scalability: Supporting 110 Locations
Workable’s architecture has proven instrumental in supporting City Wide’s expansive network. The system seamlessly accommodates 110 franchise locations, each with its own separate departments and user spaces. This capability enables a truly unified hiring system, ensuring consistency in process and branding across the entire organization, without the burden of prohibitive per-user fees that would typically accompany such a large-scale deployment. The platform’s ability to manage this distributed model efficiently is critical for City Wide’s growth strategy and its ability to maintain control and oversight over recruitment practices nationwide and in Canada. -
Enhanced Automation & Communication: 100% Applicant Response
City Wide has achieved a remarkable 100% applicant response rate, a testament to Workable’s automation and communication features. Through automated and scheduled communication tools, every applicant receives a timely response, whether an invitation to an interview or a polite "thank you/no thank you" message. This commitment to transparent and prompt communication significantly strengthens City Wide’s employer brand. In today’s candidate-driven market, a positive candidate experience is paramount, impacting not only immediate hiring success but also long-term reputation and future talent attraction. Candidates who feel respected and informed are more likely to view the company favorably, even if they are not hired, potentially becoming future applicants or brand advocates. -
Comprehensive Process Consolidation: A Streamlined End-to-End Workflow
Workable has consolidated critical hiring processes directly within its platform. Assessments, offer letters, and background checks are now handled seamlessly within Workable, eliminating the need for recruiters to navigate multiple disparate systems. This "one-stop shop" approach creates a streamlined, end-to-end hiring workflow, reducing administrative burden, minimizing errors, and improving data consistency. The integration of these functions saves valuable time for hiring teams, allowing them to focus more on candidate engagement and strategic recruitment rather than administrative overhead. -
Indeed Talent Scout: Faster Sourcing for Hard-to-Fill Roles
A significant innovation has been City Wide’s participation as a beta partner for Indeed Talent Scout within Workable. This feature proved its immediate value by enabling the hire of an account manager in just seven days. This capability is particularly impactful for sourcing candidates for hard-to-fill field roles, which often require specific skill sets and attract candidates who may not be active on traditional professional networking sites.
Seamless Implementation and User-Friendly Experience
The rollout of Workable across City Wide’s numerous franchise teams was remarkably smooth and efficient. Kelsey Herbig praised the implementation process, noting its ease and the effectiveness of training. This quick adoption rate across a diverse user base, often comprising individuals with varying levels of technical proficiency, highlights Workable’s intuitive design and robust support. Herbig explicitly commended the ongoing customer service, stating, "It was pretty easy. The implementation was great. It was easy to train. Customer service with Workable has been great." This positive user experience ensures high engagement with the platform, maximizing its potential benefits across the organization.
Workable in Action: Accelerating Daily Workflows and Enhancing Communication
Workable has become an indispensable tool in Kelsey Herbig’s daily recruiting process, maintaining the high speed and efficiency that City Wide requires. Her current time-to-fill of 16 days is a direct reflection of the system’s effectiveness. As Herbig puts it, "Everything runs through Workable, so it’s a true one-stop shop." This consolidation eliminates the inefficiencies of context switching between different applications and centralizes all recruitment data.
The platform’s automated features play a crucial role in maintaining City Wide’s commitment to a best-in-class candidate experience. The ability to respond to 100% of applicants, often a challenging feat for high-volume recruiters, is made possible by Workable’s scheduled emails. These tools allow the team to manage a large influx of applications without overwhelming individual inboxes, ensuring professional and timely communication standards are consistently met. This proactive approach to communication is a significant differentiator in attracting top talent and reinforcing City Wide’s reputation as a desirable employer.
Furthermore, Workable significantly reduces the administrative time spent on coordinating interviews and managing backend tasks. Herbig specifically appreciates the calendar invite feature: "I love the feature that I can send a calendar invite and it goes to myself and my hiring team. It keeps me from having to do an extra step." This seemingly small detail represents a substantial cumulative time saving across hundreds of interviews. The system also streamlines other critical functions, including the management of background checks, candidate assessments, and the generation of offer letters. By automating these processes, Workable reduces administrative effort, frees up valuable time for recruiters to engage with candidates, and accelerates the entire hiring process.
Leveraging Sourcing Advantage: The Power of Indeed Talent Scout
City Wide’s participation in the beta program for Indeed Talent Scout, integrated directly within Workable, provided an immediate and tangible sourcing advantage. Kelsey Herbig’s experience was overwhelmingly positive: "I loved it. I hired an account manager in seven days off of it." This rapid success highlights the power of targeted sourcing tools when integrated into a comprehensive ATS.
Indeed Talent Scout proved particularly effective for "hard-to-fill roles," such as night managers. These positions often struggle for visibility on professional networking platforms like LinkedIn, where the typical candidate profile might differ. However, individuals seeking such operational roles are frequently active on Indeed, making it a fertile ground for direct candidate engagement. Herbig explains, "Night managers are the hardest job to fill… Talent Scout is awesome because those people aren’t on LinkedIn. They’re on Indeed."
Talent Scout enabled City Wide to:
- Proactively search a vast database of active and passive candidates.
- Apply specific filters to pinpoint candidates with the exact skills and experience required.
- Directly contact promising candidates, initiating conversations and presenting opportunities.
As a result of its proven efficacy, Indeed Talent Scout has become a permanent and integral part of Kelsey Herbig’s sourcing toolkit, regularly utilized to identify and engage qualified candidates, particularly for roles where traditional recruitment methods might fall short.
Broader Impact: Enhancing Employer Brand and Strategic Advantages
The systematic improvements brought about by Workable extend beyond mere efficiency metrics; they profoundly impact City Wide’s employer brand and strategic positioning. In an era where talent acquisition is a critical competitive differentiator, a seamless, professional, and responsive hiring process is invaluable. By ensuring 100% applicant response, timely communication, and a streamlined application-to-offer journey, City Wide cultivates a reputation as an employer that values its candidates. This positive candidate experience not only aids in immediate recruitment but also builds a strong talent pipeline for future needs and enhances the company’s public image.
For a company with a distributed operational model like City Wide, the strategic advantages of Workable are manifold. It provides a central nervous system for recruitment, ensuring consistency in branding, job descriptions, and evaluation criteria across all 110 locations. This unification prevents the fragmentation of recruitment efforts and maintains a high standard of hiring quality across the entire enterprise. The ability to manage separate user spaces without incurring prohibitive per-user fees is a significant economic benefit, allowing for broad adoption and maximum utility of the system without financial strain. This model empowers local hiring managers while providing corporate oversight and analytical capabilities.
A Resounding Recommendation and Future Outlook
When asked about recommending Workable, Kelsey Herbig’s response was unequivocal and enthusiastic: "I actually have! So much so that I joke that I should get a referral bonus!" This strong endorsement underscores the profound positive impact Workable has had on City Wide’s recruitment operations.
For companies operating in facility services, building maintenance, or any distributed operational model, Workable provides a compelling solution through:
- Streamlined Processes: Consolidating all hiring tasks into a single platform.
- Scalable Architecture: Supporting extensive multi-location networks without compromising efficiency or cost.
- Enhanced Candidate Experience: Fostering positive interactions through consistent and timely communication.
- Powerful Sourcing Tools: Leveraging integrated platforms like Indeed Talent Scout to reach diverse talent pools effectively.
City Wide Facility Solutions has now leveraged Workable for five years and counting, a testament to the platform’s sustained value and adaptability. This enduring partnership continues to drive efficiency, elevate the candidate experience, and ensure the consistent attraction of top talent across its extensive network in the U.S. and Canada, reinforcing its position as a leader in the facility management industry. The integration of Workable represents not just a technological upgrade, but a strategic investment in City Wide’s human capital, directly contributing to its continued growth and operational excellence.
