Why Hire a Temporary Employee? Advantages of Hiring Through a Temp Staffing Agency
There are many reasons why you should consider hiring a temporary employee. Perhaps you need to fill a gap in your workforce quickly and don't have the time or resources to conduct a traditional search. Maybe you're not sure what you're looking for and would like to test out a potential candidate before making a commitment. Or maybe your recent hires have been mistakes and you are looking for ways to find more reliable and qualified candidates. Whatever your situation, working with a temp staffing agency can be an advantageous decision for your business. In this blog post, we'll discuss some of the benefits of using temps and how partnering with a temp staffing service could be the right solution to your staffing problem.
Hire Faster with a Temporary Staffing Agency
When you need extra help to complete a project on time or handle an increase in business, you need to hire fast. Working with a temporary staffing company is the quickest way to get the help you need, when you need it. Staffing agencies have access to databases of pre-screened and ready-to-work temporary employees that they can contact quickly, and they have the resources and expertise to source new candidates if you need someone with a specific skill set. This eliminates the need for you to post job ads, sort through applications, and conduct interviews, which can save you a considerable amount of time and effort.
More Flexible Staffing
Another advantage of hiring temp workers is that it allows for more flexible staffing. If your business is seasonal or experiences fluctuations in demand, temp workers can be brought on as needed to handle the increased workload. And since they are employees of the temp agency, you don't have to worry about all of the expense and legal liabilities of hiring permanent employees. Or if you have a new project which requires specialized knowledge or just some extra hands to meet a deadline, you can get the help you need without making a long-term commitment. When production needs decrease or the project is concluded, you can easily let the staffing service know you are ready to end the assignment. This is a cost-effective way to manage your budget and ensure that you have the right number of employees on hand to meet your needs without overstaffing.
Provide Coverage for Absent Employees
Not sure how you're going to manage when your administrative assistant or receptionist goes on that week-long vacation? Worried your network will crash while your IT specialist is out on family leave? Have an open permanent position that will take weeks or months to fill, but need someone to pick up the slack in the meantime so your employees don't get overwhelmed? Temporary employees are lifesavers when you need someone to cover for employees who are on vacation, out sick or on disability leave, taking a leave of absence, completing military or jury duty, out on maternity/paternity leave, or starting a major project that will prevent them from completing their usual work duties. Hiring a temp worker will ensure your business keeps running smoothly and your employee doesn't return to a month of overdue work.
Get Specialized Help When You Need It
There are some tasks or projects that come up that are outside the scope of your regular employees' skill sets. If you need someone with specialized training or experience, a temp staffing agency can help you find the right person for the job— and you don't have to worry about what to do with them when the project is over. Once again, this can save you both time and money by eliminating the need to train someone or the cost of paying a full-time salary for skills that you only need on a temporary basis.
Save the Cost of Permanent Employees
The cost of a full-time, permanent employee goes way beyond their salary. When you hire permanent staff, you are responsible for their benefits, vacation pay, sick days, and any other perks or incentives your company offers. You also need to consider the costs of the onboarding process, including background checks or drug screens if your business requires them, and the financial burden of payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation insurance.
On the other hand, when you use temporary staffing services, you only pay the agency's fee and the hours the employee works. This lets you avoid the hidden costs of a traditional hire, which can make using temporary employees from a reputable staffing agency significantly more cost-efficient for businesses whose staffing needs often fluctuate.
Screen Candidates and Reduce Risk of Bad Hires
Hiring is a risky business. You can never be completely sure if a candidate will work out until they've been on the job for a while, and by then you've already made a significant investment in them. Or you might no sooner complete their training when they hand in their notice. Hiring the wrong person is expensive, and it can severely affect your business in terms of lost productivity, decreased morale, and the cost of restarting the recruiting process. Working with a temp staffing agency can help you reduce the risk of making a bad hire. If you're not satisfied with a temporary staff member, you can simply request the assignment be ended and the agency will look for a replacement. In addition, since the staffing firm screens candidates before sending them your way, you can be confident that anyone they send meets your basic requirements. This lets you save time and effort by putting your sourcing and screening process in the hands of an experienced recruiter and interviewer.
In temporary staffing, you always have the option of temp to hire too. Temporary-to-hire roles let you try out a potential candidate before making the long-term commitment of hiring full-time employees. It's easy enough for candidates to say the things you want to hear in an interview, but do they have the skills to back it all up? Temp to hire gives you time to assess their job performance, observe their work ethic and reliability, and see if they work well with the rest of your team before extending a job offer. And if things aren't working out, all you need to do is let your agency know you want to end the assignment.
Ensure a Good Culture Fit
When you're hiring, it's important to not only find someone with the right skills and experience, but also someone who will fit in with your company culture. The fact is that not everyone will be a good fit for your company. If your facility is loud, has production-related smells or hazards, or if the job has physical requirements like being on your feet all day, it may not appeal to some candidates. If teamwork is essential to keeping your business running smoothly, an employee with poor communication skills or a bad attitude could cause a lot more problems than they solve. Or if you have a high-pressure sales environment, someone who can't handle stress or is struggling to meet deadlines probably won't be successful in the role. Not only can a temp recruiter help you by identifying the type of personality that will thrive in your work environment, but hiring workers as temp or temp-to-hire will give you an opportunity to see whether they fit in well with your team before you commit to offering a full-time position.
Build Relationships with Recruiters
When you build relationships with agency recruiters, you gain insights into employment trends in your industry as well as access to a larger pool of potential candidates. For example, they can tell you whether the salary you want to offer is competitive or if you will have to increase your offer to attract candidates with the desired skills and experience. Additionally, they know the types of roles that are in high demand and how common those skill sets are in your local hiring market, so you can plan your hiring accordingly. And, because they work closely with the candidate, they can provide useful information about their deal breakers so you can build an acceptable offer, or they can alert you if you need to expedite your process because the candidate has alternative offers on the table. Once a temporary worker has accepted your job, the agency takes care of all the hiring details so all you have to do is name a start date. And if the employee isn't working out, your recruiter is just a phone call or email away.
Agency Guarantees
When a permanent employee isn't working out, you have to go through the entire termination process, including all the associated paperwork and potentially the burden of unemployment benefits. With temporary employees, if they aren’t a good fit for the job or you simply don't need them anymore, all you have to do is inform the agency and they will end the worker’s assignment and look for a replacement. Since they are the employer, they take responsibility for the entire termination process as well as other employment risks. This gives you peace of mind knowing that if a temp is constantly late or absent or lacks the skills to be successful in the role, you won't be stuck with them.
Save Time by Outsourcing the Hiring Process
Hiring takes a significant amount of time and effort, especially if you don't have a dedicated in-house recruiter or a large HR department. Temporary staffing agencies allow you to outsource the entire process, from sourcing and screening candidates to testing and onboarding, so you can focus on running your business. This can be a huge time saver, and it frees up your regular employees' valuable time so they can work on other projects.
Need Temporary Help?
There are many reasons why hiring temporary workers through a temp staffing agency can be beneficial for your business. From the ability to hire faster and have more flexible staffing to reducing the risk of bad hires and saving time by outsourcing the hiring process, working with a temp agency can help you in many ways. You can also build relationships with recruiters who can give you insight into the hiring market and help you avoid costly hiring mistakes. And if you may have a permanent opening on your team in the future, temp and temp-to-hire roles are a great way to ensure candidates are a good culture fit and have the necessary skills before you make them a full-time worker. If you are looking to hire employees, evaluate your company's short- and long-term staffing needs to determine whether a temporary or a permanent hire will be the best fit for you. Although often undervalued, temporary workers provide invaluable services and may be the perfect solution to meet your staffing needs.
