The holidays are fast approaching! This means that the demand for temporary and seasonal hires is on the rise. A boost of manpower to your business offers many benefits, but such an influx also comes with challenges.
In most companies, temporary employees play a crucial part. Here are some pros and cons of hiring temporary workers to help you decide if they are right for your business.
Pros
1. Adjust Quickly and Easily to Workload Fluctuations
Temporary help agencies can provide your business with competent and qualified staff. Common reasons for hiring temporary workers include unexpected demands like employee shortages or special projects and employee absences due to an illness, disability or maternity leave or vacation.
2. Maintain Staffing Flexibility
With the increasing demand for flexible work arrangements, businesses will need to stay current with the needs of the workforce. One of the best ways you can offer flexibility while meeting your client’s needs is through hiring temporary workers.
3. Evaluate Workers without Commitment
Depending on your preference or evaluation, you can hire a temp for a certain period of time or offer a full-time position to a worker who can help your business succeed. Employing temporary workers is a cost-effective and excellent way to recruit as well as test the capabilities of new workers before signing them up to become your permanent employees. Remember also that you can repeatedly use the services of a temporary worker who has proven to be an asset to your company.
Furthermore, hiring a temp can be a great way to continue getting work done while you look for the best candidate for a certain job. When you are dissatisfied with the work performance of certain temp employees, you can contact the temp agency and they will take care of the rest.
4. Save Time and Money
The cost of hiring temporary workers is cheaper as compared to hiring permanent employees with benefits. But for jobs that last for more than six months, it pays to hire a full-time employee.
If you employ a staffing agency, you are not the temp worker’s employer — the agency is. The agency bears the financial burden of hiring workers. These include payroll expenses and paperwork, worker’s compensation insurance, payroll and withholding taxes, and any employee benefits they want to provide.
Staffing agencies have a pool of screened and qualified candidates for positions that can help cut the cost of downtime. The value of a reputable staffing agency is that they can send you one or two qualified resumes that they have screened already. This will save you time, meaning you can focus more on other important tasks.
5. Long-Term Relationship with Staffing Agency
Temporary workers can offer specialized skills to different types of industries. In fact, they are employed in every industry. Gone are the days when companies are just looking for temporary workers for lower-skilled job positions. Today, temporary employees include highly skilled individuals with diverse work experience and educational backgrounds.
If you find a staffing agency that delivers quality and timely service and referrals, consider working with them exclusively. Establishing a good relationship with this kind of temp staffing provider will actually go a long way toward satisfying the needs of your company.
Cons
1. Safety Issues
Some jobs are dangerous and will require safety training. Studies have shown that the severity rates and frequency of on-the-job injuries are higher with temporary workers. Regardless of the experience of the temporary workers, care must be taken to make sure that dangerous tasks are safely done. Do not assume that temporary workers are always prepared to work without supervision until you have witnessed that they can perform their tasks properly and safely.
2. Moral Issues
Employee relations and moral issues can arise if you have temporary workers alongside permanent employees for months, performing similar work and putting in the same hours, but not receiving equal benefits given to their permanent co-workers.
3. Training Needs
Each time temporary employees begin a new work assignment, training is required for them to perform their tasks properly, regardless of how skilled they might already be. But when the same temporary workers are brought back, this may not be required anymore.
4. Legal Concerns
The latest court decisions emphasize the fact that businesses should be careful about how they contract for temporary staff. There should be no doubt about the lack of eligibility for the benefits of permanent employees. Also, temp workers must be treated with the same care and respect that you would for provide your permanent employees.
The key to finding reputable temporary workers for your business is to work with a reliable staffing agency and establish an excellent employer/staffing agency relationship.
Businesses today are as busy as ever doing everything to keep moving forward. Of course, you have to reduce costs, attract new business, and become an industry leader, leaving you no time to interview, hire and recruit the best talents. You cannot do everything.
A good place for you to start is to consider looking into the temporary staffing and recruiting industry. With less to worry about, your business and personal health won’t be at risk. In turn, this can trickle down to your employees who come to work in a healthier and happier work environment.