Many business owners are wary of hiring new workers until they see more solid signs of an economic turnaround. However, that doesn't mean they don't need extra help. That's where hiring a temporary worker might be the right solution.
"What happens is they have downsized their work force, but the workload many times hasn't been reduced," said Kelley Moore, chief operating officer with Employment Resources & Solutions and StaffTime. "So, the [remaining] staff has to take over those jobs; they're trying to do more work with a lot less people. We are able to come in and offer them [temporary workers onsite as well as] virtual office assistants."
StaffTime provides one of its clients, RailAmerica, with temporary employees for both seasonal work and general office assistance.
"One big project we had recently was when our office moved from Boca Raton to Jacksonville," said Kathi Maness, director of human resources with RailAmerica. "They were instrumental in providing us temporary help to put our personnel files in order and to help set up the office so the full-time employees could concentrate on keeping the railroad running."
Businesses can save money not only by not having to pay temps benefits, but by cutting out other overhead costs associated with hiring permanent employees, such as training.
Additionally, "they don't have to pay payroll tax, they don't have to pay workers' comp," Moore said. “And after a person starts, if they find they aren't a good fit, the dirty work is on us†to move that employee.
"They don't have to provide a separation package, nothing. And if they like the person, over time, they are at liberty to offer them a full-time position."
Many businesses use temporary staffing to determine if an employee provided by staffing agencies is a good permanent fit, a practice known as temp-to-perm. It's like test-driving new workers.
"That's the exciting part," Maness said. "Of the people they have provided to us, several have gone on to become permanent employees" as positions opened at the company.
Rose Conry, CEO with Employment Resources & Solutions and StaffTime, said companies also use their staffing services as a way to find the most qualified candidates. This saves the company time when, for example, one new job opening attracts hundreds of resumes. "We look through those resumes and narrow them to a short list [of qualified candidates] and do a phone interview to prescreen," those candidates.
The company avoids spending time and money screening out unqualified applicants and is presented with a short list of good candidates. "Every one of those will have a good work history and any one of those people could be hired; all they have to do is pick the one they think will make the best fit for the company," Conry said. "We did a cost analysis with one of our largest customers and over one year we saved them about $25,000."
"Another one of our major customers two years ago was looking to hire 900 people. They hired 87 percent of the people we recommended. The cost savings were tremendous."
It's important that business owners make sure the agency they use understands not only what the job requirements are, but the corporate culture as well. The agency in turn should do an analysis of both the job and the candidate to make sure they match.
"Being a business partner is really important for a quality outcome," said Clint Drawdy, co-founder of Hire Methods Inc. "So I would recommend if a company is going to use an agency, bring them in, show them the work environment, and help them understand why the position is there so they can make a good match."
It's a system that works for Drawdy's company, as 64 percent of its clients come from current client referrals.
The staffing industry is also a leading economic indicator for the economy, Drawdy said. "The good news is, for us in the last month business is up 40 percent [over May] and 65 percent since January. The other thing is we are seeing projects that were put off, or put on hold nine months ago, now, in the last month, they are going forward. They are smaller than originally projected, but they are still happening."