Traditionally, temporary help firms have been useful when you need a replacement for a full-time employee who is away from work for vacation, leave of absence, or illness. But temporary help may be what you need to maintain your budget in our changing economy. We are seeing an increase in employers that are grasping the concept of increasing and shrinking their workforce by the daily demands of their operation. I have included some of the many benefits of using a contingent workforce below.
Pros of using temps. The trend toward using temporaries and other nonregular employees is growing, with good reason. There are many advantages to using temporary employees in your business, including:
Burdens. We take on the burdens; you save through trimming wages and eliminating the vacation time, holiday pay, sick time, health insurance and 401(k) match expenses.
Savings.Enables your business to adjust more easily and quickly to workload fluctuations creating savings.
Retention.Using temporary help during peak periods relieves stress and prevents burnout among core employees, which can reduce absenteeism worker's compensation claims in the long run.
Time. The temp agency recruits the employees and sends you people with the qualifications you specify. No long-term commitment. If you're not sure whether you have enough work to keep a full-time employee busy, try a temp and find out.
Less dependency on contractors. You may feel uncomfortable being dependent on nonemployees if large segments of your business are farmed out to independent contractors and temps may cost less than contractors. With a temp, you do have the power to directly supervise the employee's work.
Possibility of hiring good temps, permanently. If a particular temp worker seems to fit well into your business, you can always offer to hire him or her as a permanent employee. In this case, you avoid the risks of a probationary period you'd normally have with a new hire.
Let me further clarify, as I do not want to come across as a neanderthal who does not see the long term results of such actions. I agree that the contingent workforce is a crutch for our current economic strain.Many companies have learned that they can accomplish a lot by running with a lean staff which is not necessarily a bad thing.
If executed properly lean companies that are currently running efficiently (increased profits, without strain or burden to their staff) take advantage of using temporary workers during peak time they can continue to see profit growth. With the increased profit growth of these companies will come increased economic spend opening up the doors for growth in other sectors of business and in the long run creating more permanent job and economic stimulation for years to come.
