Definition: Employees who are not permanently hired but hired just for limited
periods of time
If your business's staffing needs are seasonal--for example, you
need extra workers during the holidays or during busy production
periods--then temporary employees could provide the flexibility you
need to grow. Temporary employees, as the name indicates, are hired
only for limited periods of time. So they are only there when you
need them for specific growth spurts.
Temps also have other advantages. Because most temporary help
companies screen--and often train--their employees, entrepreneurs
who choose this option stand a better chance of obtaining the
quality employees they need.
In addition to offering pre-screened, pre-trained individuals,
temporary can help contain your overhead and save time and money on
recruiting efforts. The cost of health or unemployment benefits,
workers' compensation insurance, profit-sharing, vacation time and
other benefits doesn't come out of your budget, since many
temporary help companies provide these resources to their
employees.
A growing number of entrepreneurs use temporary workers part
time at first to get a feel for whether they should hire them full
time. As a result, many temporary help companies have begun
offering an option, temporary-to-full-time programs, which allow
the prospective employer and employee to evaluate each other.
Temporary-to-full-time programs match a temporary worker who has
expressed an interest in full-time work with an employer that has
like interests. The client is encouraged to make a job offer to the
employee within a predetermined time period if the match seems like
a good one.
How do you make the most of your temporary workers once they've
come on board? For one, "don't treat them any differently from your
other employees," the American Staffing Association (ASA) advises.
"Introduce them to your full-time workers as people who are there
to help you complete a project, to relieve some overtime stress or
to bring in some skills you might not have in house."
And don't expect temporary workers to be so well trained that
they know how to do all the little (but important) things, such as
operating the copier or answering the phone. "Spend some time
giving them a brief overview of these things, just as you would any
new employee," advises the ASA.
Another strategy for building a better relationship with your
temporary workers is to plan ahead as much as possible so you can
use the same temporary employees for an extended period of
time-say, six months. Or try to get the same temporary employees
back when you need help again. This way, they'll be more
productive, and you won't have to spend time retraining them.