Today’s job market is extremely competitive and tough for recruitment. A survey from the Office of National Statistics, found that there were over 1 million vacancies in the UK between October to December 2022. Despite tech companies laying off employees in the US, it seems like UK recruitment is booming.
So, with all this competition between companies for hiring staff, what should you do? Well, hiring temporary workers offers a brilliant solution if your business needs staff fast, rather than waiting to find a permanent employee. In this blog, we’ve shared the benefits of temporary workers for your business.
5 benefits of hiring temporary workers
1. Hiring temporary workers at short notice
Hiring a temporary employee can act as a last-minute lifesaver for your business if you need help, such as if you’ve had a sudden departure in your team or you have a peak in workload and need extra support. This means that hiring temporary staff can have an immediate impact on your business from the get-go.
2. You can future-proof your business
If you have a new project lined up but are struggling to recruit a permanent employee, temp workers can help you quickly fill a hole in your team so you can rest easy knowing that you can deliver on your projects.
3. Temporary work allows you to recruit an expert
If your business is taking on a specialist short-term project which doesn’t match the skill set of your permanent employees, then temporary employment may be the way forward. You can hire a temp that has these specialist skills without needing to take them on a permanent basis.
4. Can help you manage your costs
Hiring temporary staff for a short period of time, means that you can have the help you need without worrying about the long-term cost to your business when the busy periods die down.
5. Temporary staff have a quicker hiring process
If you’re using a recruitment agency, hiring temporary workers will be much quicker than recruiting for a permanent role, as the entire process is managed by the agency. An agency will ensure the temporary is thoroughly interviewed, vetted and will have all the necessary paperwork in place to that you can avoid all the time and administration associated with bringing a new employee onto your books. Additionally, when you approach an agency, they will already have candidates who are pre-registered and ready to go, so the whole recruitment process can get moving quicker.
3 tips to help you secure a temporary employee
Here are some top tips to ensure you have the best chance of securing and retaining temporary workers, particularly for longer periods of time, whilst the market remains candidate driven.
1. Find out why someone is temping
This is a key part of what recruitment agencies do – to thoroughly interview and reference the temp, so that they understand their reasons. If you’re hiring directly, this pre-hiring stage is very important because finding out why someone is temping will indicate their commitment to your position.
Some people choose temping or contracting as a lifestyle as it offers them flexibility, variety and if they have an in-demand skill, can be quite lucrative. These workers are worth their weight in gold, especially in a market like today’s as they will not be lured away by the whiff of a permanent position elsewhere if the opportunity arose. However, they will still need to feel valued and appealing to what is important to them will help you to gain their commitment.
2. Find out what is important to them
Once you have established why they are temping, find out what is important to them – is it money, flexibility, experience, filling-in between jobs, hours? There may be many reasons why they’re looking for a temporary position, but if you can tap into what is important to them, you will have more chance of gaining their commitment if you can accommodate their needs.
If money is a priority…
If you have identified that the hourly rate/money is one of the main drivers of the temp worker, why not offer them an incentive to ensure that they stay for the period of time you would like them? To do this will depend on why you’re bringing them into your business. However, the things you could do include offering a form of completion bonus to keep them committed for the full period without leaving for another role that may be paying a higher rate, or have other benefit, or support with the cost of travel or offer free parking onsite.
If flexibility is a priority…
Are you able to offer hybrid or remote working as an option? Are you able to accommodate a slightly different work pattern to fit around their availability and commitments? These options cannot always be offered, which is understandable for many reasons, especially if the role requires someone to be insitu for a set period of time. However, if the need for the extra support is based on productivity and measurable output, then offering a flexible work pattern may reward you with stronger commitment from the temporary worker.
If lifestyle is a priority…
Are there benefits such as employee reward schemes, membership to gyms, social events or group activities that could be extended to your temporary workers? If there are, then make sure that the temporary worker is aware of them as this could also help to gain their commitment.
If gaining experience is a priority…
Maybe you could look at giving the temporary worker some exposure to other parts of the business whilst they are working for you to help them gain new skills. Likewise, you could utilise their skills in a different department to help up-skill your existing staff.
3. How to manage the situation if they’re ideally wanting a permanent position
It’s important to remember that if you’re wanting to hire a long-term temp, to ensure that either you or the agency you use, has interviewed them thoroughly to find out their reasons for temping.
If someone is unemployed and is actively looking for a permanent role, then the likelihood of them committing long-term is minimal. A popular way of recruiting is to ‘try before you buy’ (temp to perm), which means that someone can start temping for your company and if both sides are happy, then after a set period of time the role could become permanent. This way can have great results as it gives both the worker and the company time to evaluate each other and look at how things may pan-out without having to overly commit and spend time sorting contracts etc. However, in today’s market this can be a tough gig. If a company is ideally wanting someone permanently and the temporary is also ideally wanting permanent work, then it is best for the company to act quickly because if they don’t, it is highly likely that another opportunity elsewhere will arise.
An important thing to know when working with a temporary work agency
As an employer hiring temporary agency workers through a temporary work agency, the agency should make you aware of Agency Workers Regulations to ensure that the temporary worker is receiving the correct treatment and access, in line with these regulations, during the time that they are temping at your company. These regulations must be adhered to at all times and a good agency will supply you with the right guidance and ensure the correct paperwork is completed.
Looking for temporary workers? The Recruitment Consultancy can help
At The Recruitment Consultancy, we are a leading independent recruitment consultant agency with 25 year’s experience in this industry. In today’s competitive job market, as a recruitment agency for employers, we thrive on the challenge of helping businesses of all sizes find their perfect temporary and permanent employees. We’re experts at sourcing temporary, contract and permanent workers and can take the pain of recruitment away, so that you can focus on your business.
So, whether you’re looking for a HR recruitment specialist, a finance and accounting recruitment agency, or a general recruitment agency, we can help you. If you’re looking for a temp agency Guildford, Surrey or Sussex, get in contact today to find out how we can help you.