If you require help over a busy period of time, like during the holiday season, or are looking to scale your business, hiring temporary workers can help to meet your needs. Temporary employees on a short-term contract enable you to have a flexible workforce available when needed and help you navigate staffing issues, absences, and periods of business growth.
Alongside these benefits, there are many reasons why you should consider temporary recruitment. This article will discuss the advantages of hiring temp staff, including the positive impact on your bottom line and to your permanent, full-time employees.
What is classed as a temporary employee?
A temp candidate is hired on a short-term basis and employed via the recruitment agency you have sourced them through. They will not be on your payroll, and all legal additions such as pension and national insurance will be managed for you. A temp candidate is also subject to a very short notice period or almost none at all, allowing you to have complete flexibility to work around the needs of your business.
Learn more about temping here.
Why hire temporary employees?
If you have a last-minute staffing requirement, perhaps someone is unwell or on holiday, hiring a temp can ensure the work is managed and the business can operate as normal. It also means that when your employee does return to work, they don’t have a large backlog to work through.
Perhaps you have won a big project and need additional manpower to complete the work or have an accumulation of admin that needs to be processed. Hiring a temp can help with this increased workload, and once the project is completed, you can quickly end the temp booking. You can also specify to a recruiter that you require a temp worker with specific skills that may be lacking inside your organisation to help boost morale and assist other permanent team members.
Another scenario where a temp-hire can really add value is when you have one employee who has resigned, and you have yet to make the permanent hire or are waiting for the new perm hire to see out their notice period before joining. A temp candidate can take the pressure off the hiring process (helping you to make the right decision) and handover to the new employee when they join the business. This helps to ensure there is a seamless transition from one employee to another and business operations are not impacted.
In addition to this, a temp can be a very good way to test out a potential new employee before they join the business. For the temp, this will give them a good understanding of the business and duties in the role to see if it could be a good culture fit for them. Making the wrong permanent hire is costly, both in time and money, so hiring a candidate on a temp-to-perm basis helps to alleviate these risks.
What are the advantages of hiring temporary employees?
1. Shorter hiring process
Using a temp agency to hire employees on a short-term basis provides you with an easy way to hire extra staff. Recruitment agencies go through the rigorous hiring process for you, so you don’t need to deal with interviews, checking references, or the administration associated with new hires. This saves you time and money.
2. Flexible contract
Temporary employees provide cover while you’re recruiting for permanent staff. They can work during busy business periods and be hired part-time or full-time. Additionally, you can hire them for a certain period on a fixed-term or temporary contract.
3. No need to add to headcount
The temp candidate will be hired via the recruitment agency and on their payroll. The agency will also take care of all additional legal additions, such as national insurance and pension contributions.
4. Access to highly skilled workers
You can hire temporary employees to work on a particular project or hire in areas where you require specific skills. If you need to cover PA or operational duties, you can find someone specially trained or experienced in this area. This is beneficial to you and your business as it will ensure smoother operations.
5. Immediate impact
Having a blend of temporary and contract workers can work to your advantage in scaling your business quickly. Whether you require administrative assistance or help within another department, you’ll experience an immediate impact within your organization.
6. Alleviate stress for perm employees
Temporary hires are an effective way of reducing stress on permanent employees. You can employ temporary staff to cover absences caused by holidays and sickness, meaning you don’t need to put extra work on other employees. The business keeps running smoothly, and you don’t need to worry about your workers feeling pressured.
Learn about the correlation between employee well-being and profitability here.
7. Enhance morale
Bringing in short-term hires can provide fresh, outsider perspectives that benefit your business in many ways. They can offer insights and opinions on business strategies, better workflows, or improved output, all helping to enhance morale.
Learn more about building a workplace culture that supports employee happiness.
Hiring a temp can help meet changing business needs
Hiring a temp candidate can be a quick and effective way to meet a business’s changing demands or cover staff absences to ensure the least disruption. It also allows you to test out potential permanent employees prior to hiring and can be a quick and effective way to get additional support during busier periods, giving you access to highly skilled workers.
Working with a temp recruitment agency that understands your business culture will allow you to source high-quality and experienced temp candidates quickly and easily. The recruitment agency will also take away the headache of hiring new starters by processing the payroll, doing reference checking, and paying all legal additions. This means you can onboard someone extremely quickly, giving the business immediate support.
Partnering with a job recruitment agency can further streamline the hiring process by providing access to a wider pool of candidates, ensuring you find the best fit for both temporary and long-term roles.
Olivia Coughtrie is Co-founder & Director at Oriel Partners, a PA and administrative temporary recruitment consultancy based in Central London. Olivia is passionate about providing high-quality talent to businesses and the best career opportunities to candidates.
