When more workers are needed than there are, temporary work is a flexible solution to fill gaps. It is essential to know your requirements, find the right partner, and integrate the temporary workers. Then you can not only save time and money but also gain know-how.
The provision and placement of unskilled workers often looked at the image of temporary agency work. However, this picture has changed. Today, the term stands for project work and mobile workforce. Temporary work is now in almost all industries, occupations, functions, and hierarchical levels, even at the management level.
Temporary Work
Temporary work is the employment and hiring out of workers because of the law on hiring out workers in compliance with all labor and social law provisions. In this context, personnel service means temporary work, the execution of quick work in companies, and the individual work needs of the employees. The importance of temporary work has increased in recent years. The establishment of the personnel service agencies also contributed to this.
The need for temporary work and its advantages
Many unpredictable events cause a reduction in staff – both in the short and long term. For example:
- Illness
- Maternity Protection
- sudden incapacity to work
- Death of a relative or
- Termination
Even planned events, such as vacations or special projects, require action if the employees who are left behind cannot manage the workload independently. External factors also cause rescheduling of personnel deployment. Such factors are:
- Significant increase in orders
- Order fluctuations
- Seasonal business or
- Economic cycle
Using external temporary staff offers an uncomplicated solution to strengthen your team effectively. The advantages are:
- There is no cost, time, or administrative effort for personnel search.
- The flexible use enables a quick elimination of staff shortages.
- An extended test phase enables the employees to be examined precisely. There is no risk because the employee can be “returned” at any time.
- Temporary workers are usually very motivated because they want to get a chance to take on.
- Permanent employees must be fired when they are no longer needed. Temporary workers not! There is no damage to the company’s image, which is otherwise inevitable in a downsizing.
- There is an offer of temporary workers for each position and function.
The Right Choice of Candidates
Before the service provider makes you an offer for a personnel loan, you must give him a requirement profile. In advance, think about who you need. The requirement profile includes information such as:
- Description of function and position
- School education, training, and further education
- Work experience
- Professional knowledge
- Behavioral characteristics, for example, communication skills
- Duration of use
- Place of use
- Salary range
This is precisely the advantage of using companies that provide temporary workers: You state your requirements, and the search process runs without you having to search for suitable candidates yourself, the organization interviews, the development, planning, and implementation of aptitude tests, and the pre-selection of suitable ones Need to organize candidates.
Simplicity is not the only advantage. The experience gained from countless job interviews, and selection procedures for temporary employment agencies is also a decisive factor from which small and medium-sized companies benefit. The middle class often lacks the recruiting routine due to the relatively rare search for personnel.
After the temporary employment agency has made a pre-selection, the customer then gets a say. Only when the customer is satisfied with this selection do interviews take place.
Team Integration
Integrating a temporary worker must be done quickly. The entry should be well prepared, as with every new hire. The integration is so important because it is only through internalization of the company standards that a harmonious insertion is possible. And that, in turn, is crucial for work performance and corporate success.
It makes no difference to “normal” attitudes because equal treatment makes the temporary worker feel comfortable and taken seriously. If he realizes that he is only a quick “gap filler,” his motivation will quickly decrease.
When the Temporary Worker Turns Out to be a Disappointment
It can happen that a temporary worker does not meet the company’s expectations. This problem should be resolved immediately after discovery through an exchange. Clarify with the temporary employment agency the options in such a case. Do not be afraid to tell the “borrower” openly and honestly the reasons for the failure.
There is no use in carrying the temporary worker out of pity if they do not meet the requirements. Use the advantages of quick work here because it cannot easily replace typical employees. Please know that you have chosen temporary agency work because it is flexible and independent.
Contribution to Knowledge Management
Temporary workers make a valuable contribution to knowledge management. Since they always must familiarize themselves with new teams and most have already got to know many companies, they bring a high level of professional and social competence and a lot of organizational knowledge. So, encourage your employees and colleagues to ask: “How was it with the other companies?” The learning effects can be very significant.
Note
While there is no contractual obligation for the temporary worker not to enter an employment relationship with the customer while working for the temporary employment agency, companies should not encourage their temporary agency workers to break contractual agreements, such as the notice period.
Temporary workers are not only taken on for the sake of knowledge. If the order situation remains good and the company grows, hiring the borrowed employee is possible. If necessary, an agency fee is then due.
Many companies also specifically recruit temporary workers for clearly defined areas of an application when a job is complete. It means that it can put the potential new employee to the test without any employer risk.
Personnel experts speak of the “breathing company” because bottlenecks in order and production fluctuations can be compensated. And medium-sized companies are now following large companies and using this personnel service. According to studies, 30 percent of medium-sized companies already employ temporary staff.
Interim Management
There is also temporary work at the management level. In contrast to the management consultant, the interim manager takes responsibility for the results of his career. If the company knows the causes of its crisis but the existing management cannot cope, an interim manager can help. He leaves the company as soon as the problem is solved and a stable new company or divisional management is established or after the relaunch of the relevant strategic business unit.
This type of management is becoming increasingly popular because good managers are rare in the job market. This trend will continue. Reasons for the time bridging can be:
- Crisis, restructuring, restructuring
- Covering additional needs
- Project work
- For bridging vacancies or generation changes
- Coaching
- Change of ownership
Surrender Instead of Dismissal
A lot of know-how is often lost for the company during layoffs. Temporary employment offers a solution: The employees concerned can be taken over by a temporary employment agency and employed for as long as necessary and left to the company, if essential until permanent employment is possible again.
A positive side effect of this method is that the search for new employees is spared after the crisis has been overcome. A disadvantage is the reasonably high agency fee. Whether it is financially worthwhile and feasible must be calculated in each case.
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