Temporary Employment Agency

How to Find One and Make it Work for You!

A temporary employment agency is a valuable resource for a company if it is used properly. Sometimes called temporary job agencies or staffing agencies, finding a good one and making them work for your best interest and working the way you need them to is sometimes a challenge. Fear not, there are some great strategies to handle both issues.

What is a Temporary Employment Agency?

The answer is.... just what it sounds like! They provide temporary workers to your business who are not on your payroll. In other words you are not the employer of record but you have a co-employer relationship.

Other terms for these types of workers include; temps, contingent workers, temp staff, temp labor, contract employees and staffing. They all carry the idea that the person working the position is not a long term full time employee of your company.

How Does It Work?

The basic formula works as follows;

1. Company has open positions with job descriptions
2. Enlists one or many temporary job agencies to find people and fill positions
3. Good temps from the agency work at your site and do the work you need done under your direct supervision.
4. At the end of the week, you sign a time card for the hours the temporary employee worked.
5. You received an invoice for the hours worked during that period.

If there are any problems, you just call up the staffing service and end the assignment. No muss, no fuss.

How to Find the Good Temp Employment Services

The next obvious question is how to find a good service provider? There are three things to look for in a good service;

1. Trusted Referrals
2. Certification and Public Profile
3. Specialization or Niche vs Custom

Like any other service the best way to find one is through referrals from a trusted colleague. Failing that you need to look for yourself because sometimes these services won't tell you when not to use a temp job service and that can be a valuable piece of information as well.

There are a couple of staffing certifications available to professionals in that industry. This is a distinguishing characteristic of a quality service as is a public profile.

Finally look to see if there is a specialization. There are a number of specializations such as;

• IT
• Office Staff and Clerical
• Call Centers
• General Labor
• Insurance
• Healthcare and Medical
• Accounting and Finance
• Admin and Office Help
• And more

These are some examples. Find a company that has a specialization in your niche and you will improve your odds of finding the person you are looking for to help you out.

Otherwise look for a company that can customized the temp employment services you need. What about when disaster hits? Will you need short term staff? How about seasonal? Maternity leave or Family medical leave? The best bet here is to find a smaller boutique services where you get to talk directly to the owner.

What Does it Cost?

This is a great question and like any other services the answer is it depends! Sorry it's the truth! There are factors that can improved your ability to get a better deal. Mostly related to safety, volume and terms. Learn more on typical staffing practices as it relates to markup/cost and even payroll outsourcing as a way to reduce costs.

Final Thoughts

There are many benefits to using a temporary employment agency. Sometimes staffing may be cheaper than direclty hiring employees in-house. Sometimes they offer protection against downturn in orders or the economy. They can save you the cost of a bad hire. They offer employees to your company for short term projects and so fourth.

The point is a temp staffing service can benefit companies of all sizes. The key is to find a good one and keep them at your finger tips.


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