Temporary Services Agencies Assist Both Employers And Employees Companies Save On Benefits, Reduce Risk And Get To ‘Try Before They Buy’; Workers Get Leg Up On Full-Time Work, Receive Benefits And Job Training

One of the hottest industries of the past decade, the temp-to-hire field continues to offer important services to both employers and job-seekers.

The temp-to-hire concept offers important advantages to workers and companies alike, said Kay Cadero, a sales representative at Volt Services Group.

For workers, a temporary job is a foot in the door for full-time work - in 1995, 40 percent of all temps were offered full-time work. Plus, as employees of the temp firm, they earn benefits and the temp firm often will provide them with important skills training.

Companies, which tend to run lean and mean these days, are guaranteed an available and qualified supplemental work force. Additionally, many companies use a temp service as an out-of-house human resources department, auditioning potential employess in a low-risk “try before you buy” strategy.

Until the early ‘90s, temp services were just what their name implied: businesses that provided temporary workers to businesses needing short-term help.

But as companies begam trimming their workforces, they discovered that they need access to a stable, qualified pool of workers to help out when the volume of work increased.

“In the past few years,” Cadero said, “corporations have had to tighten their belts. Then, when they get special projects in, they need that person to be ready and qualified - especially qualified.”

Today, she said, “78 percent of temp positions average 13 weeks or longer, where five or six years ago, temps were called in for two or three weeks at a time to fill in for vacations.”

Many of those workers subsequently migrate into full-time positions.

“According to the National Association of Temporary Services,” Cadero said, “the average number of temporary workers who moved into full-time hires in 1995 was about 40 percent.

“More and more temps are being hired because there are more temp firms in the market,” she added.

“I think temp services have become more sophisticated. In the past, corporations tended to think of a temporary service when, ‘Gosh, I have to have someone now - I think I’ll bring in a temp.

“We have earned the respect and the responsibility of being an outside human resource department.”

Some companies have become extremely bottom-line oriented and don’t want to hire workers they can’t keep busy.

“They are looking at the number of core employees they can keep.”

But, Cadero said, other companies are approach temp firms saying ” ‘We want you to provide us with X amount of employees and if our job orders continue to stay steady or incline, we can move them over to the roster.’

“By then the company has a pool of already trained and loyal employees.”

The companies most inclined to use a temp service in this capacity are likely to be in the manufacturing or assembly segments.

“I think in this particular format, we tend to find businesses where they do manufacturing or production of some sort where a product is going out the door. Those are the businesses that tend to look in this direction.”

Some companies experience seasonal bumps in production that require an expanded workforce.

A temp service is uniquely qualified to offer support to those businesses because it maintains a pool of employees willing to work when needed.

“One of the advantages to the temp industry is that it is so flexible,” Cadero said.

By utilizing the services of a temp firm, the company increases its chances of finding workers who can fill in during odd hours and work shifts that might otherwise be hard to fill.

On the other hand, employees get to “dictate how much, how often and when they work.”

That’s one reason many workers are find temp services appealing, she said: “We try to match the employee’s desires with a job, as well as their skills.

“I have temps that have been with us for 2-1/2 years and have been working consistently that whole time, with the exception of maybe a week or two.”

Two other major benefits offered workers by temp services are training and benefits.

“Sixty-six percent of previous temps polled said that they actually gained job skills by being temps that were sufficient to pull them into another job category.

“We offer our employees programs like free soldering classes and free computer training. We can mentor people through positions on the job.

“Workers are saying, ‘By being a temp, I’m a better employee.”

The benefits packages offered by temp services work to the advantage of both employer and employee, said Cadero.

“Our benefits are comparable to those companies that are out there, except maybe the larger ones. Our employees receive vacation pay, six paid holidays a year and a very complete health plan which includes medical and dental at a very low cost.”

Companies like hers also offer some of what Cadero calls the “oddity bennies.”

“We offer senior care and kid care programs that add dollars to (our employees’) paycheck. In our high-end technical division, we offer a 401K (retirement) program.”

The advantages to the hiring company are manifest, Cadero said.

“By the time a company calls a temp service for an employee, that employee will have been tested and evaluated. They will have been interviewed by trained staffer or recruiter. They will have been reference-checked thoroughly and any necessary background tests will be done.

“If they require a drug screen, then that person will have been screened and proven negative.”The chances of us matching a job description to a greater degree than a company can is great, and the employer has the opportunity to hire the person for 60 days, 90 days. The company can find out, ‘Do they have the right aptitude and attitude for our company?”’

And the cost to the company, Cadero said, tends to be no more expensive - and in many cases is less expensive - than hiring the employee directly.

“Typically, when a company hires a person - say we go in with a $10 per hour wage. They are paying on top of that $10, state and federal taxes, federal insurance, L&I payments and administrative costs - including payroll and the human resources department.

“All those costs add up to what’s called a ‘burden,’ and each employee has a burden of 35-60 percent, based on how many benefits you give a person. That’s the cost of bringing on a person, and we pay all those things for you.”

The economies of scale make it work, Cadero said. “Because we are a very large employer, because we’re working with so many employees, our benefits packages and L&I costs are lower. Even with our mark-up, we can do it for less than an employer.”

A temp firm also reduces an employer’s risk of exposure, she said.

“Let’s assume that a person doesn’t work out. Then, not only is the employer not burdened with unemployment insurage, but they also don’t end up in a situation with a wrongful termination. Or maybe the employee is injured on the job - all those thing that add expense, a temporary serivd owns that employee and takes responsibility for all those issues.

“If nothing else, for a company it’s a big time-saver.”

When it comes to affirmative action isues, she said, “We are an employer, a very large employer. We consider ourselves to be held to the same scrutiny that any employer would.”

In fact, people of color and other “protected classes” may benefit from the skills-based methodology used by temp firms. The practice focuses on matching skill sets with job requirements, not on personality, gender or skin color.

“We reference-check and we evaluate on skill sets,” said Cadero. “Say, we have a client with a need for someone with Word for Windows, or Excell. They tell us ‘We need them to type this fast with this accuracy. We need someone who can do transcription and dictation.’

“We search on the skill set; if it happens to be a 60-year-old black woman, so be it.”