How HR has changed during a pandemic

Hiring temporary staff may help employers drive their businesses forward

Employers are doing the best they can to keep their businesses going during this pandemic. But with headcount freezes and budgetary constraints that prevent them taking on permanent hires, a crucial part of planning can include the use of temporary staff to allow continuous operations.

Regardless of whether your company is a small manufacturing organisation or a large professional services firm, there will be times when extra hands on deck are required such as covering sick leave, maternity/paternity leave or for specific projects and workloads. Using the services of a temporary worker may therefore be the best solution. Being able to scale up and down your workforce to respond to ebbs and flows of demand is key for any employer.  There is no long-term commitment on the employer’s part when using temporary workers and fulfils your short-term requirements.

How long can you hire a temporary worker for and in what areas?

As long as you need – temp assignments can range from 1 day to several months. The one-day assignments tend to be for receptionist staff or events coordinators but other temporary assignments range across various disciplines including accountancy, office administration, HR, compliance, IT or engineering. Much of the IT and engineering temporary work would tend to be contract roles rather than pure temp assignments but the majority of temporary work would be across accountancy, administration, sales and HR.

The benefits of temporary workers for employers

The most obvious advantage of hiring temps is the flexibility. There is very little lead time bringing them on-board and you can stop using their services as soon as your requirement finishes. Other benefits include:

• Brightwater (your temp agency) would be the actual employer so you don’t need to increase headcount to bring in additional workers.
• The staffing agency would cover payroll, deduct for taxes and manage all paperwork and administrative concerns involved in hiring staff for you.
• Allows you to meet project deadlines on time, or enables you to bring in people who can offer niche skills needed for particular tasks that your existing staff can’t do due to skills or time constraints.
• Prevents your current staff from being over-burdened with work at times of increased work-loads.
• Gives you access to a skilled worker who needs little or no training and therefore won’t take up valuable time and resources of your existing employees.
• Provides you with a “try before you buy” option – there’s always an opportunity to hire the person on a permanent basis. You can evaluate them over a longer period of time, alleviating some of the urgency associated with filling a permanent vacancy
• You can continously request the same temp at different times as you know that they get on well with your staff, know your business and can do the required job well

How do you choose a temp agency?

When choosing a temp agency to work with, you do need to spend some time selecting one that will meet your needs. Look online for recommendations and for their specialities. Ask the right questions such as the following:

• What are the costs involved?
• What is the process – how involved do you have to be in terms of timesheets?
• Have they fulfilled this type of temporary assignment before? (This is particularly important when it comes to volume assignments)
• How are potential temp workers screened and tested?
• Does the temp agency fully understand your needs?
• Do they have recommendations from other employers / temp workers?

Hiring temporary workers for short-term assignments is vital for the smooth running of many organisations. It shouldn’t be a daunting prospect and should have a positive impact on your bottom line. For further help on temporary assignments, contact Jean O’Donovan in Brightwater via email or call + 353 1 592 7846