A Shift to a Temp Labor Market
Any company that is managing changes in employment and staffing knows that finding the perfect employee to fill a vacant position can be a long and arduous process. Furthermore, mistakenly hiring a mismatch for the position can waste a company’s precious time, money, and resources.
This is why many companies today are employing the services of a staffing agency to find the best match for their vacancies — especially if they’re in a predominantly project or shift-based industry like industrial work, construction, or retail.
More and more businesses are looking to hiring a predominantly temp workforce — and with good reason. Read on to understand why some companies today prefer to hire temp employees and the challenges that it brings.
3 Reasons Why Companies Prefer a Temp Workforce
Constant Changes in Demand
Many industries are under pressure from rapidly changing market demands and volatile changes in employment, especially in the aftermath of Covid-19.
Forbes points out that while the high expectations of consumers for a certain kind of service has created a constant demand, this can be easily disrupted by changes in the economic, social, and political landscape — and subsequently, the demand can be volatile at times.
This is why many industries prefer relying on temp staff. When a company has a high percentage of permanent workers, they’ll find it harder to adjust to the market demands — leading to too many workers during times of low demand and not enough at times of high demand. With a temp staff, employers have the labor flexibility that allows them to be efficient, save their resources, and maximize their profits.
They Offer a Special Set of Skills
Many companies — especially those in the tech, construction, and manufacturing industry — often have a lot of project-based work that necessitates a specialized skill set. In many cases, it might be too expensive to hire and train a permanent skilled worker.
That’s why many prefer bringing them on-board through a temp contract. Once a temporary specialized worker is able to fulfill a project, a company can easily and quickly let them go.
However, these temporary job posts can also act as a training vessel for a temp worker if similar projects come up and it necessitates bringing in the same set of special skills.
For Company Growth
A huge part of what drives a company to success is its roster of talented workers. But the road to success isn’t paved with gold and companies need to be smart in order to grow. Many companies are trying to trim HR costs and hire in-demand skills in a tight labor market to encourage company growth.
So, using temp agencies can help companies make sure that they have a good supply of qualified employees while cutting down on HR costs.
Furthermore, companies want to retain their best-qualified employees and grow with them. In the event where a company experiences downtime and loses money, they can simply let go of their temp staff and protect their permanent employees.
The Challenges of a Predominantly Temp Workforce
Of course, having a largely temp staff has its own set of challenges. For one, a University of Baths study highlights how many temp workers feel dissatisfied with the work arrangement due to fears of job insecurity.
Secondly, having to always train a new set of workers can also affect how a company manages its resources.
Lastly, companies who are known to have a constantly rotating temporary staff can also strain their relationship with their clients as many believe that temp workers are less reliable than their permanent counterparts.
Thankfully, having a strong HR department or a fully encompassing employee management solution like Ubeya can solve some of the drawbacks of having temporary staff.
Even educational institutions have recognized that the recent trend in gig workers has initiated a change in the roles and responsibilities of the HR staff. Indeed, professors at Maryville University’s online human resources program highlight how the key to business success is hiring and managing the right talent — and this starts with HR.
Skills in recruitment, talent management, labor relations, and organizational behavior, among others, have become invaluable in training the people in charge of training and managing the rest of your staff. A key indicator to why HR is now considered a subject in itself to be studied at higher education, rather than simply as part of a business degree. This is also why strengthening your HR department with the top candidates is the best foundation to build towards success, especially when it comes to finding different types of workers.
For those in management positions, the article ‘Stop Making These 5 Major Staff Management Mistakes’ points out how managers can set clear expectations and give temp workers their dues. Furthermore, being open, receptive, and communicative can also improve the relationship between companies and their temp workers.
By taking care of your temp workers, you can allow them to grow alongside your company while not tying them down — making it a win-win situation for both parties.
Article contributed by: Heather Spires
Exclusively for ubeya.com
