Due to market fluctuations and the ever-changing demands in the business landscape, short-term hires have grown in popularity again. From being able to hire specialized skills for projects, or meeting extra demand for staff during peak periods, companies are beginning to appreciate the benefits of flexible staffing.
In this article, we discuss 6 solid reasons why temporary staffing just makes sense for your business.
What Is Temporary Staffing?
Also known as contingent staffing, it’s an employment arrangement where companies hire candidates for a short period to address specific needs. In this type of arrangement, candidates are typically recruited, screened, and hired through a third-party staffing provider who handles everything from issuing offer letters to onboarding to termination if needed.
Temporary staffing provides an effective solution to address the challenges of finding qualified employees during a labor shortage. Temporary employees can fill vacant positions as needed to cover business demands, which provides the best results for both the business and its customers. By employing temporary staff, companies can keep their teams fully staffed to meet business needs.
Why the Need for Temporary Contractors?
The pandemic forced many companies to make the difficult decision of reducing their full-time workforce. This situation can be devastating for businesses. Not only does it incur a significant cost in terms of recruiting new staff post-pandemic, but it also takes an emotional toll on employers who have to let go of dedicated and hard-to-replace team members.
As we progress into the year, experts have predicted that a recession might hit soon. According to AP news, many of the country’s business economists anticipate that the onset of a recession in the United States will be later in the year compared to their earlier prediction.1 Looking back in time, during the great recession, 2.1 million Americans were laid off in 2009 alone according to Harvard Business Review.
“In a period of economic decline, it is likely that layoffs will occur. Layoffs are not only detrimental to the employees but also to the company. Training and hiring processes are costly, which is why firms prefer to avoid rehiring when the economy rebounds, especially if they anticipate a short downturn. Layoffs can also impact employee morale, leading to reduced productivity at a time when companies must maintain productivity levels.” Says Walter Frick.2
6 Ways to Boost Your Business with Temporary Staffing
By adopting a temporary employment arrangement, you can focus more on different areas in your business.
1. It helps you become more flexible in your budget and work setups.
Temporary staffing solutions allow companies to be flexible in adjusting to market changes and demands. With an effective staffing solution, you can quickly ramp up or scale down your workforce depending on your needs without any long-term commitments.
If you’re experiencing a sudden increase in demand, you can hire temporary staff to meet the demand of any short-term or long-term projects without the need for a lengthy hiring process. This flexibility is useful, especially for small businesses, and startups that may not be able to commit to hire long-term, full-time employees.
By hiring temporary workers, you can be flexible with your budget and also your work arrangements. If the need is there and your budget supports it, you can continue to keep your temporary employees as long as you need them.
2. Eliminate some of the hiring risks.
Hiring errors can be very costly, reduce productivity, make an unfavorable impact on company culture, and can pose significant risks to a company’s advancement.
As reported by SHRM, according to the US Department of Labor, poor hiring decisions can cause companies to lose as much as 30% of the same amount of the employee’s first year pay. This goes even higher by up to 50% for managerial positions. ³
However, the good news is that contingent staffing can act as a trial period to test out potential employees. You can evaluate a candidate’s skills and suitability for a role before making a long-term commitment.
Suppose a temporary employee is not a good fit for your business, you can opt to make changes to the temporary assignment including the length of time the assignment is for. This minimizes the risk of bad hires, and in the long run, saves you both time and money, as well as reduces employee turnover.
3. You can lower your costs.
In addition to saving on turnover costs, temporary staffing can help you lower your long-term staffing costs. Instead of keeping a larger team year-round with all the associated expenses, you can maintain a smaller group of permanent employees and augment them with temporary workers as needed.
This way, you can avoid unnecessary overhead costs including health insurance and paid time off.
4. You can have access to a specialized and experienced candidate pool.
Staffing partners have access to a pool of highly specialized and experienced candidates who are available on a short-term or long-term basis. You won’t have to worry about getting quality candidates when you work with a good staffing partner like ACS Professional Staffing.
Staffing partners, like us, invest significant time and effort in establishing a strong pool of professionals by leveraging referrals, networking, and regular communication with potential candidates. We know how to source the best candidates that will be suited for your business needs.
5. It reduces the administrative burden.
The process of hiring new employees involves various administrative and HR responsibilities, such as scrutinizing resumes, establishing payroll, and completing employment paperwork. Although these tasks are crucial, they consume a lot of your resources.
Contingent staffing partners take care of all administrative tasks, including payroll, taxes, and benefits. This can help companies ease their administrative burden, allowing them to focus on their core business activities.
6. It lets you and your team be more productive.
Business fluctuations can cause issues such as understaffing or overstaffing, which can lead to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and wasted resources. In these situations, it’s important to closely monitor business demand and adjust staffing levels as needed.
Temporary staff can also help increase productivity by bringing a higher level of focus and attention to their assigned tasks since they’re hired for a specific role for a set period, which reduces distractions in the workplace.
Combating Economic Downtime
Short-term staffing services have become an important market intermediary for companies that need to significantly reduce their workforce, whilst still minimizing the impact.
During the great recession, contingent staffing employed a significant amount of the American workforce, a whopping 25%.4 This only demonstrates that collaborating with the right staffing partners can provide companies with a competitive edge.
More on battling recession: Recession-Proof Your Workforce Structure Through These 5 Proactive Steps
LOOKING FOR A REPUTABLE PARTNER FOR YOUR TEMPORARY STAFFING NEEDS? ACS PROFESSIONAL STAFFING IS HERE FOR YOU!
As a staffing expert with both client and employee testimonials and awards to show for it, ACS Professional Staffing brings more than 20 years of experience to support companies with their immediate staffing needs.
So, whether you need short-term IT staffing for a special project, or professional-level support staff to assist during a busy period, we are here to help!
Contact us today to learn more about how to move your business forward with the right set of candidates.
References
1. Rugaber, Christopher. “2023 US recession now expected to start later than predicted.” AP News, February 27, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/inflation-united-states-government-recessions-and-depressions-economy-business.
2. Frick, Walter. “How to Survive a Recession and Thrive Afterward.” HBR, June 2019, https://hbr.org/2019/05/how-to-survive-a-recession-and-thrive-afterward.
3. “”The Cost of a Bad Hire and How to Avoid It.” SHRM Vendor Directory, Society for Human Resource Management, Accessed 13 April. 2023, https://vendordirectory.shrm.org/company/832022/whitepapers/6522/the-cost-of-a-bad-hire-and-how-to-avoid-it
4. “Flexible Workforce: The Role of Temporary Workers in Recession and Recovery”. Fraser, 2011, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/econ-focus-federal-reserve-bank-richmond-3941.