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What are the benefits of hiring a temp and what does it cost?
Flexible workforce solutions are an essential part of your resourcing strategy
For most businesses in today’s landscape, change is constant and hiring temporary staff is a great way to access high-quality talent when and where you need them.
Temporary staff can help your business counter the ebbs and flows of an unstable economy, allowing you to upscale and downscale your workforce as required.
Although the word ‘temporary’ might be associated with low-skilled workers, modern businesses are increasingly hiring highly skilled and educated professionals on a temporary basis.
Partnering with a recruitment agency is the best way to find quality temporary employees and best news is… trusting in the expertise of a recruiter can actually save your bottom line through increased productivity and efficiency.
You might consider hiring a temp in the following situations
Parental and long-term leave
Let’s say it’s the busiest time of the year for your organisation, but you’re short on staff because of an absent employee taking parental leave.
Not only can a temporary employee help to fairly distribute the workload - they also bring a fresh perspective and new, diverse background to the role.
This is good news for both you and your existing employees. A strong workplace relationship built on respect and trust can be cultivated through supporting a role with temporary workers, as both your organisation and employees can enjoy the benefits of increased productivity.
Additional resource for project or campaign
If you’re looking to place current employees on a special project or campaign in the short-term, consider hiring a temporary worker to cover their daily tasks for the time being.
Not only will this ensure you’re utilising employee skills and experience with efficiency, but the transition back to ‘normal’ tasks afterwards will also be a smooth one.
Helping your organisation grow
Hiring temporary workers is also a great way to grow and scale your organisation. Why? Because engaging high performing employees on a short-term basis can help to free-up internal resources to focus on achieving strategic objectives.
Productivity, workplace morale and seasonal uptakes in demand can all be addressed and improved upon through the temporary assistance of an expanded workforce - adding value for everyone involved!
The benefits of hiring temporary staff
If temporary staff were participants in an awkward ice-breaking game, they’d be described with the following four words: fast, flexible, smart and scalable.
There’s a reason temporary staff are looked to when a business needs to move quickly. That’s because one of the key advantages to hiring temporary talent is their fast turnaround in times of urgent need.
It’s no wonder, then, that temporary staff are the key to scaling up and down with the changing needs of your business. Whether those fluctuations depend on client demand or projects, temporary staff can kick-start the momentum you need to take anything on.
So, whether you need to fill an employment gap, scope out talent for a permanent role or decide on your organisation’s strategic goals, hiring temporary staff might be the solution you’re looking for.
As we’ve already established, one great benefit to hiring on a temporary basis is the ability to cover for existing staff taking sick, parental or annual leave.
But don’t forget that temporary recruitment is also an excellent way to understand the work ethic, skills and experience of a candidate before the (pretty big) commitment of a permanent hire.
You can also curate a more effective and customised workforce through this impermanence. Think about it - temporary staff can help you access skills and experience that many not currently exist in your permanent team.
This upskilling, even on a temporary basis, can cultivate a kind of ‘contagious’ skill sharing and improve performance among employees, helping to ‘raise the bar’ within your organisation.
High calibre temporary staff with high performing traits, suitable qualifications, diverse skill-sets and relevant experience might seem like ‘unicorn’ type employees. They may well be, but a skilled recruiter with a robust, merit-based process can make that perfect temporary hire happen.
What does a temp cost?
The cost of a temporary team member is most often charged as a daily or hourly rate. As with any professional recruitment service, there are a couple costs to consider:
Depending on the skills and experience required, the hourly rate will vary. Superannuation must also be paid to the temporary employee.
In turn, the ongoing costs of insurance, work-cover and payroll tax are all important elements of the temporary hiring process.
Finally, a recruitment agency charges a margin for their service, typically ranging between 20%-25%.
What does the recruitment agency’s margin cover?
As we’ve already established, a scalable and flexible workforce supported by temporary staff is highly valuable for your organisation’s capacity for growth.
A skilled recruiter will be driven to cultivate a relationship with your organisation and understand your workplace culture. So, they will be able to place a high performing person with relevant experience within your business.
This professional recruitment process is priced based on the following three factors:
1. Finding the temporary employee
It takes significant time and effort, on part of your recruiter, to find and attract the highest calibre temporary staff.
There are several factors involved in the robust process a good recruiter embarks on, like advertising for the role, application assessments, candidate evaluation interviews, and data and record-keeping.
2. Validating their details
Of course, the utility of a temporary employee and their ability to assimilate into your workplace culture depends upon their qualifications, experience and skill set.
A good recruiter will undertake reference checks, qualification checks, background checks and skill testing metrics.
Your recruiter’s margin covers the time and labour involved in these thorough checks, as without ensuring they’re the right fit, you might find yourself with a temporary employee adding little benefit to your organisation.
3. Administering the payroll
Partnering with a recruiter also means you don’t need to occupy yourself with administering the payroll.
It’s an arduous and time-consuming task to keep totals of worked hours and manage payments to temporary employees.
Luckily for you, your recruiter will undertake these responsibilities as part of their role in the recruitment process.
Other things to be aware of - the buy out fee
It’s also worth considering that if you decide to hire your temporary employee on a permanent basis, the recruitment agency will charge a ‘buy out’ fee, which covers the expenses incurred by the recruitment agency for recruiting, screening and training the employee.
Here are more useful resources
Finding needles in haystacks is what we do best. We use traditional and algorithmic-search techniques, video recruitment, and behavioural economics to find you the best talent in the market.