Temporary workers are important contributors to the business world. There are many reasons to hire temps, including filling temporary gaps in the workforce, cutting payroll costs, and unburdening current employees.
However, the hiring process for temporary workers is just as risky and prone to error as hiring permanent employees. And the consequences of making hiring mistakes are the same: unengaged, unproductive, and terrible temp staff.
Temporary workers can be assets to your company and they can provide much-needed value, but only if you hire top talent and save your business from terrible temp staff.
Here are some tips to do just that.
Know What Makes a Good Temp
There are certain qualities and traits that indicate a good temporary employee. If you know these traits, you can spot them during the interview process and avoid making hiring mistakes.
First, consider experience. When you hire permanent employees, you have the time required to train them on programs, systems, and procedures that they might be unfamiliar with if you see great potential in the candidate. But when it comes to temp staff, you simply don’t have months to train them. As a result, the temps you hire need to have the right experience from the get-go.
Second, adaptability in the workplace is important. The best temps can easily adapt to the way you do things, can build working relationships with your current workforce effortlessly, and can quickly understand your culture and environment as well as their roles and responsibilities.
Third, look for highly motivated and productive workers. The most productive temp staff are intrinsically motivated to work hard and produce the results that you expect. They don’t need incentives, like a bonus or the chance at a promotion, to work at their best.
Know What Makes a Bad Temp
Just as importantly, you should know what qualities indicate terrible temp staff so you can avoid hiring these workers.
A temp worker that seems inflexible is a bad sign. If they won’t let go of their own way of doing things and adapt to your work environment, this temp will hinder your productivity.
Unreliability also indicates terrible temp staff—you don’t need temps who won’t show up or who will always come in late.
Lack of independence and self-sufficiency is also a deal breaker when it comes to temporary workers. You shouldn’t have to tell them what to do every step of the way—you need them to be able to figure things out quickly and work on their own.
Engage a Temporary Staffing Agency
Engaging a temporary staffing agency can be the best way to ensure that you do not hire terrible temp staff and only onboard top talent. The temp staffing agency’s recruiters are skilled and experienced in spotting great temps, recruiting top talent, and weeding out the bad apples.
By saving your business from terrible temp staff by partnering with a temporary staffing agency, you’ll also benefit from improved productivity, faster hiring, and reduced turnover.
Engaging a temporary staffing agency results in other benefits too, including reduced costs as well as time savings on your end.
The temporary workers you hire should be assets to your business, not a hindrance. But not all temporary workers are alike. To get the most out of your temps and see real value from their contributions, make sure to only hire top talent and avoid terrible temp staff. Know what indicates top performance and poor performance in temp workers so you can spot the best workers during the interview process, or better yet, engage a temporary staffing agency for a guarantee of top talent.
Liberty Staffing can be your temporary staffing partner. Contact us today.
