Smart strategies

One of the top reasons businesses hire
temporary professionals is to help
protect the jobs of a company’s full-time work force, suggests a new survey by
Accountemps, the world’s first and largest
specialized staffing service for temporary
accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. More than one-third of 150 high-level executives (35 percent) recently surveyed said the most important benefit of
using interim workers is to help avoid the
cycle of overstaffing followed by layoffs.

“This reveals that businesses are trying to
avoid the costly consequences of over hiring, which include layoffs,” says Tyra
Olson, branch manager of Accountemps in
Houston. “It is a smart strategy to fill a
short-term need with a short-term hire,
rather than putting a full-time employee on
board.”

Smart Business spoke with Olson
about the various reasons companies
should use temporary personnel, from
avoiding gaps in productivity during peak
periods, to evaluating prospective full-time employees.

Your survey revealed that companies are
using temporary personnel to avoid layoffs.
Is this a new way of using temporary help?

It is not a new way, but more companies
are using temporary help for this purpose.
Business executives are finding that
crunch times — when there isn’t enough
staff to complete a project — are not the
best time to hire full-time employees. The
workload often recedes after the project is
over, and the company ends up with extra
people on the payroll who need to be dismissed. This is not good for morale and
does not make economic sense, since
unemployment benefits often need to be
paid for these employees.

Another factor is what these crunch
times do to the employees of a company. If
there isn’t enough staff, burnout is high and
risk of employees leaving increases.
Companies are finding that using tempo-

rary professionals during this time is an
ideal arrangement. The company benefits
from skilled professionals, and employees
are happy because they can either work on
a special project — and their day-to-day
duties are completed by the temporary
help — or the temporary staff does the special project and employees are not burdened by the extra work.

What other ways can temporary staff help a
business?

Twenty-three percent of the executives
surveyed said they use temporary help to,
in effect, audition a potential new employee. This is a win-win for both the employer
and the potential employee. At times,
employers are hesitant to hire because —
while a potential employee may look good
on paper and do well in an interview — it
is difficult to evaluate how that person will
perform in a corporate culture, or how he
or she will work under pressure. Hiring a
person as a temporary professional is a
perfect way to make that kind of evaluation. It is also a plus for the temporary
worker, who can evaluate if the environment and work are a good fit.

What other ways can a business use temporary hires to ease staffing challenges?

Special project work is ideal for temporary professionals. They fill in where the
company needs it most, leaving full-time
employees free to either learn a new skill
set with a project or work unimpeded at
their job while the temporary worker
takes on the additional project.

Another way to utilize temporary workers is to bring them in during a peak time of
year, such as hiring extra financial personnel during tax season.

Temporary professionals can also help
fill in for core employees out on medical or
maternity leave, vacation, long-term disability or other leaves of absence.

What can managers do to help temporary
workers better succeed at their jobs?

On the first day, it’s helpful if the manager reviews the temporary worker’s responsibilities and sets expectations. Other ways
to ensure success are to discuss the firm’s
culture and procedures, encourage questions and provide the temporary employee
with the necessary resources to succeed.
It’s important for managers to provide
ongoing feedback and tell the employee if
he or she performed well.

Saying thank you for a job well done goes
a long way. There may be times when the
temporary worker needs to hit the ground
running at the start of an assignment, but
making time for these steps will ensure a
successful project and a happier, more productive work environment for all.

TYRA OLSON is the branch manager of Accountemps in downtown Houston. Accountemps (www.accountemps.com) is the
world’s first and largest specialized staffing service for temporary
accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals, with more
than 350 offices worldwide. Reach Olson at (713) 658-1772 or
[email protected].