This is a new world of work. There are more vacancies than ever but few candidates available. There are skills gaps and a host of other factors that have led to companies being short-staffed in multiple sectors and industries. Enter temporary recruitment.

There are several ways of addressing the gap in these industries but one of the most effective ways of ensuring your business runs at full capacity is using temporary staff.

This is a fantastic way of ensuring you can meet demand, fill in absent posts, and generally continue working at full capacity.

Here are the pros of using temporary staff regularly.

Scale up your workforce quickly

Taking on a big new project? Looking to transform a function of your business? Using temporary staff is a fast and efficient way of scaling up your workforce at short notice.

If you’re rapidly building your business this is a great way to get people in quickly but also to help bridge the gap before doing any permanent recruitment.

You will save the hours it takes to search through CVs, interview candidates and the hours it takes to run payroll all add up. 

Fast-track hiring

Permanent hiring takes time. We’re talking weeks if not months! Temp recruitment? Quick, easy, can start the very next day in most instances.

This avoids long notice periods or interview processes, thereby getting “boots on the ground” quickly so that you can focus on your business.

Good recruitment agencies will have a pool of temp workers ready to spring into action. That means that using temp agencies is always a good option if you need good quality, effective people immediately.

Cover while recruiting

Hiring a temp while recruiting for a full-time employee will reduce the pressure to hire quickly, and minimise the strain on the rest of the team. As we highlighted earlier that it can build up and bridge your workforce until you find a permanent person.

Plus, your new recruit will thank you for clearing their workload before they start!

Try before you buy

On the other hand, if that temp you brought in to bridge the gap is good you may want to keep them. This is the classic try before you buy mentality and it’s rapidly becoming a go-to format for recruitment for many businesses.

Let’s say you’ve had a temporary member of staff working for your company, they have shown their full potential and are the perfect fit. Why rock the boat by making them leave and replacing them with someone else?

Many companies take temps on a “working interview”, with a permanent job on offer if things go well. And if a temp isn’t suited to one role, they might be a good fit somewhere else in your company.

In this instance, it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Discover future leaders

Over one-third of managers started out as temporary staff. Think about that. Use temporary staffing as the gateway to source the best leaders for your company.

That temp could go on to be a pivotal member of your business.

Bring in fresh skills

Temporary staff bring new and valuable skills to your company. They can also give you a new perspective on existing processes and bring ideas from other companies. There’s nothing wrong with getting a second pair of eyes on a current project to bring in a fresh perspective.

Control your costs

Guess what? Temporary recruitment is cheap. Using a recruitment agency to help supply workers is one of the most cost-effective ways of getting new employees through the door.

A temp workforce allows you to add staff without increasing your permanent headcount and costs.

You can hire multiple temps to cover spikes in demand, with no long-term commitment when your workload goes down.

Flexibility

You also have flexibility with the agency you are using. You are able to test out the agency, the quality of their workers, everything. This gives you a low cost, low risk, approach to sourcing a reliable recruitment partner.

Recruitment agencies that specialise in temporary recruitment have large databases of people that are available for immediate work. This can vary wildly, with everything from warehouse workers to administrative staff, whatever your need is you can most likely find a temp worker to suit your needs. 

It’s, well, temporary

Temporary means short term. So if your company handles a lot of contract or project work you may only need staffing for short bursts.

A lot of companies have short term projects that they need to tackle. Hiring a temporary worker for these can be the most efficient and affordable way to solve the problem when you don’t want to add new positions but simply need another pair of hands for a short period of time.

Imagine being able to have an employee where they can come and go as and when you need them. With temporary staff, you can! Bar staff for one-off events or festivals is a great example of this. If you’re an events company or a venue then I’m sure you’ll feel this pain. 

These are just some of the main reasons why you should consider using temporary staff for your business. It can be very helpful and we are also seeing a large increase in people using temporary staff as a way of “try before you buy” to ensure they can then transition them into permanent work quickly and easily.