As an employer of labour, you might have found yourself in a position where you need to hire workers, especially on temporary basis, but the paper work and whole process might be very long and drawn, besides, you might not even have access to the required professional skill to fill the position on a temporary basis. This is where staffing companies come to play.
A staffing company, also known as a temp agency, is the link between the jobseeker and the employer. They help the job finder meet the employer, especially when the jobs involved are on a temporary basis. However, they also offer long term services. Staffing companies can either be generalized or Nin-specific, in which they offer services across all categories of occupation or Specialized which is specific for particular occupational category.
When a client of the staffing agency requests for a particular skill, the staffing agency begins to actively recruit to fill that role (if they do not already have someone that can fill the role). The staffing agency, just like any other employer makes adverts, receives application and then hires. However, the length of contract is determined by the employer, not the staffing agency.
Some of the services that a staffing company offers include:
- Temporary jobs: For this kind of job, there is an appointment and termination date which the employee is made to be aware of. During the course of the job, there might be an extension in the contract; however, this kind of job is still temporary.
- Temporary-to-permanent Jobs: As the name suggests, this kind of job provides the option of being hired on a permanent basis. It gives the employer the opportunity to access the skill of the worker as to whether it fits into the particular role on a long-term basis. Most people hired by staffing agencies hope their jobs go from temp-to-hire, except those who just need side jobs.
- Permanent Hire: These kinds of jobs are on a permanent basis. The staffing agency only recruits and screens the candidates, the employer directly employs them into regular positions. (In the other two, it is the staffing agency that hires them)
There are a lot of benefits from using a staffing agency, both on the side f the employer and the employee:
From the employer stand point, finding a professional skill on a temporary is very cost-effective. This effectively excludes the whole fringe benefits of health insurance and retirement plans. Also, finding quality temporary labour is sometimes a herculean task. With staffing companies, this made so much easier. Still on reducing the cost, there would be no need to train the employees since they already possessed the skills in the first place before the staffing company hired them. Pretty smart huh?
It also saves a lot of time and energy involved in the paperwork for employing directly.
From the employee perspective, it provides a much-needed link for people who want to work on a temporary basis and do not know where to look. Employees can also take long off periods since they are not attached to any particular company – Great side job!
So, the next time you need to hire, or you need to be hired, try a staffing agency.
References:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/staffing-agencies-work-3084.html