When you need to work done NOW but unsure if you need to actually add to staff, using a temporary or contract employee is often the best staffing solution!

When all things are going your way, your business is growing with only bright things lieing ahead, hiring new employees to help you pave the way just makes good business sense.  But what happens when the future is uncertain and there’s lots of unknowns about what’s coming next? 

You still need work done, but hiring now to lay off tomorrow just doesn’t seem like the right thing to do.  

We agree and have found that the solution to these types of scenarios often lies in the smart use of temporary contract employees in a variety of flexible staffing arrangements.  Talented temporary and contract employees can keep your company or team lean, always ready to grow or shrink as your business changes, but not over staffed to the point you have to cut back even your core employees when things get rough.

There are companies who have embraced staffing flexibility to the point where they only allow a portion of the total number of people needed to run their business to be core employees, keeping the rest in flexible roles – either auditioning to become a core employee, using specialized skills to staff projects, or filling in for core employees who are on short term or longer term leaves of absences.   These are employers who have embraced the best of what flexible staffing solutions have to offer.

Our clients regularly use temporary or contract employees to……

• Cover for a long term absence of a core employee – a leave of absence, pregnancy leave etc.
• Add some specialized skills or leadership for work that has been carved out to be a project – typically work with a defined beginning and end but not always
• Unexpected upticks in business activity – any time you start to see your core staff get overwhelmed you may need to take action to avoid burn out
• Product launches – where you’re not quite sure how many people to hire
• Work reconfigurations – where you’re not quite sure when roles you’re going to need in the future
• Quick coverage for an unexpected turnover- the extra help your staff needs when they suddenly become short handed
• Extra help to get rid of one of those nasty backlogs – filing, scanning, data entry projects
• Feel comfortable hiring direct, but want to audition the employee first

Check out this blog to learn more about ways to utilize flexible staffing solutions as a business staple………

One of the reasons why some employers by pass temporary staffing solutions even when they need them is because they think temporary or contract workers are just too expensive.  To compare the costs of using a “temp” compared to the costs of hiring direct, check out this blog.   The comparison may surprise you.  

If you think you could use a temporary employee for an upcoming staffing scenario – we’d love to help.  Its never too early to get started on the planning process.  You can CONNECT with our Partner Services team by entering your information below.