Using a temp staffing agency is a great way to increase your productivity while saving time and money. Temp staffers can be used to fill in for absent employees, bolster your work force during a busy period, or to help out on large or demanding projects. If you haven’t used temp staffing before, you may be looking for a good reason to start. Listing all the benefits of a temp staffing agency would take too much time, but here are five good reasons to get you started.

Cost

The D0-It-Yourself approach isn’t as inexpensive as you may think. Temp staffing agencies have twin benefits: years of hiring experience, and economies of scale. They spend all day, every day, engaged in the hiring process. From candidate searches to pre-employment screenings, they do it all—and they do it efficiently. Since they provide temps for hundreds of employers, the cost of the hiring process is divided among a huge group. Instead of shouldering the cost of finding the right candidate yourself, you can share the cost with other businesses that are looking for different candidates.

Convenience

The hiring process is an inconvenience. Even more so if you’re only looking for an employee for a few days or weeks. With a temp staffing agency, you can bypass the inconvenience and remain focused on your core business objectives. While it’s up to you to decide your level of involvement, the entire process can be as simple as a single telephone call. If you have clear criteria for the position you’re trying to fill, you can simply give the temp agency the necessary information, and leave the rest to them. They have qualified applicants ready to go, so all they have to do is match your requirements with their existing pool, and your temp can be on-site in hours. And, since they have such a large pool of qualified applicants, it’s easy to get multiple temps—even on short notice.

Expertise

Temp staffing agencies are experts at finding the best candidates for their clients. That expertise ensures that temps who arrive on your doorstep have the education, experience, training, background and commitment necessary to start working immediately. As employees of the temp staffing agency, the staffing agency has already completed the necessary paperwork, background checks, and pre-employment screenings.

What if you don’t know what you’re looking for? Maybe you need some help, but aren’t sure exactly what candidate would best fit your needs. With their expertise, a staffing agency can help you identify critical needs and put together a profile for the ideal candidate. Then, the agency can take that profile, and find the candidate to fill that role.

Risk

The key word in “Do-it-Yourself” is “yourself.” If you take a DIY approach, all of the risk is on you. You could spend a lot of time and money finding a candidate, just to have them show up unprepared, or not show up at all. You’re stuck with the losses that went into finding them. And, since the role is still unfilled, you get to do it all over again. With a temp staffing agency, staffers can quickly be replaced using the existing pool of applicants—saving you time and inconvenience.

Reward

A quality temp staffing agency is much more than just an employment service. They are experts in all aspects of hiring, including employment laws and regulations. They can advise you on matters related to personnel, and even offer advice on potential labour issues before they become a problem. Many companies come to think of and use their temp staffing agency as their long-term partner for all their staffing and HR needs.