Hiring temporary staff is sometimes viewed as a desperate measure, something you do only in emergency situations. But thinking of temporary staff in this way means missing out on some of the recurrent benefits available through an ongoing relationship with a temp agency.

Business owners who have discovered the many benefits of temporary staff find that they have more flexibility, better access to highly specialized skills, more control over their costs, less administrative work, and an overall better morale among their workers. Let’s look at each of these benefits one-by-one.

Flexibility

When you know how to use temporary workers, you have increased flexibility for your company as a whole. You will feel that you can take on a big project, like a showcase at a trade show, if you can get extra workers when you need them. You can also feel that you can scale back your operations during slow times of the year without going through pain and morale-damaging layoffs.

Highly Specialized Skills Always Available When Needed

Many businesses find that they need specialized workers from time to time, but it’s too expensive to keep a specialized worker on staff just for those few times. For example, you may need to write a grant proposal, but none of your current workers have the skills or experience to do a good job. You can hire a grant proposal writer for just the time needed to get the work done. You’ll get a professional end-product that meets your standards, without having to add to your full-time headcount.

Cost Control

Staffing can become unnecessarily expensive if not well-managed. If you don’t have enough ongoing work for your staff, you waste precious funds paying them to do nothing until business picks up again. The costs of hiring are also expensive. Listing jobs, going through applications, and interviewing potential workers takes time and money that might be better used elsewhere. Let a temp agency take care of these tasks and send you workers when you need them. When you don’t need them, you won’t have to worry about keeping them around on your payroll just in case they are needed in future.

Reduced Administration and Paperwork

The endless paperwork burdens can be one of the least pleasant parts of staffing. Temp staffing agencies can reduce your administrative work by taking care of much of the paperwork and documentation of hiring new workers. They perform reference checks on workers and verify their education and former positions. They take care of filing tax paperwork and check certifications that are required for certain jobs. These services reduce the time you have to spend working on paperwork, and they also reduce the amount of office space you have to dedicate to storing it. You may also be able to cut down on your work force if you currently employ someone to take care of this administrative work.

Boost to Morale

Asking your full-time employees to work extra hours, or alternatively to scale back their paid working hours, to meet changing workload needs is demoralizing if you do it on a regular basis. It’s much better to supply extra workers when you need them. This keeps your regular, full-time employees focused and productive knowing that their schedules are normal and consistent.

These benefits can make a huge difference in the on-going day-to-day operations of your business. Finding a temp staff agency that you work well with can make a huge difference in your business’ effectiveness and productivity. And you can discover for yourself how temp staffing offers much more than just being valuable for emergencies.