When it comes to hiring, progressive employers are beginning to recognize that hiring term employees provides a number of tangible and intangible benefits. Here are 5 good reasons why a term staffing solution may be right for your business.

1) Shifts the cost of employee benefits and recruitment to an outside provider

When hiring permanent full-time employees, labour costs include wages plus benefits such as health insurance, paid vacation, sick days, profit sharing, worker’s compensation among others, and can run as much as 1.5 times an employee’s annual earning. By choosing to use term employees sourced from an outside provider, employers eliminate the added expense of benefits and shift the financial burden of recruiting, screening, testing and hiring workers; payroll and administration expenses; and unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance to a third party provider.

2) Preserves a safe and healthy work environment with the flexibility of “just-intime” recruiting

Sudden spikes in work volumes, multiple high priority projects and looming deadlines can negatively impact employee morale, job satisfaction, stress levels and productivity. In situations like these, the flexibility to boost human capital by way of term employees is beneficial. Term employees provide companies with the opportunity to effectively meet their business objectives without overworking full-time employees— no strings attached. Conversely, when companies suddenly change direction, projects can get terminated. With term employees, their contract comes to an end and no full time jobs are “at risk”. Should the project start up again, one phone call is all it takes to get the ball rolling with a new term employee. With “just-in-time” recruiting, companies can maintain their healthy work environment while meeting fluctuating business needs.

3) Reduces costly hiring mistakes with a “try-before-you-buy” approach

Hiring a new employee is costly—and sometimes risky—business. A recent study concluded that bad hires cost employers 30% of a new employee’s annual earnings. To determine whether or not an employee is a good fit for your company without the commitment, consider hiring a term employee on a contract basis. This provides companies with an excellent opportunity to evaluate an employee’s on-the-job performance before signing them on for full-time employment.

4) Provides a fresh perspective and may result in process improvements

Through the years, employees can get “stuck in their ways” and processes can get old. By hiring professionals in specialty areas on a contract basis, companies can gain a fresh perspective on the way they conduct business. By leveraging the knowledge and experience these term employees have acquired through their exposure to other work environments, progressive companies can learn and implement new process improvements as appropriate.

5) Bridges the gap in anticipation of finding the right candidate

Hiring a term employee can be a good way to bridge the gap while you search for that perfect candidate. Hiring a full time employee takes time— candidates have to be recruited, interviews scheduled and, most often, candidates have to give notice. Meanwhile, with a term employee, the work gets done, department objectives are met and companies can take as much time as they need to find the right match.

To sum it up, term employees can have a positive impact on business performance. Taking into account the tangible and intangible benefits of term staffing will help you make the right business decision that fits your particular needs.

This article first appeared in Ceridian Canada’s e-newsletter, The Specialist, April 2006 issue.

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