Using temporary or contract staff as part of your team gives you optimum flexibility at a time when planning your workforce is particularly challenging.

With resources stretched to the limit, many manufacturing, distribution and precision engineering companies are finding that taking on temporary staff enables them to add key skills wherever they are needed in the business, from support and office functions through to the warehouse or shop floor. 

Making temporary staffing easier

According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Recruitment and Recovery 2021 report, 61% of businesses are currently hiring staff on a temporary basis.

As Priority's Business Director Tracy Welch explains, “Companies want to keep their headcount as flexible as possible this year so they can scale up or scale down as their order book demands. As one of the leading temp agencies in Basingstoke, we’re finding a growing number of companies want to add key resources to back office and support functions quickly.”

One of the key advantages of using temps is that you don’t need to make any changes to your payroll, set up pensions or do the paperwork associated with onboarding new permanent members of staff.

Luke Arnott, Manager of our Industrial and Technical Division says, “When you need to scale up for a big order or to meet a contract, using temporary staff means you can quickly put additional resources in place to give you maximum flexibility.”

So if you think that using temporary staff could be a good solution for you, how do you ensure you get the best value from your temps or contract staff?

The Benefits of a Flexible Workforce

Here’s our short guide to getting the very best value your temporary or contract staff:

1.   Speed up recruitment

Recruiting a full-time, permanent member of staff can be a slow business as you will probably need to see them twice, and multiple managers may need to interview them too. Once you’ve chosen the right candidate and agreed terms, they’ll probably need to work out their notice with their existing employer before joining your organisation.

By taking on temporary staff, you can have someone in place within days, with the peace of mind of knowing that all their paperwork Is taken care of by us.

2.   Scale up (or dial down) on-demand

Large orders, seasonal peaks and staff absences can all affect the number of staff your company needs, while particular projects may mean that you require specific experience and skills on a short-term basis.

By using high-quality quality temps, you can adjust the size and skillset of your workforce and very quickly increase the headcount, or dial it back down, as the business demands. 

3. Prepare for the unexpected

In addition to dealing with the normal pattern of sick leave, managers now need to cater for people who have to self-isolate for a period if they have been in touch with someone with COVID-19, or ahead of routine hospital appointments. 

One local manufacturing company we have worked with for many years had a challenge in its finance team due several members of staff being on long-term sickness leave. This affected key processes which needed to be completed for supplier invoices to be approved and paid.

We provided them with four experienced temporary finance assistants who were able to ‘hit the ground running’ and cleared the backlog quickly, meaning supplier invoices were brought up to date and the supply chain remained uninterrupted. Several of the temporary finance assistants we provided have now been offered permanent roles. 

4.   Keep your options open with temporary to permanent

If you are not completely sure about the skill set you need in a particular role, employing someone on a temp to perm basis gives both you and the employee a chance to scope out the new role, and to make sure that you are a good fit for each other. 

One of our clients, a well-known international distribution company, needed up to 30 temps to support their core customer service team in a particularly busy period and asked us to help them find the right people.

We were able to engage the new team quickly and provide in-house testing to assess their customer service, problem-solving and written communications skills before they were offered longer term roles as part of the assignment process. 

Once again, several of the people we placed have been offered permanent roles with the company. 

5.   Gain a new perspective and additional knowledge

Where teams include a high number of staff who don’t have extensive experience in a given role, it can be useful to bring in an experienced specialist on a contract or longer-term temporary basis.

Not only will they have the functional skills you need, but less-experienced members of staff can also learn from someone with extensive experience to uplevel their own skill set.

Many teams have lost momentum over the past year, especially if people have been working from home and unable to meet up face to face. Including some temporary members of staff in the team can help bring new energy into the business.

The right temporary hire could also bring experience with processes and procedures from other organisations to spark fresh new ideas and help the in-house team grow and develop. 

6.   Be certain about what you pay

At Priority Appointments, we can offer local temporary pay rate benchmarking to help make sure you’re offering the right rate to attract the best people with specific skills for your temp roles. 

We also make sure that you know exactly what you’re paying for. When you use temps through us, our Transparent Pricing commitment means that you see exactly what you will pay for each temporary member of staff. We clearly explain all our hiring processes, procedures and pricing, which is based on a fixed margin per hour, not a percentage margin or mark-up. This means that if a temp’s pay rate increases, as a result of a pay rise or overtime for example, there are no nasty surprises as the hourly margin you pay remains as agreed.

7.   Choose an accredited temp agency

Many people underestimate how much paperworks is involved in placing temporary staff and performing compliance checks. Not only do we meet with candidates face to face to ensure the team fit is right but we follow rigorous compliance checks to ensure candidates can present the correct right to work documentation as well as evidence of any specific qualifications that are required for the role.

By choosing a recruitment partner which is a member of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, you can be sure that we will undertake all the necessary checks so that you don’t inadvertently breach any regulations with the people you employ.
 

8.   Benefit from Continuous Support

Once we have placed a temporary worker, we will keep in regular contact with you to ensure their work performance is as expected and to provide support if you need it. We will also contact the temporary worker from time to time to check how they are doing.



If you are ready to find out more about how to make the most of temporary and contract staff for the choppy business waters ahead this year, please get in touch for a no-obligation conversation. Tel: 01256 334575 or email us at office@priorityappointments.co.uk