UK organisations are increasingly using temporary workers as opposed to the traditional approach of hiring permanent staff. Research by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies and Staffing Industry analysts has shown that in the past twelve months permanent placements have fallen by 5% while temporary staff numbers have increased by 7%.

There is no doubt that the worst recession in the UK for five decades, the continuing uncertainty in the Eurozone countries and in particular the stability of the Euro and continuing shortages of credit especially for SMEs have knocked business confidence and promoted new thinking. Much of that new thinking has been around staffing with more and more companies building their businesses round a permanent core of highly skilled staff and adding to the core team, in general but not always, lesser skilled staff through the use of employment businesses that provide them with the temporary staff they need at precisely the time they need and retain them only for the time the employer needs. Hence there are no unproductive employment costs and hence increases in productivity have enabled business to become increasingly competitive where this approach is applied.

Further it is a great time for employers to not just use more temporary workers to manage employment costs more efficiently but to agree high levels of service with employment businesses such as: the supply of well-trained temporary staff; exceptional attendance rates; strong motivation and can-do-type individuals; and flexible attendance to meet work needs and minimise downtime costs.

The more professional employment businesses understand this ‘added-value’ concept and are usually very receptive to meeting the challenging needs of their clients whether it is providing 10 or 100 temporary workers or more. Also some of these employment businesses can provide so much more to add to competitive advantage and employers should really explore in detail the full ‘added-value’ package available to them. Examples may include: preparing job descriptions and person specifications; undertaking a range of aptitude tests; assisting with induction; helping with the development of risk assessments; training both temporary staff and the client’s own staff; dealing quickly with complaints and converting temporary staff to act as engaged permanent staff.

Using a staffing model based on core permanent staff topped up by temporary staff capable of providing a wide range of diverse skills really does help management to minimise risks and shed some of those very difficult people management issues at a time where staffing levels may easily and regularly change to meet turbulence in the market place.

Dr Hugh Billot, Deputy Chairman

HR GO Group of Recruitment Companies

HR GO Recruitment offers solutions to all your staffing needs, temporary and permanent, please call 0845 130 7000

www.hrplustraining.co.uk   

www.hrgo.co.uk

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