It is not unusual to have to manage temporary staff alongside your permanent ones. It could be because of holidays, sickness or an extremely busy period. They need to be able to fit in with your existing staff and be managed in an effective way. It is becoming more common to use temporary workers as they can fill a need a business has, but they do create challenges for any business owner or manager.

Have A Plan In Place Before You Start

Have a plan in place for the extra help you need. Do not just hire anyone for the sake of it. Know what skills are required, what duties they will have to perform, what hours they will be required to work, what parts of your systems they will have access to, and how much they will be paid.

All of these things need to be established before you take on any temporary employees. This task can be made less onerous with the use of staff management software, which will grow your database of qualified and available staff as well as scale your resources to meet the demands of your business.

Welcome Them To Your Workplace

Regardless of how long they will be working with you, the temporary staff should be made to feel welcome. Make sure they are introduced to the people they will be working with, let them absorb the culture of your business to get used to the workspace they have been allocated.

Provide Them With The Tools They Need

You need to ensure that the temporary workers have the tools they need to do the job being asked of them.  As well as having the right equipment, they will need access to certain areas of your systems and clear and concise instructions about what it is you want them to do.

Whoever is in charge of your IT needs to make sure they have access to the parts of your hardware and software that will let them work efficiently. For communication purposes, if they are going to be using a phone it should be there ready and waiting for them.

Temporary workers often move effortlessly from one position to another but that will only work if they the information regarding the job you are assigning them to, and the tools to complete that job.

Include Them In Communications

You need to make sure they are included in any communications that involve the staff. If there are changes to working hours, for example, or some specification that could be relevant to the work they are doing, they need to be kept in the loop along with your permanent staff.  

It should not be left to other staff members to tell them these things. If they are getting on well with your existing staff, you may well want to also invite them to any social events that you have planned for your staff. As long as doping this does not compromise security in any way, it will make them feel more like a member of the team.

Benefit From Their Experience

In addition to the skills they bring with them, a temporary member of staff may well see things in a different light. This could be beneficial to your business as they could have experience in something that other staff members do not. If they speak with you about any suggestions that will speed up the working processes, or improve productivity, you should always listen to what they have to say.

If they have made their career as a temporary staff member, they will have worked in several other businesses and have learned things from them that could be useful for your company.

For years, temporary staff was thought of as people that no one would employ full-time. That is not the case anymore. Many temporary workers choose to work this way because of the flexibility it gives them. There are many very highly qualified and experienced workers who have chosen this option, and most skills you will need you will find among temporary workers.

Suggest They Come Back Another Time

Not all temporary staff will be as good at the work as you hoped, but some will be a perfect fit. However, it is not always the case that they are looking for something permanent as some people like moving about from business to business. If this is the case, suggest that they come back the next time you need some temporary staff, unless of course they are otherwise engaged.

Knowing you would welcome them back another time can boost the confidence and their productivity. If any of them ask you for a reference or testimonial, never be afraid to give them to good workers, or even recommend them to other business people that you know.

Is A Permanent Job An Option?

Hiring temporary staff can be a great way of finding new permanent ones. It lets you see if their skills are as good as they have told you they are, you can see if they fit in with the rest of the workforce, what their time-keeping is like and various other things about them.

If they like the idea and everyone else does too, the offer of a permanent job should be an option.

A Different Proposition

Managing temporary staff can be a totally different proposition to managing your existing workforce. However, you have to remember that they are there to earn a living just like everyone else. They want to get the job done as effectively and efficiently as they can, which is exactly what you want from them.

Treat them as you would any of your own staff and you will not go far wrong. You can even build up a database of temporary staff that you can call on as and when you need them.

They can be a big cost saving too, as you will only be paying them when they work and not at the times when there is not anything for them to do.