The choice to hire temporary workforce can be a positive one for any business going through growing pains. Temporary staffers provide multiple benefits including the flexibility and freedom to augment current teams, to find professionals with a broad range of specialized skills, and to reduce hiring and screening costs. However, the key to successful use of temporary workers is to retain them for the duration of their contracts to realize the greatest ROI.

Use these tips to retain your temporary workforce and experience the full benefits of a working with them.

1. Have a successful onboarding program for temps.  Temporary employees need a formal introduction to your company in order to quickly become part of your culture. You’ll want to design a brief orientation day, complete with a walk-through of the facilities, meeting key personnel, and a list of business contacts. Then the temp should be assigned a mentor employee to show them their new tasks. Without this onboarding program, many temps will not respond or adapt well to the first few days on the job.
2. Make temps feel they are contributing to the company goals. Oftentimes, temp workers will start an assignment with the assumption that they cannot make much of a difference to the company, due to their short contract. The truth is that temps can and they do make a difference in the workplace, including supporting every department they work in to reach tangible goals. To help them stay motivated, have short term deadlines and goals for each temp to achieve during their assignment and relate them to corporate objectives.
3. Provide flexibility to temps whenever possible. Everyone is looking for work-life balance, therefore you can help to retain your temporary employees by offering somewhat flexible scheduling. Consider the advantages of hiring two temps on a part time basis who can work varying shifts? Also, offer flexibility to your permanent staff by allowing temps to fill in for those who need paid time off or to work half days at times.
4. Give positive feedback and recognize great work. At every opportunity, make sure you are recognizing the efforts of your temp workforce along with your regular employees. Provide incentives for short term employees and say “thanks” to your temps who work hard to reach their goals. Let your perm employees know how valuable your temps are to the success of the company too.

Over time and practice, you’ll find that your business will benefit from a highly productive temporary workforce and things will get done according to deadlines, while you retain your temps for the duration of their assignments. If you are looking for temp agencies near Atlanta, contact Staffing Resources today.