Are you looking for solutions to your company’s human resources needs? Consider the advantages of working with a staffing firm. Staffing companies help businesses find the right people with the right skills to meet their changing needs. In addition to temporary help and placement services, staffing companies provide long-term and contract help, training, managed services (often called “outsourcing”), human resources consulting and professional employer organization (PEO) arrangements.
According to the American Staffing Association (ASA), staffing firms employ an average of 2.9 million temporary or contract workers a day nationwide. Companies use staffing employees for two primary reasons: flexibility and access to talent. According to the ASA, 9 out of 10 business customers rate flexibility as an important reason to use staffing companies, because it keeps them fully staffed during busy times. Whether it’s a temporary job lasting a few hours or several years—or a permanent job placement—staffing companies allow businesses to adjust their work forces to meet their ever-changing needs. There are three main types of job placements in the staffing industry:
- Temporary or contract, where you add a staffing employee on an interim basis
- Temp-to-perm or temp-to-hire, where you add a staffing employee until you’re sure a spike in business will sustain itself or you want to make sure you have the right candidate for the job—if so, he or she becomes your employee
- Direct hire or permanent, where you tell the staffing firm what you’re looking for, it selects candidates for interviews, and you hire the best one
While most businesses are familiar with the staffing firm’s ability to provide quality temporary employees, many others have discovered the value of the temp-to-perm arrangement, in which they see how well individuals work out before hiring them on a permanent basis. According to the ASA, 8 in 10 business customers say that staffing companies are a good way to find potential permanent employees—and industry research indicates that 3 out of 4 customers rank the quality of the employees they get from staffing firms as good as or better than their own employees.
Because staffing your business is an ongoing need, it’s best to build a long-term relationship with a firm that will be ready when your business suddenly picks up, or when valuable employees suddenly leave.