Berks & Beyond Blog

Temporary employees can be a great asset to your organization.  They can help you meet critical deadlines, fill-in for unplanned absences and free your core staff to focus on their most important tasks.

But if your company uses large numbers of temporary employees, it’s easy for your direct staff to fall into an “Us vs. Them” mentality.  And while treating temporary workers as an entirely separate workforce may seem innocuous, the practice can have unintended consequences for your direct employees. 

For example, research from the University of Arizona has found that direct employees (particularly at lower levels) are less satisfied with co-workers and bosses when working with a higher proportion of temporary employees.  Why?  The responsibility of training and socializing temporary workers on company-specific processes is often assigned to direct employees.  As a result, having more temporaries can complicate full-time workers’ jobs.

Here are a few suggestions for improving the working relationship between temporary and direct employees to achieve even better staffing results:

• Make temporary employees feel included.  While temporaries are, in fact, a separate part of your workforce (and must be treated differently because of co-employment laws), you and your staff can still make them feel welcome in your organization.  By encouraging social interaction (e.g., formal or informal introductions) among all workers, you can foster social ties that are essential to a cohesive workforce.
• Educate your direct staff.  Take the time to clearly explain the role and value of temporary workers.  The better your direct employees understand the benefits temporary help provides, the more likely they’ll be to work productively with them.
• Take advantage of training.  If you use large numbers of temporaries, many staffing services will develop customized orientation and training programs for specific positions.  This shifts the time-consuming burden of getting new temporary employees up-to-speed off your direct employees’ shoulders.
• Consider an on-site staffing coordinator.  With a Vendor On Premise (VOP) program, a staffing service provides a staffing specialist to work at your location.  This individual will schedule, assign and coordinate temporary workers; provided necessary orientation and training; and monitor temporary worker performance to ensure maximum productivity.  In addition, the on-site coordinator can resolve temporary workers’ issues that come up during the work day.

Bottom line, there are a number of steps you can take keep relations between temporary and direct employees positive.  And the more positive their working relationship, the better your results will be.  Contact Berks & Beyond today to learn more about our strategic staffing solutions for southern and central Pennsylvania employers.

The following top candidates are highly skilled, motivated and ready to go to work for you:

BUTCHER – Allentown, PA

Candidate Initials:  J. N.

Skills and Experience:  Over 20 years of experience working as a meat cutter; 10 years as a manager.  This individual also worked as a fabricator and installer for nine years.

Education:  H.S. Diploma

Desired Pay:  $14/hr.

To learn more about this candidate, please contact Katie at Katie@berksandbeyond.com  or call 610.435.9270.

WAREHOUSE / CLERICAL - Allentown, PA

Candidate Initials:  A. I.

Skills and Experience:  Former Marine with various warehouse skills including, but not limited to:  forklift, pallet jack operator, shipping and receiving.  This multi-tasking, professional candidate has office experience working as an inbound/outbound customer service representative.  Great interpersonal and MS Word/Excel skills.

Education:  H.S. Diploma; some college

Desired Pay:  $11/hr.

To learn more about this candidate, please contact Katie at Katie@berksandbeyond.com or call 610.435.9270.

ASSEMBLER, 1st SHIFT - Pottstown, PA

Candidate Initials:  M. W.

Skills and Experience:  Experienced worker with over 22 years in the warehouse industry.  Skill set includes:  dry wall, inventory, janitorial, painting, receiving, supervision, child care.

Desired Pay:  $12/hr.

To learn more about this candidate, please contact Heidi at Heidi@berksandbeyond.com or call 484.945.0516.

Any staffing service can claim they’re the best, or that they’ll find you the right job opportunity.  But we’re not just “any staffing service.”  So, we thought we’d go straight to the source – and show you what our employees have to say about their experiences with Berks & Beyond:

Pottstown

“Berks and Beyond Employment Service is a service that is very personable, very in-tune with what the employee is looking for, very thorough and on-the-ball.  I tried other agencies and they promised to deliver, but they did nothing.  I give B&B an excellent rating and I would refer them to anyone.”
- Steven Brynan

Allentown

“I started working with Berks & Beyond in March 2009.  Since that time they have helped me obtain several quality positions.  The staff is always friendly and very helpful.  They have always answered any questions I have had and most of all they have kept me working!  I would recommend Berks & Beyond to anyone looking for work!”
- Stephen Gower

Reading

“After being laid-off from my job, I was searching and searching for a job.  I went into Berks & Beyond and they found me a job so quickly, I wished I had gone to them sooner!  Everyone is extremely nice and very willing to help, and I couldn’t ask for a better agency.  I would recommend Berks & Beyond to anyone who does not have a job.  They helped me out tremendously, and they can definitely help you out, too!”
- Christina Boyer

York

“I would just like to thank Berks & Beyond for the wonderful opportunity of being able to maintain a job in the workforce today.  As we are all aware of the economy today, it is not very good; and many well-meaning people are out of work.  I would especially like to thanks Ms. Bonitta Martin for her diligence in keeping me afloat with satisfying, consistent work.”
- Felisha Short

Are you looking for a rewarding work opportunities with the area’s leading employers?  Just click here  to learn more about what Berks and Beyond can do for you.

Everyone knows a contingent worker can act as a quick fix when a secretary or line worker calls in sick at the last minute.  But if that’s the only way you think temporaries are good for you, you may be underestimating their value as true pain relievers.

Here are some common aches and pains you may face at work, and Berks and Beyond’s prescriptions for using temporary help to cure them:

1. High fixed expenses.  Bring in expertise on an as-needed basis.  Temporaries with specialized skills can deliver the experience and skills you need without impacting fixed expenses.  If your business faces an unknown future, consider using temporary staff – just when you need it – to keep your workforce lean and flexible.
2. Wasting time on non-critical activities.  Free up your employees’ time to focus on core competencies.
3. Paying benefits.  Limit your benefits expense by using contingent workers.
4. Meeting tight deadlines.  Bring in temporary employees – even at the last minute – to help you complete projects on time and on budget.
5. Bad hires.  Let a staffing service assume this risk for you.  If you need a permanent employee, use a temp-to-hire service and evaluate the candidate on the job before making a final hiring decision.
6. Training.  Reduce training costs and learning curves by bringing in temporary employees who are trained and have experience using the skills you need. 
7. Turnover.  When you use temporary employees in high turnover positions, the burden for replacing those workers (recruiting, training, etc.) is on the staffing service’s shoulders.
8. Seasonal crunch-time.  If your business has predictable surges in demand, a planned staffing option may be right for your business.  With this tool, temporary employees supply the extra help needed to complete work only during your busy periods.  As an added benefit, planned staffing will reduce layoffs.  When things slow down, you let the contingent staff go and hold onto your employees.
9. Overtime.  Use temporary help to avoid paying higher overtime rates and eliminate the employee burn-out it causes.
10. Lack of expertise.  Bring in temporary executives, professionals or technical gurus to teach new skills to employees in your organization.  Use their expertise on a short-term basis to complete a special project, or until your core employees have learned the new skills needed. 

No panacea exists for every challenge you face on the job. But for headaches like the ones listed above, Berks and Beyond can provide staffing services that are just what the doctor ordered.