There are many different approaches to hiring that seek to improve the experience for both employers and employees. One popular innovation with employers is the practice of ‘temp to hire.’
What does temp to hire mean?
With a ‘temp to hire’ program, employees start a temporary job that can become a permanent position, commonly after 90 days.
Temp to hire is a sort of audition or paid internship where employees show off their skills and prove they are ready to move into a more permanent role, all while assessing whether the company has the right culture and career path for them to thrive at work.
There are many benefits for both the company and the employee that make a lot of sense, which is why it is used by a lot of organizations.
Benefits of Temp to Hire for Employees
Gained Experienced
Gaining experience is important for those looking to enter a new company, trade, or industry. Temp positions are a great entry point, allowing employees to try different types of roles and companies before finding one that best fits their skill set and needs.
We live in a world where demonstrating the ability to learn and showing experience in a similar role are both highly sought after by employers. Temp-to-hire positions provide that opportunity and even if that temporary job doesn’t turn into a permanent position, employees now have experience for the next related opening.
Ways To Build Relationships In Industry
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” This phrase is more true than most people realize. If you are trying to break into a new industry, you might not yet have connections. Not only does a staffing agency like Staffing Support Specialists help you break down barriers to getting that initial job, once you are in the job you will meet people in your desired industry. Their advice and perspectives are priceless.
Temp-to-hire positions are perfect for developing relationships that can pay off over many years. As your career grows, so will the careers of your connections. You can leverage these connections over time and take your career to a whole new level.
Understand the Role Before You Accept Direct Employment
You might be able to learn a little bit about a position in school or through a job description, but it’s often difficult to know what a position entails until you actually get into it and try it for yourself.
Temporary positions are great for these situations where a person might be trying something new or looking for a new company to work for. By getting into the mix and understanding a little more about the position and its day-to-day responsibilities, they are much more likely to make a good choice before taking a permanent position. This also means that, once they’ve made a decision to accept a permanent role, they are more likely to stay longer with that employer.
Benefits of Temp to Hire for Employers
Flexibility to Test Out New Positions Without Full Commitment
Companies will often avoid making organizational changes if they aren’t confident those changes will help them head in a better direction. For example, maybe they are serving a new customer, but are unsure if that customer will have repeat orders. Or perhaps they want to experiment with a new workflow for the organization, but they know they will need some practice to get it right.
For companies looking to make organizational changes and add positions that they might not have had before, ‘temp-to-hire’ programs provide the flexibility to try out changes while being clear up front with prospective employees about the potential risks. As a result, you can make more educated decisions about the longer-term structure of your team to maximize productivity.
Time to Assess an Employee’s Performance
It is difficult to know whether a job seeker is the right person for your openings, even when they have the exact experience at a different company. While interviews are helpful, they are an imperfect tactic to assess applicants. Implementing a temp-to-hire program lets you assess an employee on the job, without taking on all of the hiring and onboarding risk.
Most temp-to-hire programs have some kind of performance measurement structure that lets your HR department keep track of how your temporary workforce is doing and identify the high performers that might be the best fit for permanent positions.
Time and Cost Savings
One benefit of implementing a temporary workforce that many organizations don’t think about is the time and money it can save.
Because these temporary positions are also typically employed by a staffing agency, you do not need the same recruiting infrastructure, nor offer benefits until a tried-and-true individual is added directly to your payroll.
While it might seem like a temp-to-hire program would be complicated to implement, staffing agencies have deep experience with these programs and you can often get started in a matter of days. A staffing agency can handle all of the many hiring tasks, from screening and interviewing to performance reviews and offer letters. You simply reap the benefits!
A temp-to-hire program has an incredible amount of benefits not just for the company, but for the employees as well. Implementing one might seem like a daunting task, but that is why Staffing Support Specialists is here! We can help you implement and manage the program giving you all the benefits, without the headache.
To learn more about how we help Milwaukee companies with their staffing needs, contact us today!
