Temps: Your new best source for solid workers

You might be overlooking a solid source for reliable employees – the temp market. It’s booming, and there are at least three good reasons why you should be making it the first place you look.
Some HR managers hear the term “temp worker” and immediately think “low-ambition slacker.” Think again. Hiring temps has become cool – and rewarding for employers.
Consider: Since 1990, the number of temporary workers in the United States has doubled. And the U.S. Dept. of Labor projects that by 2012 the number will grow by another 50%.
OK, so maybe you’re saying, “Sure, maybe we can use temps to fill low-level leftover jobs that our permanent people don’t want.” Maybe, but that’s not what other employers are doing.
3 good reasons
In fact, the temp market is brimming with high-skill workers in fields like IT, and companies are scooping up those workers, for at least three good reasons:
1. Temps can transform your workforce and your business into lean, quick-reacting machine. They come in, they do the job and they leave. There’s little or no downside.
2. You can use them as try-outs for permanent positions. Some will like the way you operate, and you’ll like some of them. That gives you an instant talent pool to draw from.
3. A lot of them are Baby Boomers. Not that Boomers are better, necessarily, but many are mature, experienced workers who’ve left the daily grind and are looking to catch on as temps. Often, they don’t want a lot of fancy, expensive fringe benefits. They want to do the job well and get a paycheck. Not a bad deal for you or them.
Does your CFO hate the idea of paying the fees required to hire good temps? You might mention all the costs associated with hiring permanent employees, and the pain involved when business hits a slow spot and you’re forced to go to layoffs.
All in all, it looks like the temp trend is one no employer can afford to ignore.