How to Set Your Temporary Workers Up For Success

Temporary workers provide a great supplement to your full-time staff. However, you need to set the stage for success. By creating the right work environment, you can maximize your temps’ potential.

It’s important to have a system in place for optimizing your temps. After all, these positions represent a growing component of the labor market. To keep up with the competition, you need the flexibility and productivity boost that comes from temporary workers.

Experts estimate that the market for temps will become even more important in the next few years. A study compiled by TrueBlue and Emsi predicted that, by 2025, the U.S. economy will include 3.2 million temp jobs. The growth rate in these positions will outstrip the overall pace of job expansion.

How can you optimize this crucial part of your workforce? Here are some tips to set your temporary workers up for success:

Have an Organized Onboarding Process

Many companies maintain a laidback attitude for adding temps. Often, these workers don’t fall under the typical HR process, meaning that individual managers are tasked with onboarding. Busy supervisors often don’t have time for a well-organized process.

This can generate problems. Temps can be thrown into assignments without enough orientation. It can cause confusion and lead to wasted effort. To avoid this, have a standardized process for bringing temps into your organization.

Provide Appropriate Training

The same issues surrounding onboarding can apply to training as well. In an attempt to save time, managers can attempt to get temps working as quickly as possible. This causes them to streamline educational activities.

As a result, the training process can become haphazard. Quality can suffer and safety can take a backseat. Once again, creating a formal procedure, with adequate checks and record-keeping, can prevent these issues.

Assign a Mentor

Entering a new work environment can be confusing and even scary. Incoming temps often have trouble figuring out details or unspoken rules. Simple tasks – like finding the bathroom – can become daunting chores.

Prevent this by assigning each temp a mentor. These veteran employees can give guidance and answer questions. They will help your incoming worker get comfortable with their new environment.

Encourage Communication

Encourage your temps to ask questions. This will help them learn and will speed the training process. It will also help your new workers understand the organization better.

At the same time, provide constructive feedback. The more direction you can give, the better output you’ll get. While doing this, maintain a positive outlook.

Treat Them Like a Full Member of the Team

Don’t treat your temporary workers as if they are a piece of rental equipment. Instead, make them feel welcome and part of the team. This will boost their productivity. Meanwhile, you might find an excellent long-term addition to your staff.

Ready to boost your organization with temporary workers? Turn to expert guidance to do it right. SmartTalent can provide you with the best temps for your organization.

Contact SmartTalent today to find out more.