The title may seem like it is in conflict. Temporary staffing retention. You might ask, “if it’s temporary, what does retention mean?” Or, “how can retention apply to temporary staffing?” For all temporary staffing assignments and workforce engagements, whether short-term, long-term and unbounded, retention does matter.
Over the past few weeks on the Barton Staffing Solutions blog, we discussed the issue of turnover, and outlined the real costs turnover presents to businesses relying on temporary workforces as a fundamental business strategy.
Just like turnover metrics, retention is relative to, and should be measured against specific and individual job assignments. This is different than an annual metric used measure full-time employee turnover or retention.
The reason we should consider retention as a complementary issue with turnover is to understand what it is that management can do to reduce costs relative to poor retention numbers. Both the management of the staffing firm, and the management of clients using temporary workforces, must collaborate to keep these costs under control.
Retention for a temporary workforce is the rate at which temporary employees finish an assignment, and/or remain in the temporary workforce for a client. When retention is low, it stands to reason that unemployment for the temporary staffing agency will go up making it difficult to keep temporary workforce costs low for its clients.
YES, it may come as a surprise, but it is TRUE. A temporary worker that is not retained on a job, and then is not immediately sent out on a new temporary assignment is an unemployment cost liability for your partner, the staffing firm you employ.
To be clear, temporary workers under US unemployment law are not distinguished from full time employees. We meet with managers that do not realize this. Understandably, some of this confusion may be due to some temporary staffing firms
Programs that can increase retention rates include:
- Training on specific tools, machines and process that increase a temporary employee’s value.
- Differential incentive pay for 2nd and 3rd shift workers.
- Paid holiday time off.
If your staffing firm is not worried about turnover and retention, ask them if they are E-Verifying their workforce. Not to do so may present an audit issue for your company.
Barton Staffing Solutions E-Verify’s every temporary employee they send to your job site. We make available and can provide a variety of training for employees to meet client needs. We also pay employees that have earned it, paid holiday time off. We always available to discuss and implement other programs that can increase retention rates and lower costs for your company. Call us today.
