the Cost of Temporary Administrative Employees

At my company, we hired a temp worker to do some basic work, which included answering phones, taking care of sending and receiving packages, routing calls and taking messages, as well as some more project specific duties including managing client lists and a few other things. The employee was hired on a temporary basis to fill in for one of our regular workers who was out for a couple of weeks. We hired this employee through a well known temp agency.

Overall, the temp did a pretty good job. Our expectations were not exceendingly high. We basically wanted someone who is cordial, responsible, and has basic office and computer skills; that is pretty much what we got. I would have been hesistant to give this temp more than the most basic of tasks. While she did not exactly fill the shoes of the worker she was subbing in for, I did not really expect her to. This temp employee did suceed in taking the heat of the rest of us when one of the important members of our staff was out.

Be specific with the agency about the skills you require of your temp - knowledge of certain computer programs, etc. You don't want to have to wasted your own time teaching someone how to use excel, for example.