the Cost of Temporary Employees

We regularly hire temporary employees to assist us in our customer service center and we go through a service that screens the employees and only sends the ones to us that have some experience with the type of project that we need them for. The agency charges us an additional one-third on top of the base pay that is paid to the employee, so because we pay $12 per hour to the employee we actually pay an additional $4 to the agency for a total cost of $16 per hour.

The quality of the temporary employees that were provided to us on this occasion was generally good. We used four employees for a two-week period and they all had the type of experience and abilities that we were looking for. The employees were enthusiastic about the work and they were all professional and responsible individuals. We were pleased with their work. The cost for the service is fair because the agency spends the time to screen and interview candidates and only sends us people that we can use. We avoid spending the time of our HR department and the additional fee offsets the time and expense that would be spent to hire on our own.

Be very clear with the temp agency about exactly what you are looking for and don't be afraid to send employees back to them that are not the right fit or that don't have the qualifications needed for the work. There is a large pool of temporary workers and there is no reason to keep someone who isn't getting the job done.