the Cost of Temporary Accounting Employees

We hired a temporary accounting employee for 3 months when one of our staff accountants went on maternity leave. We paid $750 a week.

This person did everything we asked of them. Even though they were going to be there for three months we did teach them everything that or regular employee knew. Our business is a very confidential business and we didn't feel comfortable giving them access to a lot of our clients information. Instead of having them cover the missing employees work directly we spread their work amongst our other staff accountants. We then had the temporary accounting employee assist them in any way they needed. This was everything from filing to compiling spreadsheets. The employee did a great job doing exactly what we asked and not asking too many questions. They were also very good at taking what was thrown at them when it changed every day.

Just because you are missing an employee it doesn't mean your temporary employee has to directly replace them. Sometimes it makes more sense to mix up the other duties and create a temporary change in duties and the chain of command. Be careful with how much access you let the temporary employee have to your company and client information as they may be working for a competitor at a future job.