How to hire temp staff in London

When you run a business, there are times when it may be necessary to bring in extra staff. Here are some of the reasons why:

• You need to fill gaps in your current staff roster (eg. Covering holidays, maternity)
• Your business has periods of high demand (eg Christmas)
• You need a particular job done in your business, but don’t have staff with the necessary skills

You don’t have to hire someone permanently to fill these gaps. You can bring in staff on a temporary basis. Hiring temporary staff can be a bit of a minefield if you don’t plan properly, however. Let’s examine the different ways you can do it, so you can choose the option that’s right for your business.

 

Advantages of hiring temporary staff

There are so many benefits to bringing in staff on a temporary basis rather than permanent.

• You can hire temporary staff quickly, and let them go quickly when you have no work for them anymore. Temporary staff offer flexibility to your staff roster
• You can find temporary staff with the exact skills you need
• If you find somebody who you can’t bring yourself to let go of, you can make them an offer to join your team permanently

 

Two types of temporary worker

There are 2 main types of temporary worker. It’s important, when you choose which type to go with, that you remember your legal obligations. Your responsibilities regarding Employment law are different depending on what option you choose.

 

1 – Fixed-term contracts

You can hire staff for a defined amount of time, or until a specific task is completed. You write the contract for them as you would with any other member of your team, it just has a defined end date. Of course, you need to comply with all relevant Employment laws as laid down by the Government.

The most popular type of fixed term contract is maternity cover. You know that your permanent colleague will be back after a year, or however long they want to take, so you hire someone in for that specific period.

Many businesses will take on workers for just the month of December for example, to cope with the Christmas rush.

 

2 – Temp agency workers

You can outsource the hiring and some of the employment process to an outside agency, a temp agency. They have staff on their books which they can direct to you at very short notice. If you don’t need them anymore, you simply instruct the agency. Of course, they charge you a commission for this service!

There are a few things you need to remember when you hire agency workers:

• Staff hired through an agency are known as ‘workers’, not employees. However, when you hire agency workers you need to comply with all relevant Employment laws as detailed here by the Government
• Once an agency worker has been with you for 12 continuous weeks, they are considered entitled to the same treatment as your other employees. They are entitled to comparable pay, bonuses and commission as well as other rights

 

How to hire temps

Once you have decided which type of temporary employees you would like to hire. It’s time to get started. Here are some ideas of how you can do it.

 

1 – Do it yourself

You may prefer to take on the task of finding temporary staff yourself. Maybe you know someone who would like to come and work with you on a short-term basis, or you could ask your current team members if they have any friends who would like to join them.

You could also harness the power of the internet and advertise your position on job boards such as Upwork or PeoplePerHour.

Of course, one of the drawbacks to doing it yourself is that it takes time and effort. Remember, you’re hiring temp staff to make your life easier! Also, it’s difficult to gauge the quality of your applicants when you use job boards. You don’t really know who you’re hiring.

 

2 – Temp agencies

Another option is to use temp agencies. They take the vetting and hiring process out of your hands. They will, in most cases, take care of paying the worker. They offer flexibility and you can use specialist agencies if you want to hire in specialist skills.

Of course, the downside is that agencies charge for this service and if they’re a specialist agency in a certain industry, the commission could be quite high. If you decide to take on an agency worker as a permanent member of staff, this could incur a charge too.

Here are some London temp agencies you could talk to if you choose to go down this route:

• Tiger Recruitment
• Reed
• Love Success

 

3 – Crowdskills

We’ve seen why it’s advantageous to hire temporary staff, as well as what types of temp worker exist and some ideas of how to hire them.

There’s one option we haven’t mentioned yet, Crowdskill’s digital temps. Here’s how we’re different from other job boards or temp agencies:

• We specialise in placing temporary staff with highly-sought after digital skills (web development, graphic design, social media and much more)
• All our candidates are vetted to make sure they’re as good as they say they are
• You can use Crowdskills for one-off projects or regular support. It’s all about flexibility
• Our freelancers are local to London, so you can easily meet them to find out if they’ll fit with your business

If you want to find out more about Crowdskills temps, click here or call 0203 504 6465.