Many businesses rely heavily on temporary workers, to help them cope with seasonal peaks in demand and to work on short-term projects. They aren’t just a stopgap – they’re an essential part of your hiring and operational strategy.
However, engaging temp workers can be much more difficult than keeping your permanent staff motivated. They won’t be around in a few weeks or months, so why should they give their all for your business? The key is to make temporary employees feel valued, however long they work for you.
Here are some tips to help shape your strategy for engaging your temp workforce:
Implement a great onboarding process
Temporary workers who aren’t given enough time and support for training when they start a new position are likely to feel like fish out of water. They’ll be confused, not 100% sure what they’re doing and unlikely to give you their best. This is far from the ideal way to start off at your organisation.
This is why it’s important to make the onboarding process as smooth, straightforward and helpful as possible. Invest some time in structuring this, providing the right training and information to make new temp workers feel excited – rather than intimidated – by their new role.
Prepare your permanent staff
For a working environment to feel comfortable for both permanent and temporary workers, everyone needs to be on board. This is why it’s important to start a conversation with your full time early, before you bring in temp staff. Let them know how the new arrangement will work, how they can help with training while managing their own workloads, and provide a space for airing and addressing their concerns.
Make temp staff feel part of the team
To make temporary staff feel welcome, you should include them in company life as much as possible. This includes extending your existing bonus, incentive and benefit schemes to temp staff, as well as celebrating the achievements and wins of temporary staff. The aim is to make your new team members feel valued and included from their first day on the job.
Lay down some targets – and incentives
Everyone is motivated by a reachable target, especially one with a juicy incentive at the end. As temporary contracts have a clear end in sight, this is the ideal opportunity to set some targets for the period. Giving temp workers something to strive for is a powerful motivator, giving them focus and purpose.
Create a pathway to permanent roles
If you can create a pathway from temporary contract to permanent role, this can be hugely motivating for anyone joining your company for a short period.
A temporary contract is a great opportunity to test out a new employee, to see if they’d be a good fit for your company on a permanent basis. It’s a kind of on-the-job interview, or practice run. With a full-time job opportunity potentially up for grabs, a temp is likely to go all-out to impress.
Need temporary recruitment solutions for your business, or searching for temp roles for yourself? Get in touch with North West recruitment specialist First 4 Recruitment, or start browsing jobs here.
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