Last month we took a brief survey of our active temps and applicants for temporary employment to gain some insight on their thought process about issues temps face every day. While the results was not all that shocking to us it may serve some use to those using temporary staffing services to get the most bang for your buck.
For example, the number reason why a temp quits an assignment before it is over is because it became apparent that there was no chance for permanent hire. Next was inadequate job training ahead of the pay rate being too low.
When it came to deciding to accept a temp assignment permanent hire opportunity was again the most important factor followed closely by pay rate and somewhat surprising, job location.
A combined total of 55% of those responding rated the quality of job training received at the start of the assignment as either excellent or very good. Those less satisfied felt they were just handed over to another worker, sometimes another temp to teach them the ropes. Similarly, 38% thought the safety training received was very thorough while 24% said they received no real safety training beyond using their own common sense.
We all know that the "first day" on the job comes with some anxiety. We found 48% reported having a client rep waiting for them and spending a fair amount of time orienting them on expectations and helping them get off to a good start. The negative was the 34% that arrived with nobody to greet them and not being sure where to go. Another 10% reported being turned over to another production worker upon arrival and told to do whatever that person tells you to do....not a great start. Imagine, not one of our survey participants said the first day was the greatest time of their life because they were put in an air conditioned conference room with unlimited coffee and donuts to devour while watching videos about the client for four hours.
Given a choice 41% described their last temp experience as one where they were given the impression that they were nothing more than cheap labor without any future working for the client and that they could be replaced tomorrow....OUCH! On the plus side, 21% felt as though they were an important part of the process by the way they were treated by others and that there was some potential future at the client. About 31% put their impression somewhere in the middle.
We also directed a few questions towards how our staff was perceived. About 45% said that our staff did an excellent or very good job in the overall placement process from start to finish. Nearly 14% seemed to think that we did not present the job accurately or that the placement was a complete waste of time and that they would not be returning. On a similar note 59% graded the Ryan Staffing experience positively with 24% not being happy campers at all mostly due to never being placed on assignment.
One of the biggest problems in the staffing industry is the temp that accepts an assignment and then fails to show up for the first day of work without calling anyone. This is the dreaded NCNS..no call/no show in industry lingo. The number one reason why this happens according to our survey is that the temp after the fact gets home and decides that the job is to far away for the pay rate and that the staffing company will have no problem finding someone else to take their place (35%). A close second is that they receive a better off from another service and they know they will never return to the original service anyway so "what the heck" (31%). It's funny but 14% used payback for not being placed quicker s the reason.
It would seem from both the perspective of the supplier and the user that some easy opportunity exists to make the temp experience more productive by putting ourselves in the temps shoes and asking how we would like to be treated.....is that not true about a lot of things in life?
