No matter what type of accounting or administrative position you’re trying to fill, there will be times when you need to fill a position on a temporary basis. Perhaps someone has gone on medical leave or maternity leave. Perhaps you aren’t going to need a particular position long-term, but do need someone to fill in for a few weeks or months: seasonal workers are one example of these temporary workers. Temporary placements are a headache when you try to do them on your own, but by working with an experienced staffing company, you can make the most out of your temporary employees.
Outline what the job entails. If you’re filling a position that is normally held by a regular member of your staff while they are out for a period of time, it’s particularly important that you take a few minutes to put all the responsibilities associated with the job in writing. This accomplishes two things. First, it lets your temporary employee know exactly what will be expected of them throughout their time with you. Second, it allows you to clearly label the expectations and gives you a template to come back to later if you realize that something isn’t being done as you expected. For seasonal employees or others who are filling a job on a temporary basis, having a clear list of expectations means that you can easily ensure that you’ve communicated all of the responsibilities of the job to each new employee. Don’t rely on verbal training to pass all of this information along! Having it written down means that everyone is on the same page from the beginning.
Aim for time to train. If you have the opportunity, let the staff member who will be going on leave train their temporary replacement. They already know exactly what their job requires, including all of the little details that someone else might not think to share. By letting your staff member train their own temporary replacement, you make sure they have all the information that they need–including where to find those items associated with that particular job that no one else uses. If you don’t have time for an individual to train their own replacement–an unexpected medical leave, for example–have someone who works closely with them take over part of the training process.
If you’re working with seasonal employees, have them work side-by-side with people who fill similar jobs throughout the entire year or who have been with your company for quite some time as part of the training process. This will help ensure that they’re getting all the information from someone who is actually performing the job every day.
Have a clear procedure for questions. Inevitably, there will be questions that you don’t fully cover during the training process, especially if you’re rushing to get someone in the position. Make it clear how questions should be handled. Temporary employees are sometimes less inclined to put extra effort into learning how to do the job since they know they’ll be moving on soon, so make it easy for them to figure out anything that they haven’t already been told.
Get all the information you can about the worker before you hire them. Make sure that you’ve shared your needs very clearly with your staffing agency, and look over the paperwork to make sure that the temporary employee coming your way fits your criteria before they get started. This will save everyone valuable time if you discover that the employee isn’t a good fit for your company.
Looking to hire temporary employees to keep your business running smoothly? Contact us to see how we can help.