Employers cut costs by hiring temp workers

Andrew Wild

With the rising costs of medical and other benefits, more companies are using temporary workers to save money.  Temporary workers generally don’t receive benefits, and it’s a way for companies to make sure the person they bring in is going to work out before investing in them and hiring them on permanently.

Jackie Gill, director of Career and Re-entry Services, gave her personal opinion as to why this trend is becoming so popular for businesses. “Mainly, it’s just cheaper. They don’t have to pay benefits or full-time pay.”

“In this economy, there are so many people applying for jobs they are vastly overqualified for. People are taking jobs that they never would have before. There are people with their masters applying at Starbucks, just because they need the money,” Gill said. “Employers just want to make sure that when they hire someone, they are going to stay.”

For each employee that is hired, between the time it takes and the costs of labor to train them, it can cost an employer thousands of dollars, Gill said. “As a job seeker, you don’t see that, but employers have to look at the bottom line.”

Dan Bradford worked at Volt, the temporary agency that contracts workers out to 2wire, a tech company, before being signed on full-time with 2wire. “Employers don’t want to waste their money if the worker is terrible,” he said. “They don’t want to pay people full-time pay and benefits without getting some pay-out back.”

“I had to work for Volt for over a year before 2wire brought me on as a full-time employee. They looked at my attendance record and performance record before they made the decision,” Bradford said. “Once they signed me on, I got health benefits and a raise, so it was nice.”

The reality is that many employers won’t make the investment in their employees right off the bat, as was the norm in the past. They are looking for workers that show promise before bringing them into the fold.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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