Companies across the country supplement their workforce during busy seasons by hiring temporary workers. No matter how many temp workers are on your staff, you need to be able to integrate them successfully into your team of regular, full-time employees. Integrating temp workers is important to their level of comfort, their productivity and how well they interact with their co-workers at the company.
Here’s how to do this well:
Explain Company Guidelines Clearly
One of the first things that must be done is that you need to explain guidelines to temp workers as clearly as possible. Make sure their workspace is setup prior to them arriving for their first day. Have instructions or an employee manual at their workspace so they can reference it when issues occur. Also, make sure they know who they should report to at the office and how communication should be made.
Explain Your Culture
The next thing you need to do when integrating your temp employees with your regular staff is to explain the culture of the office to them. They need to know what type of culture they will be working in so they can model their behavior and attitude to match the culture. It does not matter if the temp worker will be at your company for one day, one week, one month or one year; they need to know what is expected of them and how to handle themselves in the office.
Tell Staffing Company What You Need
Before you accept any temporary workers for open jobs, you need to communicate clearly with the staffing firm as to what you want. Tell the staffing firm what type of job is open, the details of the job, the type of employee you require and also explain your culture. The staffing firm will then be able to sort through the candidates they have and try to match one who will fit the culture at your company while also being able to perform the required duties.
Never Treat Like a Temp Worker
Even though the temp worker might be at your company for only a brief time, you should never treat the worker like a temp employee. Instead, treat them like they are a regular, full-time employee. Let them have the run of the building like your regular staff members, welcome them to team meetings, provide them with access to the cafeteria and other features of your company. An excellent way to treat them like a regular employee is by letting them take ownership of the job they were hired to do.
It is vital to integrate temporary workers into your regular staff if you want them to succeed when on the job. The more you treat them like regular employees, the more productive they will be in their job.