Tips for hiring agency staff
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This is a simple question to answer in many respects. The main reason people use agency staff is that they don’t have their own staff available. This could be for a variety of reasons, but it’s usually because someone hasn’t turned into work, or can’t make it for whatever reason.. It’s not generally advisable to use agency staff if you consider your staff shortfall to be extensive, you would be much better off hiring a part time permanent member of staff or someone on a fixed term contract; agencies can charge a high price for their services.
The best thing about using an agency to fill your shifts is that you don’t have to worry about what to pay the employee who turns up and you have no negotiating to do at all; all you have to do is pay the agency. It is their responsibility to ensure that the employee who works for you gets minimum wage etc and if there are any disputes regarding pay they are usually between the employee and the agency and you are not involved. If for any reason it disputes etc affect the work capacity of the employee then the agency will simply send you another one.
There is one main problem with hiring agency staff and this is the fact that they are unlikely to be familiar with your business and the way in which you and your team work. Significant amounts of time may be required to show them the ropes so if you’re not intending on hiring them for long it might be a good idea to have them doing tasks that they may not necessarily need too much training for.
However, even though you’re not responsible for paying your employee or any other matters or disputes that should arise, you are responsible for their health and safety. You are still liable for claims against your business if you are in breach of health and safety regulations so when your new staff member arrives it’s a very wise move to make them fully aware of the health and safety procedure and show them where they can find any relevant and recent risk assessments. If you have done this and your checks are up to date then you should be covered in the result of any accidents.
So although agency staff may be convenient and you don’t have to worry about paying them and dealing with disputes, their agencies can be expensive and you may also find that you need to do a lot of in house training before the new employee is fully capable of operating in within your business.
There comes a time in many industries when you simply have to use temporary staff. Hiring agency staff can be a bit daunting at first, but once you get used to a particular agency that fulfils your needs you’ll be fine.
Why use agency staff?
This is a simple question to answer in many respects. The main reason people use agency staff is that they don’t have their own staff available. This could be for a variety of reasons, but it’s usually because someone hasn’t turned into work, or can’t make it for whatever reason.. It’s not generally advisable to use agency staff if you consider your staff shortfall to be extensive, you would be much better off hiring a part time permanent member of staff or someone on a fixed term contract; agencies can charge a high price for their services.
Pay
The best thing about using an agency to fill your shifts is that you don’t have to worry about what to pay the employee who turns up and you have no negotiating to do at all; all you have to do is pay the agency. It is their responsibility to ensure that the employee who works for you gets minimum wage etc and if there are any disputes regarding pay they are usually between the employee and the agency and you are not involved. If for any reason it disputes etc affect the work capacity of the employee then the agency will simply send you another one.
Familiarity
There is one main problem with hiring agency staff and this is the fact that they are unlikely to be familiar with your business and the way in which you and your team work. Significant amounts of time may be required to show them the ropes so if you’re not intending on hiring them for long it might be a good idea to have them doing tasks that they may not necessarily need too much training for.
Health and safety
However, even though you’re not responsible for paying your employee or any other matters or disputes that should arise, you are responsible for their health and safety. You are still liable for claims against your business if you are in breach of health and safety regulations so when your new staff member arrives it’s a very wise move to make them fully aware of the health and safety procedure and show them where they can find any relevant and recent risk assessments. If you have done this and your checks are up to date then you should be covered in the result of any accidents.
Overall
So although agency staff may be convenient and you don’t have to worry about paying them and dealing with disputes, their agencies can be expensive and you may also find that you need to do a lot of in house training before the new employee is fully capable of operating in within your business.
