Avoid Employment Agency Problems

Relying on an employment agency is growing
more popular than ever before; untold thousands of companies around the globe
today are relying on employment agencies to supply them with temporary workers,
and HR departments around the world are struggling to meet the demands of these
new, temporary employees. Furthermore, every seasoned HR practitioner is
familiar with the dreaded sensation of having a temporary employee fail to show
up to work, or worse yet, one who arrives on time but produces dreadful results
at their job. 

Isn’t there a practical way for HR
departments to avoid employment agency problems? As a matter of fact, yes; read
up on these tips you should be keeping in mind when dealing with employment
agencies, and you may very well save yourself from an employment-related
headache in the near future. 

Staffing
agencies aren’t all bad

Before we even begin to touch on how you
should avoid employment agency problems, it’s imperative for us to remember
that not all staffing agencies are bad, and that they can actually provide
vital services to companies who find themselves in a snag. If your seasoned
employees up and quit without notice, or have to take a temporary leave of
absence, then a staffing agency may be the only thing standing between your business
and financial Armageddon; so, how should you approach these agencies when you
have an employment need, and what things should you be looking out for when
determining which agency to go with? 

First and foremost, you can detect a bad
staffing agency early on by learning how it treats its candidates before
sending them your way. Check out a list of ways that staffing agencies either
excel or utterly fail at treating their candidates early on in the process, and
you’ll come to have a good idea of what kind of agency you’ll want to end up
working with. You shouldn’t be afraid to make a cold call to the agency to see
how they respond to you without a heads-up notice, and should definitely not be
afraid to inquire about their interview process and how thoroughly they vet
their candidates.

After all, there’s perhaps no greater
dilemma for an HR manager than learning that one of the temporary employees
they brought onboard through an employment agency turns out to be a bad apple
that cost the company money, or worse, its reputation on the broader market.
Thus, before you rely on an employment agency, read up on the things you need to know before
making a hiring decision if you want to avoid bringing in a bad seed who will
pollute your workspace with unprofessional behavior. 

You should also be worried that some of
your temporary employees brought on through an SEO agency, if they’re kept around for too
long, can become full time employees, which might put additional cost on your
company’s shoulders. The University of Sussex has a tremendously handy series
of guidance notes that HR officials can rely upon
when it comes to determining how they can provide for temporary staffers, which
you should read up on ahead of time if you want to avoid a financial
tragedy. 

Not
everything is in your control

HR managers will end up tearing their hair
out if they don’t acknowledge that some things are simply beyond their control.
While you should be extensively vetting employees so that you’re not bringing
on workers with extensive criminal records or something of the sorts, you
should be aware that sometimes, the agency you’re working with may be less than
honest, or may have simply dropped the ball themselves and sent you a sub-par
employee. HR departments should avoid finger pointing in such scenarios, and
instead focus their energies on practical solutions to their problems. By and
large, a great deal of employment agency problems can be avoided entirely if
you only rely upon them when it comes to seasonal surges in business, when you have
no other choice, or when it comes to filling in for someone on leave.

HR managers shouldn’t
lull themselves into a fall sense of security, either, and believe that they
hold no legal responsibility for temporary workers; employment agencies can and
will quickly rope your firm into legal disputes, so don’t think you’re immune
to the worst case legal scenario just because your not dentists or doctors If
you think you’re immune from a lawsuit, then think again, or you’ll be coughing
up in the form of extensive fines sooner rather than later. 

It should go without saying that relying too
much on employment agencies will spell doom for any company in the long-term;
you’ll need a savvy recruiting operation of your own, and should reserve
temporary workers for labor emergencies or when you need to tackle a specific
project. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll be avoiding employment agency
problems that would have otherwise been ailing your business before you know
it.