Trigg Copenhaver is the CFO for a Virginia-based firm that manufactures electronics-connection panels. The downturn in the economy has helped him discover the beauty of temporary accounting workers.
“Global competition is forcing everybody to do whatever they can to hold costs down indefinitely, and with this, not only is it cheaper, but you can expand and contract your work force as you need to,” he asserts.
While highly-skilled financial services temps still draw superb salaries, and sometimes require costly training, most companies are willing to make the initial investment in exchange for the flexibility of being able to inflate or shrink the company workforce without the stigma of laying off workers.
A second benefit is that for most firms, a pool of temporary workers is an ideal recruitment tool. The perception is that temporary workers are not as productive as full-time workers, but companies who staff their “core competency” positions with full-timers quickly discover that a carefully-managed pool of temporary workers rivals the productivity of the best full-time workers.
And when managers are ready to hire someone full-time, they have already had a look at some great talent. That temporary pool is the perfect resource to draw from.
Source: Pine, Art. “Employers Shifting to Overtime Pay, Temporary Workers.” The Seattle Times. Sunday, September 19, 2004. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002039577&zsection_id=268448455&slug=temps19&date=20040919
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