When you are running a business, the members of staff that you bring on board are going to make all the difference to how well and how smoothly you can expect it to go. However, it may not always be the case that full-time staff members are the right route to go down for you. On other occasions, the gaps can be filled on a temporary basis. However, there is not one single way of hiring temp staff. You have a few main options that are worth considering. By assessing all of them in more detail, it is much more likely that you are going to make the right decision for you. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Fixed-Term Employees
First of all, you have the option of hiring staff members over a fixed term period. Essentially, this means that their contracts have a clear start and end date. Alternatively, the contracts can run until the completion of a certain project. Often, these take place over a fixed period of time such as maternity cover – or they could be over an especially busy period such as Christmas. On these occasions, holiday pay and notice periods are still taken into account. So, make sure that you include all of this in your financing plans and projections.
Zero Hour Contracts
Next up on the list, we have zero-hour contracts, which is when the worker does not have a guaranteed number of hours during the course of a working week. This means that staff members will only get paid for the number of hours that they are working. Of course, there is more of a level of flexibility built into them, but you need to make sure that you are in a situation where these are being used responsibly as there are plenty of negative news stories out there. There is still a defined legal framework that is built into them which needs to be taken seriously at all times.
Agency Workers
The final type of temporary worker that we have on the list comes in the form of agency workers. Often, these are hired through a specific temp agency, which can be anything from an education agency to bring on board teaching assistants, to a pharmacy agency that hires a locum dispenser. These people are going to be classed as workers rather than employees and they are entitled to everything that is stipulated in employment rights, such as rest breaks, paid annual leave, and the national minimum wage. Also, when they are working for a period of 12 weeks, it is automatically the case that they are going to get the same treatment as employees in a comparable position.
When you are bringing on board temporary members of staff, it is always going to be worth exploring all the main routes in front of you to work out which of them makes the most sense and fits in best with what you are trying to accomplish.