How to Strike Employee Gold in a Temporary Workforce Stream

Great salespeople don’t prejudge prospects and write them off prematurely! So, why do some managers prejudge temporary workers and write them off prematurely? To strike employee gold in a temporary workforce stream, managers must shift their mindset from a “find a way to fire them” to a “find a way to hire them” mentality. 

Customer vs. Talent Acquisition

Extraordinarily successful sales professionals treat all prospects equally. They build a positive rapport, assess the prospect’s needs, demonstrate an interest their success, and work through several steps to qualify them. Then, they proceed with a personalized sales pitch or presentation to gain a new customer or client. They understand, from experience, that an educated guess usually proves to be rather uneducated and for the most part flat-out wrong! While customer and talent acquisition are often treated as if they are miles apart, in my opinion, they are more closely related than one might think. I believe both hiring and selling require prospecting, qualifying, and pitching to be most successful.  

The great prospecting and selling skills of exceptional sales professionals, however, starkly contrasts how most managers treat temporary workers. All too often, temporary workers are written off and disqualified right out of the gate. Quite commonly, temporary employees do not receive adequate training or the resources they need to be productive. And, sadly and unfortunately, sometimes managers treat them unfairly or ignore them altogether. If as a sales professional you said to a prospect, “Prove to me that you are worthy of purchasing my product or service,” you would not be overwhelmingly successful. That attitude does, unfortunately, parallel the recruiting and hiring approach used by many companies and their managers.

Granted, some temporary workers are not seeking full-time employment. Furthermore, some do not possess the work ethic, commitment, or skills to qualify, even if they are interested in permanent employment. The point is you will not know who qualifies and who does not unless you have a system in place that managers can use to prospect for employee gold. In most cases, the gold will not just jump out of the stream and into your pan. Sure, that may happen occasionally if a couple of workhorses or A-players are in the stream. However, that is a rare occurrence in today’s workforce climate. Although, there will be quite a few B-players in the stream. To that point, how much employee gold is washing downstream to be lost forever? Can you really afford that if your goal is to hire full-time employees? 

The Talent Pool is Shrinking 

While a study by TrueBlue and Emsi projects that temporary employment will grow 8.5 percent by 2025, the overall workforce is shrinking. According to the president of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Johnny C. Taylor Jr., we now have more jobs than people to do them, which means our labor shortages are going to get worse. According to a study conducted by the Manpower Group, a job placement firm, 7 in 10 employers reported talent shortages in 2019. This is the worst level ever and an increase of 17% from 2018. This current shortage is three times higher than a decade ago. A study conducted by Centers for Disease Control found that birth rates dropped in 2019, for the fifth year in a row, reaching the lowest point in 35 years. With more baby boomers retiring, low birth rates over the past four decades, and insufficient levels of legal immigration to pick up the slack, shortages are at hand and are projected to increase. One can only conclude that when you find good employees, you better retain them! And if there is hidden gold in your temporary workforce, you had better mine it! 

Prospecting for Employee Gold 

Many leaders use temporary workforce solutions to determine if workers fit into the culture, show up on time, and perform at high levels. But does the company culture and management support positive outcomes in those areas? I submit to you that culture often needs rebuilding, and, in most cases, managers are contributing to poor attendance and performance. While a temporary workforce solution affords leaders the opportunity to try before they buy, what makes anyone think that employees aren’t doing the same? Many of them are! Therefore, if managers let the laws of natural selection and survival of the fittest play out, there won’t be many temps converted to permanent positions. While some temporary workers will possess the wherewithal to learn procedures, develop skills, and produce beyond expectation, even without adequate training, resources, and motivation, they are indeed rare. Even so, those workers may not be seeking full-time employment. That is, exactly, why managers need to ask. 

According to the Workforce Solutions Buyers Survey, temp-to-permanent conversion is between 10% to 30% plus. How many temporary workers are you converting to employee gold? To hit 30% or higher, consider implementing the changes below. 

The Prospectors  

Frontline managers oversee 80% of the workforce, are responsible for executing company strategy, and they are key players in building culture. They are also the prospectors who can effectively mine for employee gold in the temporary workforce stream. Retraining and reskilling them to adopt the following strategies will significantly increase their success.

Mindset 

Managers must shift from the find a way to fire to the find a way to hire mentality. They must avoid prejudging or prematurely disqualifying temporary workers. Managers must treat them all fairly, equally, and provide opportunity for success across the board. Managers must reject the notion that employment is just transactional and view it as relational. Managers must switch their approach from natural selection and survival of the fittest to prospecting and cultivating.  

Foundation 

Managers must not only ensure that all temporary workers are initially trained, but they should also continue to train them while workers are under their employment. Throw temporary employees to the wolves and your rate of absenteeism will rise. When employees do not know how to do the work, they usually call off work. Managers must make certain that temporary employees have adequate resources to perform their tasks. They must also remove impediments and obstacles which prevent employees from being productive. 

Presentation 

As I stated previously, a temporary workforce solution affords leaders the opportunity to try before they buy, but it also provides employees the same. Hence, many employees are trying before they are signing. If you were attempting to sign a new client, wouldn’t you put your best foot forward? The 2 biggest reasons for voluntary turnover are bad management and lack of growth/development/advancement. Managers control both. According to DDI, a global leadership consulting firm, 57% of employees quit because of bad managers and another 32% are considering resignation. Clearly, the manager/employee relationship is crucial to talent retention. To significantly increase the temp-to-permanent conversion ratio, managers must be trained to deliver effective feedback on the fly. They need to become skilled communicators, coaches, and motivators. They must recognize and praise high performance. Managers need to demonstrate that they care. They should showcase the company culture and deliver a presentation that would make even the most highly skilled sales professional envious. Remember, this is not just about the temporary employee selling themselves, it is also about your managers selling themselves and the company.

Surprisingly, growth and development are more important to most employees than advancement. In fact, research shows that demand for advancement or promotional opportunity has decreased 45.8% since 2010. On the other hand, demand for growth & development opportunity has increased by 170% since 2010. As you can see, it is not always about advancement. This opens the door for every company to improve talent retention, regardless of the number of available advancement opportunities. To satisfy the growth and development aspect, well-trained and highly skilled managers can deliver on coaching, mentoring, technical skills enhancement, cross-training etc.  

Here is the real kicker, though; contrary to common belief, compensation is 4th on the list for voluntary turnover. Bottom line is you cannot buy your way out of turnover! It’s not always about the money.

Prospecting 

If you do not ask, you may never know. After several weeks of employment, managers should begin assessing the goals and aspirations of temporary workers to prequalify them for full-time employment. Some are only seeking temporary work. However, many are in search of permanent work. Does that mean that managers should drop those who are not seeking permanent positions like hot potatoes? No, it does not. These workers can be highly productive when engaged, irrespective of their length of tenure. On occasion, some temporary workers will claim uncertainty or that they are disinterested in permanent employment. That can be code for “Convince me that I should stick around.” Until your managers implement a consistent strategy for prospecting and cultivating, and they systematically work through that process, most of the gold will remain hidden until it washes away for good.   

In conclusion, there is employee gold in the temporary workforce stream. Although, many companies fail to prospect for it or capitalize on the opportunity. If, as a company, you could increase your conversion ratio from 5% to 35%, the cost savings would be enormous, not to mention the gains realized in production.  

For more information on how to reduce employee turnover by 50% without increasing compensation or offering costly incentives or ineffective perks, download my free white paper below.  

How to Reduce Employee Turnover by 50%

Regards, 

David Roppo

Coach & Consultant