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My experience with companies using temp which is rampant in my profession is they are mostly slimeballs who like to
use temp agencies to avoid paying benefits, being able to terminate them with one phone call, and declare them as overhead rather than head count. I can't say I was very surprised to hear temp-to-hire is just temp with the company dangling the carrot of being made permanent to motivate the workers despite having no intention to.
Temp to perm mainly means the company has negotiated the possbility of hiring someone full time without the usual high finders fee. It does not mean the company really has the intention of doing so. This is why I advise anyone in such a position to regard it as just plain temp and to keep searching for a direct position and say bye bye the minute one has an offer (counteroffers usually end badly and encourage bad behavior by employers).
There was a tread last week of someone leaving a perm position for a TTH and I am even more emphatic now that it was a terrible idea.
I can't believe companies are finding competent employees through these services. I have seen nothing but incompetent, lazy and generally worthless workers being unloaded by these services in my profession. Most reputable employers are shifting away from using temp services, instead offering full time jobs. The only positions they try to fill with these services in this area are the unskilled jobs, or when the companies want illegal laborers.
My employer was talking about hiring a worker to handle cleaning and various unskilled task work. I asked him if he considered looking into the temp services to fill this need. What he told me was they tried using them in the past, but they couldn't find a decent worker even worth minimum wage. They would much rather pay $10/hr and offer bennies so the work is done right the first time around. Even at minimum wage (the employer is of course paying more than what the worker earns) it costs the company more when the worker has to do jobs 2-3 times over before it's done correctly. Some companies are OK with subpar results, but quality is always worth paying more for.
Unfortunately my profession is so terrible that competent employees are willing to take the crap wages and benefits offered because pretty much 3/4 of the jobs at least are permatemp especially the large companies in my area like Abbott Labs, Pepsi, Kraft, Conagra, Baxter Labs, Now Foods etc and unemployment is rampant. I was forced to work for 3 years like this and hated every moment and still never fully recovered my passion for the field. I and everyone else working this S__T jobs interviewed for the few FTE jobs every chance we got. I would say the majority of the people I met in similar situations were reasonably competent or they would be gone very quickly. However, most of the smart ones only stuck arround to get up enough money for a career change. If anything happens to my current job though I vowed I would just go back to college for a new field rather than waste away at temp jobs again.
I can't believe companies are finding competent employees through these services. I have seen nothing but incompetent, lazy and generally worthless workers being unloaded by these services in my profession. Most reputable employers are shifting away from using temp services, instead offering full time jobs. The only positions they try to fill with these services in this area are the unskilled jobs, or when the companies want illegal laborers.
My employer was talking about hiring a worker to handle cleaning and various unskilled task work. I asked him if he considered looking into the temp services to fill this need. What he told me was they tried using them in the past, but they couldn't find a decent worker even worth minimum wage. They would much rather pay $10/hr and offer bennies so the work is done right the first time around. Even at minimum wage (the employer is of course paying more than what the worker earns) it costs the company more when the worker has to do jobs 2-3 times over before it's done correctly. Some companies are OK with subpar results, but quality is always worth paying more for.
Temp work (aka contract/consultant) is very common in IT. These are high paying jobs that are filled by highly skilled workers. It's common for a firm to hire consultants to design/build an app. The job is often completed shortly after the app goes live. Then the consultant goes to the next assignement to build another new app. It's kind of like a home builder...your work is done once the product is built.
I can't believe companies are finding competent employees through these services. I have seen nothing but incompetent, lazy and generally worthless workers being unloaded by these services in my profession.
Your company is using the wrong agencies then ... As I have said before, there are levels in temp agencies, some are for day labor and some are for skilled and semi-skilled workers.
You get your people from places like Labor Ready usually you are going to get those that can barely function in this world.
YES, I have seen very poor workers but they last a day or less(we have sent some home), I have seen some that just need to supplement their retirement income and are great workers. yes, some temp workers are temp workers for a reason(can't stay clean or sober more than a couple days).
What we bring in short term temps for are really simple jobs that I could explain to the average 10 year old and they would do fine - example: try to insert tool into part, if it fits-it is good, if not-it is bad, good parts go in this box, bad parts in that box, some you would think it was rocket science and others have zero problems.
Unfortunately my profession is so terrible that competent employees are willing to take the crap wages and benefits offered because pretty much 3/4 of the jobs at least are permatemp especially the large companies in my area like Abbott Labs, Pepsi, Kraft, Conagra, Baxter Labs, Now Foods etc and unemployment is rampant. I was forced to work for 3 years like this and hated every moment and still never fully recovered my passion for the field. I and everyone else working this S__T jobs interviewed for the few FTE jobs every chance we got. I would say the majority of the people I met in similar situations were reasonably competent or they would be gone very quickly. However, most of the smart ones only stuck arround to get up enough money for a career change. If anything happens to my current job though I vowed I would just go back to college for a new field rather than waste away at temp jobs again.
Reading your posts what I get is this............you can't get a job in your industry without going through a temp agency so you have no pricing power........the temp firms have a monopoly and you play ball or starve.
As I suspected. Temp-to-hire for the most part is a scam according to the attached article. For all you folks roped into such positions, don't stop your job search and don't trust the company's assurances.
Actually I like the temporary workers concept. Allows the employer to weed out the bad apples. If they don't cut the mustard just call up the temporary hiring agency to send someone new. If someone shows competence and is a valued employee the chances are good they will become permanent.
The problem with hiring permanent help is that is getting more and more difficult to fire people who should be fired. This is a way around that problem.
It is not a scam.
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