Personnel Today describes temp workers as “workers who are not part of the permanent workforce, but who supply services on an irregular or flexible basis…”. The number of people who are taking on casual work is on the rise. According to a 2015 report by the CIETT, over 1.15 million people in employment in the UK are currently classed as temp / casual workers. Casual work is a great option for people who want or need flexibility in their life.
Casual workers are also a great resource for a lot of businesses who experience fluctuations in the demand for their service. If you are hiring casual workers for the first time or are looking to hire more workers in the future, keep in mind these 5 points:
1. Be in control
The traditional method of hiring casual workers involves going through a temp agency. You tell the agency the type of person you need e.g. waiter, bar staff etc. and the agency will source them for you. The downside of this, however, is that you will not get to know the person working for you, their qualifications or skill-sets, until they arrive at your restaurant or office.
In this situation, you are putting your trust in the temp agency to hire the most suitable person (or people) for the role. You can take back control of who you hire by using a technology platform like Syft. Before you hire someone, you can see that person’s experience and read reviews from companies who have previously used them.
2. Staff must have legal entitlement to work
When hiring casual staff, you automatically check their skills and experience but it’s very important that you check they are legally entitled to work. If you hire someone who doesn’t have the right to work in the UK you could be fined up to £20,000 per worker. And, in some cases you could face imprisonment if it’s found that you employed someone who you knew did not have the right to work in the UK. It is safer for you to use a platform that conducts face to face vetting and ‘right to work’ checks, than it is advertising the role in a shop window, for example.
3. You can save your business money
Advertising, interviewing and training staff can take up a lot of a business’ time. Using the traditional hiring method of advertising on a job board, you spend time creating a job description that explains what the job involves and where it is. If you are advertising the same job on several job boards, this means you have to copy and paste the description several times, taking up even more of your valuable time.
By choosing to hire casual workers via an app like Syft, you will be saving your business valuable time, as you can upload details of the job description and venue straight into the app. The details you enter will remain the same, no matter how many times the job is viewed or saved by job seekers. Not only will this save the business time, but you are guaranteed more accurate search results.
4. You can hire quantity and quality
You may find that you need to hire a large number of casual workers to help out with a special event or provide cover at a large venue. If you do, it’s important that you are able to find enough workers that have the right experience and aptitude to do the job. You could outsource this to a temp agency, but as we mentioned earlier you have little or no control over who they hire.
Apps, like Syft, have taken the time and effort to personally vet all the workers that register their details with them. Hiring casual workers through these apps, you have peace of mind that the people you hire have the required skills, experience and personal qualities to work at the venue or event.
5. Casual workers can be brand ambassadors
Staying in touch with casual workers could save your business money. We are not advocating that you start sending your casual workers birthday and Christmas cards (well, you can if you like!). What we are saying is, if you felt they did a great job, got on with the work and did a good job at representing the business, you should go and talk to them after their shift has finished. Explain that you felt they did a really good job and that you would like to hire them again in the future. Taking a few minutes out of your busy day to do this, could save the business money in the future, as you will spend less time on hiring.
Furthermore, these workers could become brand ambassadors for your business, by telling friends and family what a great company you are to work for. Hire flexible staff members with confidence. Choose Syft and connect with top rated, reliable and fully qualified workers, available to hire on-demand or ahead of time.
