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Temp Help -- Or Is It?

Your company engages a temporary service to provide an employee for a particularly busy season at work. They send someone who seems efficient, pleasant on the phone with clients, friendly with co-workers.

On day three, she tells you that she's had an offer of full-time employment with the county. Are we going to hire her or not? She wants some kind of reassurance, immediately, or she will have to take the other job. She's a single mother and she must know now so she can make arrangements.

It's three days until your busiest time of year -- no time to train someone new, but what if this person leaves in the middle of this busy time to take another job? What would you do?

Here are some important points:

1. Temp workers should never discuss other job offers with the employing company, only with the temp agency (who is their true employer).
2. Temp agencies charge a hefty fee (25% of annual salary for the position) for "converting" their employees to your payroll.
3. There is no guarantee that if you pay the fee the temp will stay on as your permanent employee. No contract whatsoever. The agency only guarantees a prorated refund for up to 12 weeks, or they will provide one replacement temp with no further conversion cost.

Some points that you (as the boss) may not know about or see:

1. This temp has been "kissing up" to key employees, complimenting them on their hair, their handwriting, telling them how dedicated they are, telling them "gosh, I don't know how you do it, with your family and everything to deal with..." etc. Etc.
2. This temp has been playing "one against the other" with some employees, I.e., tells this one one thing, tells the other something opposite, and then tells a third something else, and so on, until everyone is looking at each other suspiciously (but not at her).
3. This temp has told everyone that she thinks can plead her case about her "dilemma" of wanting to stay here, but having that "permanent" offer from the government to think about... Oh, and the last temp assignment she had? Those people are calling her, too. "Gosh, what should I do? I didn't sleep a wink last night!"


What do think of this scenario? What kind of employee is this temp?

It Or -- Temp

Having seen people work for a temp agency I think that this employee is someone who will not stick around long in one position because they are looking for something better around the corner. If I was the employer I would be calling the temp agency and asking for another employee and getting the one they sent out of my offices.

Temp Help -- Or Is It? History & Civil Business Politics

Some Temp jobs sometime turn perm only if that worker is willing to stay on board long enough to come on full time.