CLOSING CASE The Temptation of Temping employment-services manager observes, job
ID: 350105 • Letter: C
Question
CLOSING CASE The Temptation of Temping employment-services manager observes, job seekers today are more than willing to try new occups willing than they were even a year ago more Several years ago New Yorker Diana Bloom logged on to Craigslist, an online network that posts free classifiled ads and offered her services as a tutor, editor, and translator. She's been making a living on the short-term jobs that come her way from the website ever since. A former English profes sor who couldn't find secure long-term employment, Bloom works out of her home in order to take care of a young son. Temp work is also appealing, she says, because "Tm not very outgoing, and getting my foot in the door to companies would have been hard Interestingly, for a lot of people, the adjustment to cur rent labor-market conditions isn't necessarily as traumatic as you might think. A recent survey conducted by the tem- porary-staffing agency Kelly Services found that as 26 percent of employed American adults regard them- selves as "free agents" when it comes to the type of job that they're willing to take (up from 19 percent in 2006). Of all those polled, only 1 0 percent said that they're doing tem- Craigslist works in the other direction, too, with employ porary work because they've been laid off from permanent ers posting openings for jobs both permanent and tempo- rary. Another New Simone Gigs section for jobs that las a few hours. Whether as a backup singer or a grants writer she's turned the strategy of patching together'gigs" into a convenient way to supplement the income from her full-time job. T'll use the extra money to pay off my school loan, she says. "Every little bit helps er, Simone Sneed, scours the Craigslistjobs: 90 percent said that they're doing it because they st for perhaps a day, often for just the variety and flexibility that temping afford them. Sneed, Kelly client Jaime Gacharna's first assignment was pack- aging products for a light-industrial wholesaler-"putting doorknobs into little bags for eight different employers, working at a job for a few days a few weeks, or a few months. He doesn't mind the constant adjustments because the variety in his work life compen- recalls. Since then, he's worked In the current economic climate, unfortunately, overal for the drawbacks. "if I want to try something out, and like it"says Gacharna,"1 can stay with [the companyl. If I job postings are down on Craigslist and everywhere else, exsates cept for short-term jobs-gigs that usually include no heal benefits, sick days, or paid vacations. If you're employed short don't. I can always just call up Kelly and say I want something term or part-time for economic reasons (probably because you got laid off), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) classifies you as "underem different In fact, temping offers several advantages. It can, for example, provide income during career transitions, and Naturally, most people who are"underemployed"a it's a good way to exercise a little control over the balance between your work and the rest of your life. In 1995, for ex- by definition, overqualified. In fact, they often have years of professional experience but are willing to take jobs that don't ample when she was 7 months pregnant with her first child call for their levels of training or experience. Take the case of Gloria Christ. As national project manager for an information data-en technology company in the Chicago area, Christ used to co-t ordinate the installation of Wi-Fi hotspots all over the country She has several years of managerial experience but is also been willing to put it to use as a temporary office manager. of course, she'd like something with a little more long-term her field had come up, but the job she landed in has veteran retail manager Stacey Schick accepted a two-week try job with the Orange County (New York) Associa- tion of Realtors."1 didn't know how to turn on a .she remembers, but "they needed bodies Now the mother two, Schick is still with the Association as its education coor dinator. I would never have considered it,' she says,if a job promise: At this point in time, she says, "1 think even if there was something that was temporary, it could become full time later on.... Sometimes; she explains,"you can go in at a low level to interview just to get your foot in the door. out to be a much better fit with her lifestyle: "It's afforded the opportunity to have a family and be able to have ime me with them It may be small ompensation (so to speak), but because and it offers employers several advantages as well The path taken by Schick is called "temp-to-perm of the recent economic situation, although many companies Companies that are hesitant to make commitments are reluctant to add costly permanent jobs, they are increas-untested employees can try before they buy-they ingly willing to open up temporary positions to tide them over. Often, of course, you'll have to take a job that isn't ex to chance to see employees in action before finalizing decisions. Because there are no fees to pay when a goes from temp to perm, trying actly what you've trained for or set your sights on, but as one employeeExplanation / Answer
So even when the temp-to-perm policy is extremely beneficial for the balance sheet of a growing business, only the basic entry level jobs can be filled with the help of it because of the disadvantaged of the system.
2. As a prospective job seeker , there are almost similar no. of advantages as disadvantages of taking a temp-to-perm position:
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
3. Challenges confronted by a supervising manager of a mix of temporary and permanent employees:
These challenges would differ if temporary workers have been hired on a temp-to-perm basis rather than strictly temporary basis:
There still would be different benefit and salary structure plans but it will help the supervising manager in analysing and testing the temp-to-perm employees if they fit the requirements of a permanent position with the company.