Indianapolis Temporary Agencies

If you currently staff any part of your organization with temporary employees, your staffing partner should be looking out for your best interests and providing guidance on how to properly manage that relationship.  I consider my Indianapolis staffing relationships with my clients as a trusted partnership and therefore it is my responsibility to consistently communicate with you to reduce any risk for your organization.  Here are some important tips to keep top of mind:

Let's begin with the candidate selection process. 

• That's Good HR reduces your risk by sending you candidates that closely match the compensation expectations for the position. For example, we would not present a candidate that has been making 40k previously to a position that is paying 20k.  All compensation negotiations and discussions go through us so there is no confusion around who their employer is (co-employment risks)
  
• We complete a criminal background check on every candidate that we place even if it is not required by your company. Again, this is our responsibility as the employer to ensure you are protected.
• We make sure that our candidate is interested in the opportunity by giving them the client’s name before presenting their resume to the hiring manager (this may sound obvious,  but the truth is, not all agencies tell the candidate the name of the company before they send their resume)

Next - the most important area of concern, once you have a contractor working for you. 

The lines can get crossed once a temporary employee is on site and working for you. Here are some ways you can protect your organization from any confusion around this relationship: 

• My most important reminder:  The contract employee is an employee of our company, not yours.  This is important due to all of the legal responsibilities around the employee/employer relationship which reside with us. Our employee should have no reason to misunderstand that relationship. We are the experts in our field and we are here to help you.
• All hiring and firing conversations must be handled by a That's Good HR professional, not someone on your staff.
• If our temporary employee is not meeting your productivity standards, all performance concerns should come through us and discussions with the employee about these concerns are conducted by us.
• All attendance concerns should be communicated to us immediately.  If we failed to inform you that our employee is going to be absent or tardy, that likely means we did know about it.  While we make it very clear in our process, at times a temporary employee may forget and bypass communications with us (their employer) and only inform you (the customer) about time off. When this happens, please redirect them to us.
• Ultimately all employment related issues should come through us including harassment, injury, pay, benefits etc.  This is why we are cautious even about discussing an employee’s pay with you as the customer. The less involved you are in employment related decisions and information, the clearer the lines are in the employment relationship.

My pledge to you, my customer is this: I will do anything possible to reduce your co-employment risks.  This list is just a summary of what we do behind the scenes to look out for you and as it is with any vendor relationship, your understanding is critical.

Co-employment is the term often used to refer to the relationship between staffing firms and their clients and to the legal issues that arise from that relationship.  Click here for more information on co-employment. Questions about this post? Drop me a line or give me a call! 

Lots of time to stay inside and read during this stormy, rainy week. Good news from Careerbuilder on the quarterly job forecast, interesting developments with a few key HR legal issues, some advice on employee retention and much more in this week's new roundup. I am interested in any comments anyone might have on some of the items below this week.
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CAREERBUILDER AND USA TODAY’S Q2 2011 JOB FORECAST: The quarterly hiring outlook for the U.S. is the strongest in three years, according to the latest nationwide survey of employers and workers from CareerBuilder and USA TODAY. Nearly three-in-ten employers (28 percent) added full-time, permanent employees in the first quarter of 2011, the highest since the first quarter of 2008. The momentum is expected to continue with the same amount of employers planning to add full-time, permanent jobs in the second quarter.

1099 Repeal Bill Passes Senate: Following months of procedural and political back and forth, stand-alone legislation that would repeal the 1099 tax reporting requirement for businesses included in the Affordable Care Act (or the health care reform law) was signed by President Barack Obama on April 15. More here from the Indianapolis Chamber...

HR Jobs Picking up: Job postings for HR and recruiting positions were up 34 percent year-over-year in March and job-seeker clicks on those ads increased by 51 percent, according to Indeed.com, which aggregates employment ads from a variety of online job boards and company websites. Get more of the story here from Hireonline...

Staffing industry employment rose 7 percent year over year in April and was up 1 percent from the previous month, according to the American Staffing Association’s monthly staffing employment survey, released yesterday. The index stands at 92 for April, up one point from March, the ASA reported. Staffing employment is typically lowest during the first few months of each year and grows throughout the subsequent months. The index measures changes in the number of temporary and contract workers.

Want to Keep Your Employees? Give Them Growth Opportunities : In a global study from consulting firm BlessingWhite, employees revealed they stick with a job because they like the work they do. However, they often leave to advance their career. More from Business News Daily....

Tables turned: Employer wins settlement from EEOC: Good news for employers: A federal judge has slapped down the EEOC for pursuing a bias case the agency knew it couldn’t win.

Supreme Court Rules that Companies Can Ban Class Actions: From Recruiter.com. Think about all the people whom you helped find jobs.  How many of them are for private companies?  Probably the image that you like to conjure in your mind is an image in which workers are able to stand up for themselves.  As of now, things have changed for workers.

Does A Higher Minimum Wage Kill Jobs?: Minimum wage supporters are hoping to prompt at least a few states to act. In Illinois, for example, some lawmakers have been pushing to raise the state minimum wage up to $10.65 in steps over four years. So far, they have not been successful. In fact, no state has voted to increase the minimum wage this year. More from NPR...

Although reluctant to pursue a temporary job through a staffing agency, due to past experiences with other staffing agencies. That's Good HR exceeded my expectations!

Speaking with Jamie and Jessica on the phone, and meeting with Jessica in person for a one on one interview really impressed me. They treated me as a person, with professional respect, instead of a paycheck like other staffing agencies have in the past. The personal interview is to find out what you are looking for and what they might have available. Before I could leave the building, Jessica had a position that she wanted to submit my resume for! I never would have thought of this happening! All though this position went to another candidate 2 more came within days!

I can not speak highly enough of this company and would recommend them to anyone that is looking for employment or a great staffing firm!

Submitted by: Ben Rist-Brown

I know….I said that I was only going to do one blog post because I am not a writer.  However, a couple of things have happened at the office recently that have made me wonder how sometimes it just feels like the “Good Guys” finish last.    Growing up, my parents instilled a high value on telling the truth and always doing what’s right.  As a matter of fact, I never got into trouble because my parents taught me that there are always consequences.  This is why I always follow the rules and respect boundaries. 

You may remember from my previous blog, integrity is very important to me and therefore it is important for me to work with hiring managers that share this same value.  That said, it has been a frustrating month for our That’s Good HR temporary staffing group for a couple of reasons.  We have had a couple examples of situations where we handled our accounting, administrative or HR search with honesty and integrity but have lost the business to a competitor that doesn’t have those same values.  Short cutting the process of quality service delivery just to give the appearance of efficiency works for some, but I have a hard time stomaching it. It seems to have become increasingly prevalent as 2011 progresses, almost as if there is a sense of desperation to hit sales quotas at any cost. This has me wondering...are we part of a very small minority of staffing companies who will sacrifice being “cheap and fast” in order to do things “right” and act with integrity.  I mean, I thought that Good Guys always finish first.  Am I just naïve?

Then, just as I was sitting here lamenting the injustice of it all for our business, I heard the news about Officer David Moore.  As many of you have heard by now, Officer Moore passed away as a result of his injuries incurred during a “routine” traffic stop in Indianapolis.  From everything I have heard and read about Officer Moore, he seemed like the quintessential “good guy”.  Overall, Police Officers are the good guys and this officer had to pay the ultimate price for being a good guy.  For those that know me well, you know that I have several very special people close to me that are Police Officers in this city.  Just as I was feeling down about losing out as the good guy, Officer Moore’s story puts it all into perspective. 

I did do some research on this topic to see if I was alone in my quandary over this question and I did find some believers out there that Good Guys don’t finish last. My favorite quote came from a post by  AndrewJDumont.com and here is what he had to say on the topic.

"Call me old fashioned, but I believe in the business of doing good. I believe that those who finish first are the ones who place integrity at the base of everything they do. Look at the way you conduct business or simply live your life, for that matter – are you positioning yourself to finish first in the long-run?”

So, while it hurts that not all staffing  agencies  follow all of the rules of integrity and ethical business practices, it’s the reality of the world we live in.  However, that isn’t going to change my passion for this business or my passion to handle each situation as my parents have instilled in me, with honesty and integrity.  The fear of the “Bad Guys” didn’t change how Officer Moore lived his life and it isn’t going to change how I live mine. 

My name is Alayna Pabst and I have been working at That’s Good HR for a little over 2 years now. My general job description has changed several times; simply I am here to assist in any department where it is needed. So after 2 years I have been able to add a lot of experience and new responsibilities onto my resume: working as a front office administrator, answering the phones, assisting new candidates who are registering with the company, supporting the recruiters, working as an accounting clerk, assisting the CFO and Controller of That’s Good HR with daily accounting tasks, year-end file turnover, organizing, etc. I have been able to roll with the punches, so to say, and assist wherever I may be needed. I don’t have a specific job title, because my job changes constantly, which I believe helps to make me an invaluable asset to TGHR.

Not to quote Hair club for men but That’s Good HR is not only the owner of a staffing agency but it is also a client. At any one given time we may have 1 temporary employee or up 3 temps working at our office. We believe in hiring the right people to get the job done, no matter what. That’s Good HR is flexible with my schedule. Just like many of the temporary employees that are currently working for That’s Good HR. I gave TGHR my time restrictions and they were willing to work around it. I turn in a timecard every week before 5pm to ensure I get paid the following Friday. Which I have to say it pretty nice!

Working at TGHR has been a great networking tool for me. I am surrounded by several recruiters, who know the Indianapolis job market, who also know several of the area’s hiring managers. My advice to my fellow temporary employees? All I can say is do your best everyday and they will take good care of you. I am also able to empathize with my fellow temporary employees. Working as a temporary employee can be difficult, you never quite know where you fit but you know that the job you are doing is very important for the company that you work for. That is why you were hired, that is why the company contacted TGHR, and where they were looking for assets to join their team. The recruiters work very hard to make sure that our clients are pleased but also to make sure our temps are satisfied as well. The recruiters make it a point to know our temporary employees, to make sure they are supported and appreciated. Last month TGHR celebrated National Staffing Week, where we took a week to really appreciate all of our temporary employees. 

Working as a temporary employee, doesn’t mean I always feel like a "temp". I am a part of the team at That’s Good HR. I know that I help everyday to make TGHR a better workplace. I feel appreciated by my colleagues and they help to make me feel validated in my decision to be a temporary employee.