If your business currently has temporary employees, there can be a bit of uncertainty with how to handle the end of their contract. The question many employers of temporary workers struggle with is how to face the transition a temporary employment contract can have on your business and employees. Just because your temp employee is leaving doesn’t mean there isn’t valuable insight that can be taken away from the experience.

Many companies these days are using temporary employment contracts to try out candidates for full time positions. With temp jobs in the U.S. on the rise, having a process in place for your company to follow can help you turn transition periods into valuable business lessons.

While there are many types of industries that utilize temporary employees, we’ve come up with three strategies to turn the end of a contract into a learning experience. Learn how to tap into the experience of your temp workers to make positive changes for your business.

Prepare and Hold Exit Interviews

With temporary employees, it can be easy for companies to end contracts without ever getting the valuable feedback a temp employee can provide. Unlike other members of your team, temporary employment contracts have turnover built into them. Contracts and projects end, but you can still hear the valuable feedback. Holding exit interviews with your temporary employees will allow your organization to:

• Understand employee perception of the work being done.
• Gain insight into team leader’s management style and effectiveness.
• Drive innovation by asking for ideas to improve the company.
• Create lasting impressions with talent within your industry.

The main goal of holding an exit interview is to gain feedback to drive positive change within your organization. While exit interviews for all employees are a good idea, temporary employees can offer a unique take. Temp employees are likely to be more honest when it comes to delivering feedback. They offer a fresh perspective on your organization.

Have an Internal Evaluation of the Temporary Employee’s Work

When a temporary employment contract ends, it’s a good idea to set aside some time to go back through and evaluate the work that employee did. An easy place to start is to ask your team questions like these:

• Did the temp employee meet deadlines?
• What did their quality of work look like? And what constructive feedback can be given?
• What goals did they meet? Was there any that fell short?
• Was the temporary employee properly trained?

The point of these questions to discover insights that will help your organization find ways to get more productivity out of temporary employees. No one expects a process to be perfect, but by having internal evaluations, your organization will get better at setting up temporary employees for success.

Whether it’s working with agencies for employment or hiring team members internally, finding new ways to make sure goals are aligned is important. Temporary employees are the perfect opportunity to hold internal evaluations that will allow you to check in on how processes are performing. It can be challenging to find the time, but the impact these evaluations can provide is well worth it – especially if you plan on bringing on more temporary employees.

Let Temporary Employees Leave on Their Own Terms

While it’s not the same as having your star employee announce they are leaving for another job, temporary employees are still members of your team, and their departure can have an impact. Depending on the length of the temporary employment contracts, temporary employees leaving can have an impact on morale just like any other employee.

How should your organization go about managing this effect? The answer is providing temporary employees a platform to express their thoughts to the team about departing. First, go to the employee and ask them on their preferences. Some people may not want a large goodbye party or lunch. The best option is often holding a company or team meeting to let the employee thank their co-workers and share what they gained out of the experience.

It’s amazing how much impact this small gesture can have on your team and the temporary employee. It goes beyond just being professionally polite. By giving a temp employee a chance to be heard, you’ll help foster a better culture for your organization. There’s also the added benefit of creating a positive reputation with temporary employees and employment agencies.

Let Us Help You with All Your Temporary Staffing Needs

It’s clear that finding candidates is getting harder and harder each year. Luckily, a temporary staffing agency can help ease this challenge and do the heavy lifting for you in finding qualified candidates. We have over two decades of experience and can be that staffing partner you’re missing. Give us a call to see if we’re the right solution for you or fill out our form for more information.