More employers rely on Temporary Workers than ever

In a survey conducted recently by Portfolio Payroll, the city based financial recruitment firm, there has been a huge increase in the number of temporary workers being employed in the UK. The poll conducted over the first couple of weeks of September involved 487 employers in the UK. This increase has been dramatic, with 79% of businesses now offering permanent positions to temporary workers as opposed to 62% from the same survey 2 years ago.

Have you ever used a temporary worker to ill a short term position?

2002 2004
Yes ñ 47% Yes ñ 74%
No ñ 53% No ñ 26%

Have you ever offered permanent positions to temporary workers?

2002 2004
Yes ñ 62% Yes - 79%
No ñ 38% No - 21%


Do recruitment agencies manage to find you the right calibre of staff?

2002 2004
Yes ñ 71% Yes ñ 87%
No ñ 29% No ñ 13%

Has the contribution of temporary workers helped your business with the day to day running in the past year?

2002 2004
Yes ñ 64% Yes ñ 81%
No ñ 36% No ñ 19%

Are temporary workers more reliable and punctual than full time workers?

2002 2004
Yes ñ 76% Yes ñ 91%
Same ñ 9% Same ñ 4%
No - 15% No ñ 5%

Danny Done, managing director of Portfolio Payroll provides quote and comment:

What we can see with the results is that the benefits of employing temporary workers are at this moment in time beginning to reveal itself to employers. These benefits include readily available workers who can fill in vacant positions when required. With the development and growth of temping agencies now coming into prominence, we will see over the course of the next few years an even greater dependency on temporary workers to fill in voids left by employees on long term contracts.

The results from the survey also find that employers are happy with the calibre of staff that they recruit through temping agencies. Fundamental qualities such as calibre scored high with the employers polled with 87% agreeing that they have in the past been supplied with temporary workers of a high calibre. Reliability and punctuality scored high with the temporary workers with 91% of employers finding these qualities with there experience with the temporary worker.

What attracts a business into employing a temporary worker is the freedom of selection without restraint, as in reality a lot of recruiters often pick candidates who do not work out in the long run, but with a temporary worker this is not a problem.

There is also a developing trend with workers who now enjoy the freedom of working on temporary contracts. A lot of highly experienced and qualified workers in the UK are now enjoying the benefits of temporary work, with there being a constant stream of new work available and without the requirement of lengthy contracts.

Employers should be careful to draw a balance with its workforce, where there are enough influential employees who understand the goals of the company and will keep a team spirit amongst the ranks, including temporary workers. The emphasise needs to shift from regarding temporary workers as expendable to seeing them as individual contributors to a business regardless of the length of time they are working for the company.