What is Temporary-to-Permanent Work?
A temporary-to-permanent role is a hiring arrangement in which a temporary employee is initially hired with the potential to become a permanent employee in the future.
.png)
Understanding Temporary-to-Permanent Work
An employer can evaluate candidates and new hires in many ways, including interviews, pre-screening assessments, and performance reviews. One common way to assess whether an employee is a good fit for an organization before fully committing to them is by hiring them in a temporary-to-permanent position.
Companies often offer temporary-to-permanent or temp-to-perm positions to meet certain goals, complete projects, or fill necessary skills gaps, such as when another worker is on leave. Sometimes, it is communicated up front that a role has the potential to transition into a permanent one; sometimes, companies decide to offer a full-time position to a temp worker based on their performance.
A few industries that commonly offer temporary-to-permanent positions include:
- Customer service
- Construction
- Software and web development
- Project management
- Research
- Tax preparation
- Marketing
Benefits of Temporary-to-Permanent Work
Temporary-to-permanent roles offer unique flexibility, allowing both employers and employees to test a new position. These arrangements can be advantageous, providing an opportunity for workers to gain experience and potentially secure a permanent role. They also facilitate skill development and maintain a healthy work-life balance through flexible schedules.
For businesses, it can be a great option for quickly filling staffing and skill gaps, typically at a lower cost. Additionally, there is less risk associated with hiring a temporary worker. This allows employers to evaluate a new hire's skills before making the long-term commitment of a full-time offer. Finally, whether or not you eventually take them on, hiring temporary workers can grant organizations access to highly skilled talent.
Temporary-to-permanent roles offer a win-win situation for both employees and businesses. Employees can gain valuable experience and potentially secure a permanent job, while businesses can evaluate new hires before making full-time offers, reducing the risk of long-term commitments.
Challenges and Considerations
Temporary-to-permanent work can be difficult to offer effectively. One challenge is that temporary workers are likely less loyal to a company while lacking job security. Some workers may even hunt for other jobs while working with your organization.
Additionally, while some temporary workers are highly skilled, others require specific training. This can become costly and require time and resources from current team members until a position is held permanently. Finally, maintaining high levels of employee satisfaction can be difficult with constantly shifting staff, highlighting the importance of strategic workforce planning. The lack of benefits, higher pay, and job security may be difficult for workers to accept.
Temporary-to-permanent work, while challenging, can be a strategic workforce planning tool for businesses. It allows for quick skill gap filling and new worker assessment, often leading to faster, lower-cost recruitment. However, careful planning is also required to maintain high employee satisfaction and ensure a positive working environment.
Best Practices for Small Businesses
Small businesses may sometimes wish to try out temporary positions seasonally or to fill specific gaps within a short timeframe. Offering temporary-to-permanent roles can be a strategic way of enticing highly skilled workers to apply. Start by writing a clear job description, creating a user-friendly job application, and focusing on building a positive candidate experience.
You may have to use different methods to find temporary workers than usual. Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and FlexJobs may cater more to temporary workers than LinkedIn or Indeed. Staffing agencies are another common way to find great temporary, and eventually possibly permanent, help. Additionally, ask current employees for referrals.
Throughout the temp position, aim to create a positive working environment, enticing prospects to join your team. Once you find a great candidate who fits business needs, make them an offer quickly to avoid losing them to another role.
Small businesses can offer temporary-to-permanent work to find highly skilled talent quicker than usual. To attract workers, aim to create a positive candidate experience and working environment.
Temporary-to-permanent roles are a low-risk way for businesses to quickly fill skill gaps and assess new workers before making them full-time hires. For employers, they are a strategic workforce planning tool and often a faster, lower-cost recruitment process. Small businesses can leverage freelance-forward platforms to find great temporary workers and prioritize a positive candidate experience to secure top talent for full-time roles.
About the author
Casey Pontrelli
Casey Pontrelli is a multi-talented professional with a background in content creation, branding, and social media marketing. Whether writing for a newspaper, eCommerce website, B2B startup, or a marketing agency, she has taken her strong background in journalism and turned her focus to SEO and content marketing. She’s written about everything from boutiques to cars to small businesses, and enjoys most when she knows her writing has had an impact. When she’s not writing up a storm or creating attention-grabbing social media posts, Casey enjoys hanging out with her partner and three cats, Eddy, Larry, and Marcus, going on long walks in the Green Belt, and, predictably, reading.
