How to make sure temporary help comes to the rescue.

Companies often rely on temporary help to bail them out of emergency staffing situations, utilizing more than two million temps a day. But to get the most bang for your buck, your company should develop a system to effectively choose and use temporary help. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Not just a cure for the summertime blues.
Your first step should be to consider the situations your company could benefit by hiring temporary employees. Sure, "contingent workers" do a great job filling in for employees "gone fishing" on summer vacation. But today's staffing firms are equipped to assist your company at a much higher level.

Firms specializing in such diverse areas as accounting, information systems and healthcare can dramatically help your organization survive peak-load periods. One-time projects, temporary replacement such as parental leave, and hiring temporary employees to "audition" for permanent positions are just some of the ways you can use temporary employees to your advantage.

How to choose the right firm.
Think about how carefully you interview prospective employees. That same effort should be spent when choosing a temporary help service firm. After all, once selected that firm will literally be staffing parts of your organization.

First, select several firms in your area to evaluate. The closer to your office the better. Temporary employees prefer not to travel too far to reach assignments. Ideally, you should evaluate all referrals, a few nationally recognized firms, specialized agencies, and small, local services to get a complete picture of what's available at what cost. You can request that a representative from each firm visit your office and make a presentation. Or you can send your own representative to each firm. Either way, you should carefully consider how each firm answers the following questions:

• How do you evaluate temporary employees?
• Have you personally met with the employees you will be sending to us?
• What methods do you use to recruit and retain employees?
• If I know within a few hours that a temporary employee is not working out, do I have to pay and how quickly will I get a replacement?
• Do you follow up to check on the temporary employees you placed in my company?
• How many full-time employees do you have?

After narrowing down your choices to three firms, send a representative to visit each facility. Meet some temporary employees. Do they appear professional? Look at how the firm tests and interviews potential temporary employees. Do their methods adequately evaluate temporary employees to assure they will meet your expectations?

If you're looking for bookkeeping personnel or paralegals, make sure the firm specializes in those areas. A general agency that mostly places word-processing personnel won't know how to recruit, train and place top-notch accountants or computer programmers.

Finally, look at the value of each firm. Calculate how much time and how many employees it will take to accomplish the assignment in question. Compare each firm's hourly wage, but keep in mind the quality of the employees offered. A highly-skilled temporary employee may require a more expensive hourly rate, but could finish the job in half the time it would take for an entry-level temporary.

When you make your final decision, inform the firm that came in second to be ready to hear from you. If the firm you chose doesn't live up to expectations, they should be prepared to take over the reins.