Illegal temp staff can hurt your business. With the 7 ways illegal temp staff can harm your company outlined below, this blog offers motivation for proper due diligence when selecting a temp staffing agency.

1. Fines

If you were to be audited by the Ministry of Labour (MOL) you could incur costly fines for employing illegal temp staff. Thousands of dollars in fines will quickly eata way at any short-term savings accrued from using low-priced illegal workers.

2. Damage to Reputation

Imagine for a moment if it came out in the the media that you were employing illegal temp staff. How would that affect your reputation? No doubt you would agree that such a scenario could do irreversible damage to how your company is perceived by your customers, your industry, not to mention the public at large.

3. Business Disruption

Your use of illegal temp staff can also lead to your company being raided by Immigration Canada due to an investigation. This could result in a disruption of your regular business operations.  Such a disruption would have an adverse effect on the company’s bottom line.

4. Lost Productivity

One aspect of lost productivity can be linked to the business disruption caused by being raided. But there are also other ways that illegal temp workers could contribute to decreased productivity.  For example, in some cases there can be issues with lack of training or issues with communication. These issues will be developed further with the next 3 points.

5. Lowered Morale

Using illegal temp staff can potentially damage the morale of your other workers. They may feel uneasy about working in such an environment. Also, if your illegal temp staff is being paid less than minimum wage and your permanent staff becomes aware of this, their perception of the company they work for drops in light of this demeaning exploitation. They may wonder how they too might be exploited. This can not only lower morale but it can lead to other issues as well, if your employees ever decide to go to the authorities or speak to the media.

6. Increased Exposure to Health and Safety Risks

Employing illegal temp staff raises two critical questions:

• Are they properly trained?
• What if they do not understand important safety procedures/instruction?

A lack of proper safety training and the inability to properly communicate can make illegal temp staff a huge potential health and safety risk. An unsafe work environment can affect employee morale and contributes to lost productivity. It can also result in considerable monetary cost.

7. Increased WSIB Premiums/ NEER Surcharges Due To Workplace Accidents

Illegal temp staff can increase exposure to health and safety risks. If accidents do result, you could now be facing increased Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) premiums and/or NEER surcharges.

Illegal temp staff can hurt your company. Choosing a reputable temp staffing agency will ensure you avoid all of these potential pitfalls.