Hiring the right temp workers can save you money and increase your productivity. Hiring the wrong temps can create many costly problems. In connection with this, we will consider 5 risks to watch out for when hiring temps.

1. Illegal Workers

Any temp workers that you hire should be legal to work in Canada.  This will help avoid unwanted legal issues. If using a temp staffing agency to utilize temps you will need to do your homework and make sure that they are properly following all legal procedures.

One possible warning sign is that your temp agency is charging you too low of a fee for their services. This could be an indicator that they are offering their temps less than minimum wage and possibly paying them cash “under the table”.  Obviously that would already be a serious legal concern, but it is  not unusual for illegal workers to be offered less than minimum wage.

2. Wrong Skills

Temp workers can be highly skilled, but they may not have the right skills for your company. You want to make sure that any temps that you use through a staffing agency possess the required skills that your company is looking for. If they have the wrong skills it can take additional time and money to train them. It can lead to costly mistakes being made. It could also lower employee morale if other employees have to pick up the slack because of a temps inability to perform necessary tasks.

This is another area where you need to do your due diligence when selecting a temp staffing agency. You want to make sure that the agency has experience in your industry.  You also want to make sure that they properly screen all temp workers. Part of that screening process is assessing the skills of potential applicants.

3. Poor Work Record

Temp workers with poor work records can be very costly to your business. Let us consider a couple of specific areas where a poor work record would be of particular concern:

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• Accidents
• Pilferage

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You need to know that all temp workers understand all safety regulations before they walk through the door. An individual who has a track record of causing accidents is a costly and dangerous liability to your company.

As for pilferage, for obvious reasons you wouldn’t want to utilize temp workers that have a history of theft. You should expect that the temp staffing agency you use is performing proper reference checks. This will prevent being victimized by temporary workers who have poor work records.

4. Agency Government Remittance Failure

You want to make sure that the temp staffing agency is remitting all necessary paperwork and payments/remittances to the appropriate government agencies. If you are ever audited by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or Ministry of Labour (MOL) you do not want to get assessed with costly fines because of negligence on the part of the agency that you are using.

5. Agency Health and Safety Gaps

When selecting a temp staffing agency you want to make sure that they understand and follow all MOL and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s (WSIB) regulations. You also want to be sure that they properly pay all WSIB premiums for all temp workers. All temps should also receive proper training in connection with health and safety issues.

By considering these 5 risks, this will help you do your due diligence when hiring temps and when selecting a temp staffing agency. This will help you avoid costly errors and will ensure that your temp workers will contribute to the productivity and profitability of your company.