The Truth About Staffing Agencies
I wrote a review about a staffing agency on the main site I Hate Working.net and realized many people don’t really understand how staffing agencies work.
So if you are somebody looking for employment opportunities and are thinking about using staffing agencies or if you are applying for a position and just realized it’s through a staffing agency, this post is for you.
There are certain problems with staffing agencies that I’ll discuss at the end of this post but before we start, let’s look at how these agencies actually work.
How Staffing Agencies Work
Staffing agencies are companies that hire employees to their client companies.
They are popular because recruiting new employees is time-consuming and always a risk for a company.
A staffing agency allows to try out workers and handles the recruiting process. Companies are willing to pay good money for this.
The problem is that Staffing agencies can be really confusing to people who have not dealt with them before.
Typically it goes something like this
- You see an ad for a position
- You apply to that position
- You go to an interview. At this point, you realize it’s a staffing agency and the position will be at a client company
- You get hired. You make the contract with the staffing agency so they are your legal employer, but you work at the client company.
- At the client company, there will be people working on direct contracts and likely other staff agency temps or tryouts.
This can feel pretty confusing especially to young people with not much work experience.
When you need to ask about your terms of contract, pay, overtime allowance, etc. The client company can’t usually help you, you have to handle that with your actual employer, the staffing agency.
Get I Hate Working’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
This often puts the “hired workers” into a weaker position compared to the regular personnel.
Who Are Staffing Agencies Good for?
That said, there are pros to Staffing agencies. Because the risks of a bad match are much smaller for the client company, an inexperienced worker can get in more easily through a staffing agency and show their potential.
It’s very common that companies try out especially inexperienced workers like college graduates through staffing agencies.
If they show potential the company often hires the directly after that. When used this way, a staffing agency offers a win-win situation to all parties.
The employee gets a chance to show their skills, the company gets to try the worker with small risk and the staffing agency earns a commission.
Another situation when a staffing agency is good is for a project that requires a lot of temporary workforce. Things like festivals, events, concerts, etc. are great for staffing agencies when there is a need for short term employment of a lot of people.
The Problems With Staffing Agencies
So when used in the correct situation, staffing agencies can be great. But there are problems the whole culture of hiring workers causes.
Many companies abuse staffing companies to go around employer obligations.
They can leverage the staffing agencies' temporary contracts to keep the workers in a short leash. They can pay minimum wage and treat you like poop. If you don’t like it, they simply don’t renew your contract and get another worker to replace you.
This causes a situation where the employees have next to no rights. This is, of course, unethical and in perfect world situations like this didn't exist.
But you and I both know there are thousands of companies trying to maximize profits and minimize costs, including wages.
In my opinion, honest and ethical companies should see their workers as a resource beyond the paycheck.
Conclusion
So that’s my short opinion on staffing agencies. I’ve worked in a couple of different ones in the past myself and in my experience, the most important part is to know your rights.
I did gain some precious working experience through them but I never felt the agency truly cared for my rights or wellbeing.
You can read more about my experience in my Insight Global Review.
So what’s your take on staffing agencies? Do you think they are a great opportunity for inexperienced workers to find employment or just a way to bring down employee rights?
